Under Armour Bluetooth HOVR MACHINA 2 CLRSHT

Under Armour Bluetooth HOVR MACHINA 2 CLRSHT is quite a mouthful! Is it quite a running shoe? We take a look at the Bluetooth enabled App talking shoe we featured previously here.

What is it?

A neutral shoe for runners who need a balance of flexibility and cushioning.

Who is it for?

A runner looking to develop their running style with the appliance of technology and a virtual coach.

What’s involved?

A shoe that has Bluetooth and an Under Armour App looks like an interesting idea. Let’s dig in!

Getting started

A shoe that needs an App is a little more involved than your everyday running shoe so we need to find App and activate the shoe and create a Mapmyrun account. It’s very straight forward and took only a few minutes.

The App

1. Download the Mapmyrun App from the App store or Google Play store.
2. Connect the shoe to the App.
3. Go run!

Getting started was a very easy process. The App found the shoe straight away and paired easily.

Within the App you can select various different activities, running, walking, cycling, hiking etc but the running is what we want to look at here.

Using the HOVR MACHINA 2 CLRSHT you can monitor details such as cadence, stride length and pace to build a picture of your running technique.

Getting started is a pretty familiar procedure, activate the workout feature and the phone connects to the shoes. Press start to record your workout and away you go. As you set off the App displays metrics such as cadence , distance, pace etc and is all very minimal and easy to read at a glance.

You can see the live data on your phone, not that you want to stare at the screen but a quick glance and you can see how any adjustments you make are interpreted by the App in real time.

Easy to read data on the fly

It was very easy to check your cadence and stride length on the fly. Swiping through the data screens was easy and it’s all really clear to check in a second.

When you complete your run you can view all your recorded data and start to use the analysis support. Advice is offered for stride length and cadence in our example which will help you develop. This will be to help minimise injury risk and improve your running.

In our example over-striding could be a potential area for concern. If you follow the App advice you can monitor your progress visually. Reducing stride length and increasing cadence should benefit my running style.

As you use the App there is a wealth of training and coaching support to help you develop your running technique. These are clearly indicated and all seem like sensible and sound advice for the developing runner.

Within the App all the metrics from your run via the Under Armour Bluetooth shoe are available and you can look back over previously recorded data.

The Under Armour Bluetooth shoe

The other key element of this round up is the shoes. In this case the Under Armour HOVR MACHINA 2 CLRSHT. A minimal looking shoe is good looking and nicely fitted.

The UA HOVR™ sole technology is claimed to maintain energy return that helps eliminate impact shock. The Energy Web returns landing energy which should act like a spring to drive you forward.

Carbon rubber pods under the heel deliver greater traction & durability at high-impact strike zones. External heel counter for added stability and cut away to avoid achilles rubbing.

It’s a neutral running shoe with an 8mm drop weighing in at 290g.

The Under Armour HOVR MACHINA 2 CLRSHT is a narrower fitting shoe, something to check.

The Bluetooth element is designed to be maintenance free and built to outlast the life of the shoe in normal use. It’s element proof too so ideal in the UK wet weather.

The 3D Spacer Mesh Upper allows cool air to circulate throughout the upper whilst, at the same time allowing hot, humid air to escape.

Is it worth your money?

Priced at £140 the Under Armour Bluetooth HOVR MACHINA 2 CLRSHT is far from a cheap shoe. However, it’s not any more than comparable UA shoes. As an interesting idea it’s well worth your money. Using the shoes with the App has been great fun and very interesting in terms of gaining knowledge about my running technique.

There a growing number of gadgets on the market that are aimed at helping you with coaching and fine tuning your technique. The UA offering is a very clean application given that the tech is built in to the shoe.

The coaching advice for a newer runner is great and very informative. Whilst it will not replace the expertise of a live coach it will definitely be a big help in getting the basics and progressing. If you’re looking for a bit of help based on your own running data then the UA offering is very interesting. As a beginning this could offer some very useful coaching support. Going forward who knows what coaching data you can utilise. This is the start of the future of running tech!

You can find out more at the Under Armour website here.