Pearl Izumi E:MOTION Road N3 Review

The EM Road N3 resides in a gray area between stability and neutral running shoe. We consider it a good shoe with an interesting, uncommon design feature, the higher, dynamic offset at midfoot.

Performance Comparison

Responsiveness

The EM Road N3's Energy Foam heel is claimed to give energy back to the runner. We did not notice any great return of energy, but we do note that the midsole's rigidity seems to help give it a degree of responsiveness. If you are interested in a more responsive, comparable shoe, we suggest that you check out the Altra Torin 2.5 whose mushy sole seems to give much better kick-back.

Landing Comfort

Despite Pearl Izumi's use of Energy Foam, we did not find the EM Road N3 to have a very well engineered landing. Because of the outsole's uniform, wide, flat surface and the quickdrop from the midfoot to the forefoot, it seemed like the foot was forced into a heel strike, which slapped the forefoot against the ground or applied too much force to the midfoot when attempting to forefoot strike. This could also be partly due to the EVA Strobel board in the footbed, which adds to the shoe's rigidity.

As previously mentioned, this design might fit some runners, but we feel that most runners would be happier with a running shoe with a more comfortable landing, like the neutral Brooks PureFlow 6 or the stability Hoka Clifton 3.

Upper Comfort

The 3-D Seamless mesh and padded upper are pretty standard. So far as running shoes go, this was a very comfortable shoe, but compared to our lineup this shoe was barely on the chart. If upper comfort is a deciding parameter, we suggest you look at our Best Bang for the Buck winner, the Saucony Kinvara 8, which is a comparable shoe that had a top score in upper comfort along with two less comparable models, the Nike Flex Fury 2 and the Brooks Glycerin 14.

Breathability

The EM Road N3's mesh upper allows for adequate toe breathing, but its padded heel tends to hold moisture. The N3 had average breathability as the industry goes, but relative to our lineup we five better scoring shoes, three comparable breathable shoes, and two less breathable shoes.

Weight

At 25 ounces per pair of men's 11, this model runs heavy compared to the rest of the shoes in the lineup. Typically heavier shoes such as the N3 are made up of more durable materials or constructed to be more durable and we found that to be the tradeoff with this shoe. If you are in search of a comparable, but lighter shoe, we recommend you take a look at the Altra Torin 2.5, which comes in at 20.6 ounces for a pair of men's 11.

Durability

The EM Road N3 is a fairly durable shoe, scoring near the top of our cohort. Its carbon rubber crash pad proves to be much more resilient than some of the other shoes we tested whose softer rubber composites wore away after just a few runs. The 3D seamless printed upper mesh was also thick enough, inner and outer lining, to hold up and take a good deal of beating, pushing the shoe up near the higher end of the durability scale.

Best Applications

With its wide, flat platform, the N3 is best worn as a road running shoe. It could be taken out on trails, but it might not be as well suited to the trail as would a model like the Brooks Ghost 9.

Value

The EM Road N3 by Pearl Izumi is set at $130, which we feel is too high for this middling shoe. The shoe's dynamic offset with its midfoot stack sitting 3.5mm higher than the heel may be an attractant to some runners, and if you are interested in experimenting with different stances and foot strikes, we suggest you go ahead with this shoe. However, if you are looking for a shoe with better stability performance, we suggest the comparably priced Hoka Clifton 3.

Conclusion