Merrell All Out Crush versus Reebok Super ORs

If you want to view a comparison video between the Merrell All Out Crush and the Spartan Reebok All Terrain OR shoes, watch this:

Complete Reviews Here:

Going to compare the latest OCR shoes on the market. Here we’ve got the Reebok Super ORs. Here we’ve got the Merrell All-Out Crush. Now, we’ll start here with the Reeboks. This is the third iteration of these shoes. If you go to our website we’ve got a whole thing about all the Reeboks that ever came out ever for OCR. Link is going to be here, well, or here, wherever my finger is. You’ll see it. Ping!

This is the first shoe by Merrell. Merell’s not come out with an OCR shoe before. They obviously just partnered with Tough Mudder, so this is their first iteration. Let’s start with the laces. Now, Merrell’s got the old school laces, regular regular. Rebook’s got the what I think is a no-brainer. You got to have them these days, the snap lock, these guys, whatever the technical technology is for these. Speed Laces.

First of all, I do it wrong, too. This is probably not the sexiest way to do this but basically I do this once and then you slip these things on for life, like you never have to do it again, they never fall off for the race. There’s nothing worse than stopping, having to tie your shoes, especially if you’re trying to go really fast, but again to me this is a no-brainer in running shoes these days. I don’t know why anyone would still go old school, to be honest, especially with an OCR shoe.

Second of all, with the second piece that you have to have for an OCR shoe, well, you got to have a drainage because you’re going to get wet and you’re going to get muddy and you need it to get out of the shoe. So, as they’ve had for all lines of these, the holes are down here where they should be, should be. Here, Merrell, for some reason, put them further up and a little higher, so they’re up here.

Now, theoretically, to me, water’s going to go down and out to the lowest part of the shoe and out. If they’re up here, stuff can maybe get stuck up in here. Now, I did a super muddy race, which I’m going to get to in a minute, and they didn’t, but I’m saying theoretically they could. In terms of the outer, what you’ve got here is a mesh coating that’s kind of perfect because it’s tough, as in it doesn’t rip. The old Reeboks, remember, would rip like crazy. These, I’ve done over a hundred miles, two laps of the Spartan, totally solid awesome.

This thing is so light, by the way, translucent. I can’t tell in this video. Translucent, light goes through it, yet still super durable. These, also a mesh-ish thing, but way thicker, which makes the shoe overall heavier, which is why this shoe is awesome. So light, a little bit heavier. If you want specs, those will be on the website. I’m not good with that stuff. But that’s really the biggest distinguishing factor by the way is the weight of these things.

Teeth, as we like to call them, on the lug side, pretty equal. I mean they’re shaped different, but if I counted them, which I didn’t, they’re about the same. Looks like these actually have a little more on the side piece but I didn’t notice any slippage with these.

Speaking of which, I did do the Macon Mud Run in these recently. That’s a very muddy race. Not as big on the obstacles but big on the mud. So you’re talking all kinds of mud, the standing kind of mud, the soupy kind, the kind you’re kind of sloshing through, the kind you’re sort of stepping on and people who are like it’s their first run and they’re wearing tape on their shoes, they’re slipping and sliding, these did phenomenal for that, even though they do have a slightly different thing than that guy.

Over all, I’m going to give these shoes an A. But these, super duper A plus. So it’s not even like a good to great situation, it’s like a great and a fucking awesome. That’s really my official ranking for these shoes. Great OCR shoe, fucking awesome OCR shoe.

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Matt B. Davis

is the host of the Obstacle Racing Media Podcast and the author of "Down and Dirty-The Essential Training Guide for Obstacle Races and Mud Runs". He is also the only (known) #wafflehouseelite obstacle racer.