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The Qiaodan Leili 2.0 (also sold as the TG 2.0) is a soft, bouncy training shoe built to cover everything from easy runs to longer efforts. It’s one of the growing wave of budget-friendly shoes coming out of China, and is well worth a look if your focus is a soft, cushioned ride for daily efforts.
We picked up our pair for £62 delivered from AliExpress and put it through a wide range of runs, including a track session and a 32km marathon training run.
Is the Qiaodan Leili 2.0 worthy of being one of our best running shoes? Read on to find out.
Design & Key Stats
- Price: From around £60 (UK) / $95 (US)
- Weight: 225g / 7.9oz (men’s UK size 8)
- Drop: 7mm
- Midsole: PEBA foam blend with Q KungFu Pro rebound tech
- Upper: Woven upper
- Outsole: Thick durable rubber
The Qiaodan Leili 2.0 Review
How’s The Fit?
We went for our normal UK running size in the Qiaodan Leili 2.0 based on the conversion chart provided by the brand. There’s a comfortable thumb’s width of space in the toe box, with a good amount of forefoot volume and an average width through the midfoot. We had no need to rearrange laces or reach for a different size.
The tongue padding is well judged, not too thick, but still substantial enough that we never noticed any pressure across the laces even on longer runs. There’s also plenty of padding around the ankle collar, which helped the shoe feel secure without ever feeling restrictive. As a result, we’d suggest going for your normal size in the Qiaodan Leili 2.0.
The Run Test: Likes
This is a shoe firmly built for cushioned, easy-to-moderate running, delivering a soft, bouncy, genuinely fun ride that we kept coming back to. Our first outing was a tough track session, and the foam held up better than we expected. Although it’s not the most energetic shoe out there, there’s definitely an impressive amount of bounce for a shoe predominantly focussed on cushioning and comfort.
From there we used it across a real range of paces and distances, from short 10k runs up to a 32k long run with progressive elements. In the majority of cases it delivered a fun, soft and enjoyable experience.
For easy sessions, the Qiaodan Leili 2.0 was an absolute joy, rolling through the miles with a touch of springiness that feels noticeably lighter than much of the competition out there. A feat that’s significantly more impressive when you weigh up the price comparisons with some of the leading cushioned shoes out there.
The outsole impressed us too, with a solid layer of rubber that showed no real signs of wear despite plenty of testing on mixed surfaces (and a tester that tends to destroy outsoles quickly due to his running style), not something we take for granted at this price.
The Run Test: Dislikes
The main issue came on the 32k long run. Once we hit around the 20k mark and our form started to go, the midsole didn’t have enough density to keep giving energy back, and the responsiveness dropped off noticeably just when we needed it most.
That’s tied to the other big caveat: this is one of the softest shoes we’ve tested in some time, and it’s a noticeably wobbly ride as a result. If you normally need a bit of stability, you’ll feel the lack of it here, particularly once fatigue starts to affect your form.
It’s also worth saying that this isn’t the most responsive foam around, so while it’s fun for the majority of runs, it never quite delivers the snap or pop that some rival foams at a similar price manage.
Overall, it’s a shoe that largely fits in the easy sessions category, with a touch of versatility if you need it. For most people it will fit in rotation as a solid workhorse, but will disappoint if you’re expecting a shoe you can consistently pick up the pace in.
Verdict And Alternatives
The Qiaodan Leili 2.0 is an enjoyable, great value cushioned daily trainer, and for anything up to around 20k, it’s a shoe we’d happily reach for again and again. Where it comes unstuck is right at the edge of long-run territory, where the very soft, bouncy foam that makes it so much fun starts to feel like it’s sapping energy rather than returning it, and the lack of stability becomes more noticeable as fatigue sets in.
For most runners doing the bulk of their weekly mileage at an easy or moderate effort, though, that’s unlikely to be a dealbreaker.
If you’re after something with a similar bouncy character but more resilience for longer efforts, we’d point you toward the Asics Superblast 3, which shares a similar feel underfoot but holds together better deep into a long run, albeit at a significantly higher price.
If stability matters more to you than outright bounce, the Hoka Clifton Pro is a more planted, if less lively, alternative, and you’ll find more like it in our guide to the best cushioned running shoes.
If your focus is value and you want something that can tackle daily runs as well as more up-tempo efforts, the Adidas Evo SL is still one of the best options out there. The foam is similarly fun to what it offers, but it skews much more towards the faster end of the spectrum.
Still to test: the brand also makes a GT version of the Leili 2.0 with more aggressive geometry aimed at performance-minded runners, and a Max version with more foam and a plate for extra energy efficiency. We haven’t got our hands on either yet, but both are on our list given how impressed we were by this one, and we’ll update this review once we’ve had a chance to put them through their paces.