Brooks Catamount vs Hyperion Tempo Comparison Shoe Review

Josh reviews the Brooks Catamount trail running shoe – a fast and snappy off-roader to race over technical terrain, wear your dirt like a badge of honour and power through every stride.  

Injecting the energy-returning concept of the Brooks Hyperion Tempo into a rugged yet lightweight ride, this high-performance trail racing shoe will ignite your passion for running off the beaten path.

A TrailTack outsole provides uphill and downhill traction at a minimal, race-ready weight. Directional forefoot and rearfoot lugs allow you to pull yourself up inclines or shift the pace up a gear on descents with decent bite and without being intrusive.

The Ballistic Rock Shield provides protection from heel-to-toe, so you won't feel every sharp rock and twig digging into your feet and distracting your focus. 

A Mud Guard helps keep water out and drainage points allow water to escape. Whether you're rock-hopping across a shallow stream or conditions get sloshy, you don’t have to stay wet and weighed down.

The nitrogen-infused DNA Flash midsole is your formula for an ultra-responsive ride out on the trails, keeping you running light and fast.

The Brooks Catamount sets you up with an internal heel counter for just-right support and durable, trail-ready materials to extend its joy-inspiring life of conquering wild environments. 

Check out the review with full transcript below.

Hey guys, Josh here from Sportitude and today we're talking about a new shoe to the running industry in Australia called the Brooks Catamount. This shoe globally landed a couple of months ago, mainly in the US and off of the back of some really successful reviews. We were amped getting this shoe down here in Australia.

There's a lot to like about this shoe. It's very light, has just enough cushioning and is extremely comfortable as well.

Like all my shoe reviews we're going to breakdown the engineering features of this shoe. We're going to talk about the outsole, midsole and upper. We'll touch on the foot type that should be considering this shoe as well as the runner that could be considering it with regards to what they're looking for in a trail shoe. Without further ado, let's get stuck in.

Runner Profile

The first thing I'd like to touch on is that it's a lightweight trail shoe. It's in the same sort of category as your Nike Terra Kiger, Asics Fujitrabuco Pro and even your Hoka One One Torrent, just to throw a few names out there to familiarise yourself with what this shoe is up against.

We're talking about a lighter weight trail shoe. Obviously, there's some components that are taken out to make it a little bit lighter on the foot. Therefore, if you are the runner that does have a tendency to overpronate excessively I'd probably put this in the no pile.

However, if you're a relatively strong runner who can handle a lighter weight shoe and you're looking for something to give you plenty of protection and grip underneath your foot and to potentially give you more speed and snap on the trails, I'd highly recommend the Brooks Catamount.

Outsole

Brooks have put the TrailTack outsole into action. When we're talking about trail shoes and where they strategically place the additional grip traction, it's taking into consideration when we're coming down a hill descending and when we're going uphill and ascending with as much power as we possibly can.

Obviously when we're descending they just alter and change the direction of these lines at the back so they're not massive and intrusive which is essentially what you get out of a shoe like the Salomon Speedcross. 

They're a little bit thinner and lighter but certainly offer just enough grab and protection. If it happens to be a wet and loose day, I'd be a little concerned about the amount of grip on offer. However, if it's a dry day and you're looking to really pick speed up running downhill, I'd say you're going to have enough grip underneath your foot to land confidently on that contact point.

Coming through to the forefoot, when we're ascending and hitting more forefoot going up hills, you can see how the direction of those lugs is ever so slightly changed through the forefoot. You're getting enough grab and pull when you're going up hills when you're landing on that forefoot first.

I can't fault the trail grip on this because if they tried to make it too grippy it would add too much weight to this shoe and we have to keep in mind it is a race day shoe. They want to shave the weight where they possibly can but also offer just enough grip underneath.

Just underneath the outsole we've got the Ballistic Rock Shield technology, this black set-up that runs from the heel right through to the forefoot underneath the TrailTack outsole and between the midsole of the running shoe.

That's there to protect your feet from those little sharp rocks, nooks and crannies, sticks and other beautiful little sharp objects we tend to come across on the trail surface. It’s all about protecting your feet and keeping you nice and comfortable when you're out on the trails.

Midsole

Coming through to the midsole of this shoe we've got the DNA Flash technology. That is probably Brooks' newest technology and they rolled it out in the Brooks Hyperion Tempo last season.

Even to the colour it is almost the same midsole. I’ll say almost the same because we're talking about an 8mm heel-to-toe drop in the Hyperion Tempo and a 6mm heel-to-toe drop in the Brooks Catamount. There is a subtle change in the offset of this running shoe.

The DNA Flash is that nitrogen-infused midsole. It has an element of cushioning but a very snappy responsive feel as you go through to the toe-off phase of your gait cycle. Again, it's playing on the fact that this is a race day shoe or a shoe that someone wants to go fast and feel light and snappy on the trails. That's exactly what this DNA Flash technology does.

The other little change to the midsole is more to do with the execution of the outer part of the medial and lateral side. With the Hyperion Tempo being a road-based shoe it's relatively smooth across the lateral side and the medial side.

It’s probably a good thing that Brooks didn't use that same concept with the Catamount. You could say there's a bit of roughness to it on the lateral and medial component.

When I say roughness, it's going to get scuffed. It's a trail shoe so you're going to hit sticks, twigs and rocks. There's going to be an element of scraping and scratching that's going to happen within this midsole.

Offering those little dimples on the lateral and medial side will aid in protecting the midsole as much as it possibly can for a trail running shoe.

Upper

Coming through to the upper we've got a Gator Guard with Velcro snap at the back and an internal heel counter support system. For how light this shoe is in comparing it to the Nike Terra Kiger and your Asics Fujitrabuco Pro, I would say it's line-ball with the amount of heel counter support you have in the back half.

The internal heel counter offers just enough support around the back. The foam along the inside isn't the same as what they use in Brooks Hyperion Tempo because you've got to keep in mind that is a road shoe and is designed for someone that's going to be wearing a very thin sock or potentially running sockless.

Running on trails, the materials that are on offer are usually more durable. If they went with the same material as the Hyperion Tempo and a rock or piece of gravel got stuck between your foot and the foam it would probably tear, scratch and rip away.

The Brooks Catamount is nice and durable. They thought about every component of this shoe for trail conditions and that's exactly what's happening inside this heel collar.

Touching on the width we're talking a D width in the men's and B width in the ladies’. The feedback has been so far that it's definitely a true D width and true B width. It doesn't fit narrow or wide. It's true to size which is fantastic.

When running trails it could be anything from wet, mildly muddy conditions etc. Brooks have put Mud Guard protection around the trail shoe. It's like a welding material that sits on top of the midsole, which means when you do submerge yourself in a little bit of mud or a shallow creek bed, it will stop a plethora of water coming into your shoe.

When a little bit of water does get in, it will it drain itself nicely with these drainage points. There is four drainage points along the medial side and four drainage points on the lateral side as well as one behind the Brooks logo. There's enough channels for that moisture and water to escape out of your shoe.

We've had a mixed response with regards to “…it's a trail shoe why did you make it white?”. As a unisex design, the men's and women's looks exactly the same.

I personally really like the white. I don't know why, maybe it's due to the fact when I take my white 4WD off-road I tend not to wash it for about two weeks. I want everyone to know that I can take it off-road and I reckon that's probably what Brooks are doing with this shoe.

It's going to get filthy and dirty but hey it's trail running shoe, that's what you're supposed to do in trail running shoes. It's a badge of honour.

Go out, race hard, run hard and get it dirty and filthy. Let everyone know that you love the sport of trail running. I reckon that's what Brooks have done with the execution of the white upper.

There you have it, that is my wrap on the Brooks Catamount. It is a fabulous shoe and obviously it's the first of its kind.

Brooks have gone out on a limb and have executed their tempo concept into a trail package. They’re really playing on that DNA Flash technology. You're going to see DNA Flash in the coming months with some new upgrades to their Hyperion series.

In the Hyperion Elite 2 they're going to roll out the DNA Flash with the carbon plate so it's exciting time for Brooks. They've taken their engineering and their innovation to the trail market which is fabulous.

If you've got any comments, questions, queries or feedback on the Brooks Catamount please contact our Sportitude shoe experts.

Please subscribe to the Sportitude YouTube channel if you haven't already done so and we’ll continue to bring as much running content to you at home as we possibly can in and around shoe technology.

Until next time stay safe, be kind to each other and happy running.

We'll see you on the trails. Take care.

FEATURES

• Support: Neutral
• Upper: Mesh
• Midsole: Brooks DNA Flash
• Offset / Drop: 6mm

Men

• Weight: 272g / 9.6oz
• Width: D (standard)

Women

• Weight: 249.5g / 8.8oz
• Width: B (standard)