On Cloudmonster Hyper Review: Should You Believe the Hyper?

Stack Height, Drop, Weight and Price

In the men’s shoe, the On Cloudmonster Hyper midsole has a sizable stack with 37.mm in the heel and 31.5mm in the forefoot for a 6mm drop.

The On Cloudmonster Hyper weighs in at 9.1oz / 258g in a US Men’s size 9 – that’s slightly lighter than the Cloudmonster 2 and a chunk lighter than the On Cloudeclipse and the HOKA Skyward X. It’s actually in the same ballpark as the ASICS Novablast 4.

The On Cloudmonster Hyper packs a super shoe price tag. At $220 it joins the ASICS Superblast ($200) and the HOKA Skyward X ($225) breaking the $200 daily trainer mark.

Design

The Cloudmonster Hyper is firmly in the max cushioned stable. The headline here is On Cloudmonster Hyper’s pairing of high-energy return PEBA with an EVA CloudTec foam, to create the biggest stacked shoe in On’s line-up. There’s 2.5mm more foam across the midsole than you get in the On Cloudmonster 2.

The PEBA slab is encased in a frame of firmer, more durable EVA CloudTec elements. The setup is similar (though not identical) to the rival HOKA Skyward X which also uses a supercritical EVA carrier for its wedge of livelier superfoam.

It’s perhaps a little surprising there’s no plate here. Most super trainers have them. The On Cloudmonster 2 has a nylon Speedboard while the Cloudboom Echo 3 packs a carbon plate. But the Hyper is plateless.

Up top you’ve got excellent engineered woven uppers, medium padded heel collars and flat wrapping tongues that create a good disappearing comfort on the foot. I love the attention to detail here, too with rubberized laces that stay locked.

The outsoles feature On’s Grip Rubber pads placed on the CloudTec elements on all the high impact areas.

Fit

In testing I ran in a US 9 which is my regular size in On running shoes. The toe box is certainly on the roomy side with big volume and quite a lot of length. Lockdown across the top of the foot was nicely reliable, helped by the wrapping tongues. The heels hold well and I had no slipping. Overall I found the fit good and I’d recommend going true to size.

Performance

In testing I covered a good 35 miles in the On Cloudmonster Hyper at the usual range of paces: lots of easy, a good selection of faster interval sessions and a mix of 90 minute efforts with some marathon pace thrown in. I ran mostly on road with some on light offroad.

There’s decent step-in comfort. It’s largely unfussy and an easy shoe to lace up and run in.

On the scales, the On Cloudmonster Hyper is lighter than it looks. On the foot, however, it runs a little heavier. It feels like a lot of shoe on the foot and the ride is less disappearing than shoes like the On Cloudeclipse.

On all of my runs it took a while to warm up the midsole, the CloudTec elements start off a bit rigid in the first few miles. That’s somewhat offset by the soft footbed that offers plenty of cushioning. But there's a stiffness to the main outsole unit that doesn’t feel 100% natural.

After it’s warmed up, the ride softens and smooths out, dropping into a more even, balanced clip-along ride. There’s some spring from the Pebax wedge but I wouldn’t say it’s punchy and I didn’t get the snappy roll or instant response that I enjoyed from the On Cloudeclipse. The landings are softer than the stiffer, firmer, rockered ride of the original Cloudmonster, too.

However, unlike the slightly sinking new On Cloudmonster 2, there’s softness here that’s not squidgee and ponderous. The Hyper is generally a happy cruising shoe with a little bit of energy but maybe not what you’d expect from a so-called super trainer and you never quite forget you’re wearing it.

They cater happily for runs from easy up to tempo pace. You get none of the road coming up through on longer runs while the big wide platform has good stability. What you get here are cradled, reliable landings.

Would I choose them for all out faster efforts? Certainly not over the lighter and punchier Saucony Endorphin Speed 4 or the Hoka Mach 6. At the price, you might even be better off hunting for a deal on a pair of less aggressive race shoes like the Saucony Endorphin Pro 3. Those can take you through your faster training and then onto race day.

Another word of caution: after just 40 miles I’m seeing signs of wear to the outsole rubber on the heel. Those grips have worn quite quickly in places. That’s a concern for the long-term durability. 

My Verdict

I’m not entirely sold on the On Cloudmonster 2. Partly because of the price, partly because I don’t think it quite delivers super trainer performance. The shoe combines good cushioned protection with some liveliness underfoot that’s not overly aggressive but it’s not packing enough punch.

If you’re trying to charge me $220 for a daily trainer, I want it to blow me away. I want performance so good it’s impossible to overlook it among all the other cheaper options.

While there’s plenty to like about the On Cloudmonster Hyper, this shoe isn’t that good. It’s certainly not a significant enough step up from the On Cloudmonster 2 or shoes like the Saucony Endorphin Speed 4, the ASICS Novablast 4. The list of cheaper shoes that offer equal or better performance is very long.

You can’t help but wonder if On would do better to ditch the legacy Cloud elements and just embrace a full superfoam midsole – like you’d find on shoes like the Adidas Prime X2 Strung. I’d like to see a simpler geometry that has more top-end potential to boost the versatility.

So while On Cloudmonster Hyper ride is pretty good for a regular daily trainer – and I think plenty of runners will enjoy what the shoe delivers – I think you’re better off buying something else. Even the On Cloudeclipse. And saving yourself some money.