The latest addition to Under Armour’s #UAHOVR family, the UA HOVR™ Machina features the brand’s signature and most advanced cushioning system.

Provides soft energy return as well as speed

A neutral shoe for runners who want a mix of both flexibility and cushioning, the UA HOVR™ Machina is billed as being more than a long distance running shoe – providing soft energy return to go the distance as well as the speed of a Pebax® propulsion plate to propel you to go faster.

At the same time, the shoe also coach you by tracking your stride length, running cadence and more, giving you real-time, personalised tips to help make running feel easier.

I recently received my UA HOVR™ Machina shoes from Under Armour.

Taking the shoes out of the box for the first time, I thought the white shoes with the orange undertones looked very sweet, matching well with my running clothes, a significant amount of which are pink or peach in colour.

Clocked 150km with the shoes

Since getting the shoes, I have managed to run about 150km of mileage in them so far.

Comfortable and true to size

Slipping my feet into the shoes for the first time, my impression had been that they are comfortable and fit true to sizing, being comparable with Under Armour’s other shoe models, and with ample room inside the toe box for my feet to wriggle around easily.

The offset, that is the heel to toe drop, of the shoes is 8mm and they have a weight of 240 grams.

I did notice, however, that the heel of the shoes is slightly higher compared to some of the other running shoes that I have. So do make sure that you use slightly longer socks with the UA HOVR™ Machina, otherwise there might be some chafing on the skin of your heel area due to rubbing.

Have logged a variety of runs with the shoes

In order to get a good feel of the shoes for a comprehensive review, the types of runs that I have clocked using them, have varied significantly from tempo runs, hill sessions, track sessions and long runs, in preparation for the Rotterdam Marathon in the Netherlands, which I will be running this April for cancer research.

Light and responsive 

Through my runs, I have felt that the UA HOVR™ Machina shoes are quite lightweight and responsive.

I find that I am able to push the pace during speed sessions, running faster or accelerating when my marathon training programme calls for it, thanks to the Pebax® propulsion plate in the shoes that deliver the right amount of energy return that help to keep the turnover of my feet quick and my transitions snappy.

Yet at the same time, during my longer runs, I find that my feet still feel springy and light and with ample cushioning even after I have been on my feet for a significant period of time.

And this had even remained the case after more than 20km of running using the UA HOVR™ Machina shoes. 

So I can definitely foresee myself continuing to use these highly versatile running shoes.

But I have to add that these shoes require a “break in” period, comprising of a couple of runs, in order to get used to the feeling of the shoes, according to my own experiences.

Shoes coach you with MapMyRun App

One of the features of the UA HOVR™ Machina shoes that I was particularly looking forward to experiencing, was the smart tracking feature.

The shoes can be digitally connected to the MapMyRun app to provide you with real-time form coaching. 

MapMyRun is a free download on both the Apple and Android App Stores.

That means that after every run has been completed, the shoe will provide you with your running data on distance, pace, splits, cadence, stride length, average ground contact time, and average foot strike angle.

The shoes are very easy to connect to the MapMyRun app. Simply hold your phone near the shoes, and follow the on-screen instructions. The process took about one to two minutes, pairing with my iPhone XS Max.

Distance is hit-and-miss

In terms of the distance measurement, I found the shoes to be hit-and-miss. 

There had been occasions when the distance measurement of the shoes were spot-on and very similar to the readings recorded on my GPS watch.

But other times, I experienced discrepancies of up to 600 metres out, with regards to the measurements. In these cases, the UA HOVR™ Machina shoes usually under-calculated the distance that I had completed.

As well, I have to mention a rather interesting occurrence that I had with the shoes. 

This is because my very first 10km run with the shoes, interestingly, had been clocked as three separate runs: these were a 1.33km run, 2.02km run and a 6.16km run. 

I had not stopped to pause throughout that particular run at all, so I had found it quite strange that this was the case. 

However, there had been changes in pace during that run I question; as I’d felt good and so had sped up after a few kilometres. 

So perhaps the shoes may have detected these changes change in pace as separate runs.

But I have to point out that this initial experience appeared to have been an outlier.

This is because for all my subsequent runs with the shoes, it seemed as though the shoes appeared to have quickly adapted to my running style – so future runs were logged as a single run session as they should be, except during the times when I had intentionally stopped running, for instance, to do drill exercises.

Cadence measurements and analysis 

Moreover, with regards to your cadence, the UA HOVR™ Machina shoes will also tell you whether you are within your ideal cadence range, and what you can do about it when you fall out of your target range.

The shoes calculate what your ideal cadence range should be, based on your age, height, weight, gender and pace.

And as well, the UA HOVR™ Machina shoes will use this data to determine how you had been feeling during each run. 

For instance, I have been told on a couple of occasions that my “stride length decrease and my cadence increase when I get tired.”

Also, the data analysis had added, “To avoid overcompensating with your cadence when you are tired, focus on your stride length instead.”

This particular analysis was given to me during a 55-minute evening hill running session, which I had completed after a long day.

And I think that having such information readily available at your fingertips is interesting, as it makes me more aware of my running gait and form the next time when I pound the pavements and thereby improving my running efficiency as well as reducing the risk of injury, especially during the long runs where running form tends to break down due to fatigue.

Where to get the shoes

The UA HOVR™ Machina smart shoes retail for S$229 and they are currently available for purchase at all Under Armour stores across Singapore.