As a 361° Ambassador, I have been fortunate enough to be sent a variety of sportswear apparel and their latest sport shoes. I have been using the 361° Stratomics over the winter, which helped me to a new half marathon PB. In March, I was sent a new pair of Sensation 3, their latest mid to long distance running shoe to put them through their paces. Taking a look on my Strava profile, I have so far covered over 150km over a variety of terrain including road, light trail and pavement in both wet and dry weather. Here are my thoughts.
361° Sensation 3
First of all – wow, the colour! They are certainly bright and pop out from the dreary black and whites of the trainer world. Putting them on, the light-weight upper certainly hugs the top of the foot whilst also being seamless to reduce irritation from friction, I think these are great for those who suffer from plantar fasciitis.’ The toe box is roomy (my feet are relatively wide), whilst the internal webbing helps to keep the foot in place within the shoe
Even with all the comfort, the Sensation 3 are still relatively light, coming in at 278g. It features a carbon fibre plate along the foot from forefoot to heel. This provides stability and therefore an amount of stiffness to support the foot for longer distance running. Even with the additional stability, the cushioning is something to behold and shows where the team from 361° have done more work. The QU!KFOAM sole along with the QU!KFlex offers unrivalled comfort (or especially against the Stratomics and Reebok Runners I wore previously).
Grip
Grip is very important, and none more so than on wet tarmac. However during the number of different surfaces I ran on, in wet and dry conditions, the Sensation 3 remained steadfast. At no point (including some wet up hill climbs) did I feel that the shoe was about to give way under foot. You can see the carbon sole plate (grey and black) to provide stability.
Style
The styling of the Sensation 3 is awesome, coming in very vivid colours in both Men’s and Women’s style. Small additional details include reflective detail (the S3 for example) to help night running and the very soft laces which seem to hug the shoe rather than clamp down.
Conclusion
The awesome looking, Sensation 3 shoe by 361° is a great combination of stability and comfort whilst being light-weight to be the work horse for the mid to long distance runners. The carbon fibre sole plate gives a great transition from heel to fore-foot and provides the stabilty required for distance running an training. My running shoe of choice and will take some beating to be removed from top spot.
You can buy the 361° Sensation 3 from Amazon or 361Europe priced around £120
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