Brooks Launch 7 – Since the announcement in late May of the new Pure Drift and updates to the existing shoes in the Pure lineup, longtime Brooks wearers have been speculating about the demise of its lightweight training shoes, the Green Silence and the Launch (seen at right).
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We reached out for official word from the company about the future of both shoes.
“Yes, we will be discontinuing Launch and Green Silence at the end of the year,” says Tiffany Herman, marketing/PR coordinator for Brooks.
Both shoes were no-frills, lightweight, consisting of little more than a slab of foam underfoot and a way to hold it on.
The Launch won our Best Debut award in Winter Shoe Guide in the December 2009 issue.
“This bizarre new shoe is lightweight, flexible, and supportive with a fast feel,” read the review. “Samples raved about how well the shoe moved with the foot.”
Longtime wearers are still raving about that fit and performance, although the shoe has seen no updates in recent years.
The Green Silence was more like a racing flat–a very environmentally friendly one. Deliberation just more than 7 ounces, the shoe had an upper made entirely of post-consumer plastic, while the outsole contained 30% recycled resources. In addition, the midsole was the first in the Brooks lineup to include BioMoGo, a foam designed to break down within 20 years in a landfill–that’s 50 times faster than most midsoles.
The Green Silence was free in February 2010 and, like the Launch, has not seen any significant updates since.
Brooks Launch 7 Review – Intended for Durability
Brooks Launch 7. I’ve run around 130 miles in these bad boys, and I’m ready to tell you about what I love and didn’t find pleasing.
First, we just got to finish some of this shoe’s specs.
The Brooks Launch 7 is a support-neutral shoe. Its midsole is the BioMogo DNA with a 10-millimetre drop with 26 millimetres of stack height in the heel and 16 forefeet.
The heaviness comes at 9 ounces for men and 8 ounces for women. The arch is average to high.
This shoe is going for haste, and that BioMogo DNA midsole makes it great for road consecutively.
How ever, I’m not successful to lie; I would argue it’s for more than just road consecutively.
All right, guys, let’s effort our way from the lowest to the top of this shoe with the pros, and then we’ll go through approximately the cons. Then, I’ll give an overall recommendation of who I think should be buying this shoe.
So first off, the bottom is this excellent tread that goes along the whole shoe.
This setup delivers a lot of constancy that you’re just not going to get in some other road runners.
It also shows to be a good source of stability in all rudiments.
Touching up from there, you have the BioMogo DNA. This midsole is exemplary in the middle ground of providing enough cushion while also allowing you to feel the road underneath your feet
It is vast for a shoe you want to be running your 5ks,10ks, and maybe a couple of half marathons.
It gives you the provision you need for those miles while feeling the road underneath you.
Moving up, the upper on the Brooks Launch 7 is more of a synthetic thicker mesh than the Brooks Launch 5.
The five were softer like cloth textile upper, while the 6 and 7 moved into more of this artificial touch.
So the upper has more of an artificial feel, which adds to the toughness and makes it so that this shoe will not fall apart on you any time soon.
Overall, from the outsole, midsole to the upper, the shoe kind of screams 5k, 10k, and half marathon in all elements. It seems to be the shoe for that.
Another thing I did want to add about the Brooks Launch 7 is that the heel cup is more of a mid-cushioned heel.
So for someone with a very narrow heel, the Launch 7 secures the heel in nicely. It just ensures your heel stays locked in, and you don’t have to worry about heel slippage.
Another good thing about the Launch 7 is I feel like I have a little extra room in the toe box, which is excellent and would give my toes much toe splay.
Conclusion:
I have not run in the Brooks Presentation since forms 4 and 5, so for me, the Brooks Launch 7 marked a radical break from personal shoe forms.
Although, runners familiar with the ride of the Launch 6 will notice minimal changes in the new Presentation 7. An updated single-layer mesh upper is the only significant alteration between the 6 and 7.Earlier forms of the shoe offered a soft, smooth ride. Launch six and launch seven differ in many respects from their precursors. A couple of years ago, Brooks reshaped the shoe for an even more aggressive speed-trainer feel for use in fast road workouts. Ziptop