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The Brooks Hyperion Max 4 is, on paper at least, a plated super-trainer built to handle your fast training sessions. However, when it hits the road it feels too heavy and big for that role, and works better for cruising along at steady paces, though even then it has some drawbacks like a medial side cutout that reduces stability.
It doesn’t match up to the best running shoes in its fast training category, such as the New Balance SC Rebel v1 and Asics Megablast, and much cheaper shoes also offer more for workouts, like the Adidas Adizero Evo SL and Kiprun Kipstorm Tempo. To make the shoe competitive, we’d hope to see some big changes to the Brooks Hyperion Max 5.
Design & Key Stats
- Price: £170/$200
- Weight: 308g/10.8oz (men’s UK 9)
- Drop: 6mm
- Stack height: 45mm heel, 39mm forefoot
- Upper: Mesh upper
- Midsole: DNA Gold top layer, DNA Flash v2 bottom layer, nylon plate
- Outsole: Thick rubber on forefoot and heel
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How’s The Fit
Nick tested the Hyperion Max 4 for our review and found it fit well in his normal running shoe size, the same size he’s used across the Brooks range for many years. The upper could be stripped back a little to reduce weight, since it’s quite a thick material, but it held the foot comfortably on the run.
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The Run Test: Likes
The Brooks Hyperion Max 4 is undoubtedly a comfortable shoe, with a huge stack of foam in the midsole. While it’s not the softest midsole, the combination of foams do absorb the impact of running nicely, and we found the shoe comfortable for runs of any length.
It’s also a pretty bouncy shoe, especially when you put more force into it by running at faster paces. Nick did a long run in the Hyperion Max 4 including 15 miles at sub-6/min mile pace and it did deliver a good amount of energy return at steady pace.
We also expect the Brooks Hyperion Max 4 to be a long-lasting shoe. The rubber outsole doesn’t cover the bottom of the shoe entirely, but it’s a thick layer that does protect the heel and forefoot, and the firmish midsole foams should stand up to many hundreds of miles without losing their responsiveness.
The Run Test: Dislikes
The Brooks Hyperion Max 4 is simply too heavy to be an effective fast training shoe. It’s over 300g in a UK 9/US 10, whereas most shoes in its category are sub-250g. It means that even when cruising along at steady or tempo paces the weight starts to tell after a while, especially as the Hyperion Max 4 doesn’t have a very aggressive rocker pushing you forward.
It certainly wouldn’t be able to handle fast interval workouts at your race paces as well as rivals like the SC Rebel v1 or Hoka Mach X3, and there are lots of other cheaper shoes that are just as good or better than the Hyperion Max 4 for cruising along in comfort.
We also found it odd that the shoe has a medial cutout on the bottom of the midsole. This risks increasing instability and reduces the Hyperion Max 4’s appeal as a long run cruiser. Given how heavy the shoe is already, this cutout doesn’t seem worth the downsides just to save a little weight.
Verdict And Alternatives
The Brooks Hyperion Max 4 is a shoe we’d skip, and even if you do love the idea of it, it’s pretty similar to the previous model and the Brooks Hyperion Max 3 can now be found in sales regularly for a lot less than the new shoe.
It’s a shoe that doesn’t make a lot of sense to us. It’s too heavy and cumbersome to be the fast trainer Brooks bills it as, and then a bit too stiff and unstable to be an enjoyable long, easy run shoe in the mould of the Hoka Skyward X2.
If you’re in the market for a fast plated trainer we’d pick up the New Balance SC Rebel ahead of the Brooks, or the Hoka Mach X3 or Nike Zoom Fly 6, while cheaper unplated options we prefer for speedwork include the Adidas Evo SL, Dynafish Xiaonian and Kiprun Kipstorm Tempo.