The Reebok All-Terrain Freedom is Reeboks 2017 more general purpose trail running shoe offering to pair with the aggressive All-Terrain Super 3.0. Last year they had released the Thrill which was a great middle ground shoe that maintained many of the similar features to the Super, but this shoe is not as similar in its pairing. One of the notable design changes you will notice in the All-Terrain Freedom is the lack of drainage ports which has been a long time staple of the All-Terrain shoe series along with the fully one piece upper.
Reebok All-Terrain Freedom Features
Seamless Upper – The big update to the All-Terrain Super 3.0 was the seamless upper and they mostly mirrored that design in the All-Terrain Freedom. One thing that makes this stand out is that while the Super had a flap that allowed for more variation in upper sizing this one does not. It is truly one piece as you can see from the photos.
Grooved Sole With Deep Lugs – Another slight deviation from the normal copy and paste style design was a revision of the lug design. They kept similar core center lug style but changed the perimeter completely.
Minimal Drop – The drop has been measured at 5mm which will be a welcome middle ground for many people. While 2-3mm is generally considered a low drop shoe this comes in just above that. It is a great shoe drop to transition from what is a more commonly used 8-9mm drop on your way to a no drop or truly minimal drop shoe.
Reebok All-Terrain Freedom Usage
What you will notice as soon as you slide your foot into the stretchy one piece upper is a critical flaw in the one piece upper design for the All-Terrain Freedom. Unless your foot is the exact diameter of the opening, or slightly larger, there will be bunching when you tighten the laces. This is incredibly uncomfortable, impractical, and shocking that this passed the many stages that it must take to design a shoe at a company. Did no one ever try these on and say, “Let me tighten the laces so the shoes don’t move around while I run on a trail.” ?
This flaw basically precludes the rest of the usage section. I swear I tried to run in these shoes and I run in many shoes for review that are generally uncomfortable, but I couldn’t run in them more than twice. The All-Terrain Super 3.0 had this problem solved by doing a pseudo one piece upper, why didn’t these? Was it the same reason they removed the drainage ports – to prevent debris?
I’m left with more questions than answers after using the All-Terrain Freedom. The grip felt about standard and cushioning felt in line with a cushioned trail shoe. The cushion stack may have ridden a little tall for my preference when it comes to trail shoes but this is more of a personal preference.
Reebok All-Terrain Freedom Pros and Cons
Pros
- Minimal Drop at 5mm
Cons
- Poorly designed upper
- No drainage ports
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Reebok All-Terrain Freedom Conclusion
If you are wondering still if you should buy this shoe or not, I would suggest not to. There are many great cushioned trail running shoes out there, even the Reebok All-Terrain Super 3.0 that these were modeled after – but often a copy isn’t as good as the original. The one way that I can suggest these shoes is if you try them on in person to see if your foot fits the upper exactly when tightened, or from a website with free returns. The Reebok All-Terrain Freedom is clever with the one piece upper, but maybe a little too clever for their own good.
Dario
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