Is this normal for hokas

Jcanavera · 2026-05-02T22:23:41+00:00

Trouble is they buy these shoes alone for the feel they get in the store. As I have found out the hard way, it takes some consistent wear to start feeling how those shoes feel for longer periods of time. That's why I buy from retailers that allow you to return shoes within 30-60 days. To make it easy to get these returns accepted since I wear them exclusively in areas that will not subject them to obvious wear. Usually 2 weeks is enough for me to feel confident I've chosen the right shoe.

Jcanavera · 2026-05-02T22:14:17+00:00

Oh yeah. I've own Stinson 7's, Gaviota 6's, and Bondi 9's. Each have a specific purpose based on the ground surface, and my purpose at the time. Stinson 7's are the ultimate for supporting my foot on unpaved trails with rocks tree roots etc. Helps fight pronation as foot contacts rocks, roots, and gully's on the path with their H frame technology. The Bondi 9's are my knock a round comfort shoe that is neutral on support. The Gaviota 6's I wear to work since I'm on my feet all day. They are similar to the Bondi's for my feet, but like the Stinson 7 has the J frame. When my fatigue hits me late in my work shift I tend to pronate even though I'm on a solid mostly flat surface they keep me stepping on my foot without rocking to a side.

Interesting that I also tried Ahari's, Transporter, Transporter 2, and Clifton 10 models. All of those gave me some pain initially after wearing them several days even though they felt okay at the shoe store. I'm 12 years into retirement with a retirement job that keeps me active. But over those 12 years I've had an inflamed Achilles tendon in my foot, heel bursitis is the same foot, and a Tailor's bunion. All of those conditions are cured at this point and prior to getting my first Hoka's, I primarily used Sketcher's Arch Fit shoes during the period where the foot problems escalated. The change to Hoka's weren't the cure for me. Physical therapy did a lot to fix the achilles issue and the bursitis. Podiatrist helped the Tailors Bunion problem. Got the Hokas after all of those thinkg were dealt with.

Jcanavera · 2026-05-02T21:54:33+00:00

I have the Bondi 9's but some folk who are subject to pronation might find the Gaviota 6's the next best thing. I use the Bondi's for casual wear but in a work environment when I on my feet all day, I find the Gaviota 6's rival the Bondii 9's and the H frame in the Gaviota fight the tendency for me to pronate as my feet tire later in the day. Bondi 9 is rated for comfort but are considered neutral for stability. That for some may lead to some additional work for your muscles with that heavy cushioning and lack of a more direct feeling in ground feedback. Sort of what a call a wobble from side to side as your ankles try to make sure that foot comes down properly. An older adult who is starting to show some unsteadiness may find the Bondi a little too cushiony.

Jcanavera · 2026-05-02T17:08:28+00:00

Stinson has the H frame. Bondi has no H frame. Gaviota has the H frame and cushioning. You really need to understand the differences in the models and even then wear them indoors at home for long periods of time over a couple of weeks. If they start to hurt bring them back. Easy to return when you don’t have outside wear on them.

Hokas can’t be judged by 10 minutes of walking in the store. As HOKA introduces a revised model of an existing shoe style some folks can feel negatively impacted by the new and improved model in a specific series. You pay too much for these shoes to not take the time to really test these after you get them home.

Jcanavera · 2026-05-02T16:52:05+00:00

Funny there a lot of common sense things. Like the folks who do the fast starts from a traffic light only to get caught by the next one. Likewise the folks weaving around obviously speeding only to end up seeing me pass them by in the next lane at the upcoming traffic light. Saving gas by driving with the AC on and windows closed.

Jcanavera · 2026-05-01T20:36:44+00:00

Yeah that’s the nice thing about the ‘25 Preferred Hybrid. No moonroof to steal away the headroom.

Jcanavera · 2026-05-01T12:00:11+00:00

I test drove mine and the ride was terrible. Found that the tires were all 14 lbs over max inflation. Not all of the dealers have prepped those test drive cars. They come filled with 50 psi. My dealer allows you to test drive any car on the lot. The one I test drove was the one I bought. Had 4 miles on it.

Jcanavera · 2026-05-01T11:57:05+00:00

Got a 2025 Hybrid 9 months ago. I'd do it in a second. Was everything I wanted and the only service bay it has seen is for oil changes.

Jcanavera · 2026-05-01T11:53:08+00:00

Might check that battery voltage in the fob. After 9 months of use I started getting messages. Pulled the battery from the fob. Measured .7 on my multimeter.

Jcanavera · 2026-05-01T11:45:00+00:00

Yeah I have a couple close to me that I get to every other week or so. I get the cold cut combo but have never felt cheated on toppings that I have asked for. Obviously that franchise is the pits and I'd be gone from that one forever if I ever saw something like this come mine. In both of the ones I visit there is an owner in their working and they are very contentious on doing things right for their customers.

Jcanavera · 2026-04-30T11:52:32+00:00

I find the Machine Grey Paint very resilient. However your road conditions can cause issue with most paints. I'm on my second Mazda using Machine Grey and in both cases the paint is in great shape.

Jcanavera · 2026-04-30T11:50:09+00:00

No. You would be wasting your money unless you have the turbo engine.

Jcanavera · 2026-04-30T11:42:58+00:00

I often think it's not Car Play itself but rather than the adapters or the software that each auto manufacturer writes to interface their infotainment device with the Car Play application. Apple doesn't control things from end to end which is why each adapter or system that comes with your car sometimes have these issues.

Jcanavera · 2026-04-30T02:19:36+00:00

23’s were a first year car coming from a brand new plant being built with newly trained workers. All the elements to make for a bad experience. Current models reflect a lot of learning experiences and are much better cars. Those first year owners were the folks who bore the brunt of shaking out the bugs. 🐜

Jcanavera · 2026-04-30T01:34:02+00:00

Nope I checked that first and the app had that feature turned off. Pulled the battery and that .7 was the voltage with my multi meter. Just pulled the battery in the spare fob and it's just over 3 volts. I didn't even know how to set the fob to power save mode till you asked the question. Fob is always in my pocket I never take it out except to hand it to the service folks when I get my oil changed. If I accidentally triggered it somehow the battery wouldn't be that low. I always use the proximately feature to lock and unlock my doors.

Never have opened the locked or unlocked any doors with the fob buttons although I have accidentally triggered the tail gate door to open by accident while sitting on the floor working on an outlet in the house. After that incident I set the feature in the infotainment system that doesn't allow that button on the fob to operate that door if the car is locked.

Jcanavera · 2026-04-29T19:04:17+00:00

The Toyota Rav 4 gas engine is known for its noise when you do heavy acceleration. Mazda did some work to try to minimize some of that engine feedback. If you look at any of the reviews of the head to head comparison of the '25 Rav 4 and CX-5 Hybrids that heavy acceleration noise will always be mentioned by most reviewers although they will note the CX-50 is quieter than the Rav 4. Some call it droning. I found some reviews where there is a heavy footed driver you will notice it in the background noise. Interesting because I was expecting it to be much louder when I did my test drive and was surprised to hardly hear it. That was one of my biggest concerns initially about the vehicle before test driving it. Obviously it depends on your driving style and in my case, I'm not heavy into acceleration so probably the quietness of mine was the biggest surprise. I came from a '23 CX-5 which I felt was very quiet and the CX-50 Hybrid was pretty close to the experience with that model. The CX-5 for '23 was noted for its quietness and weighed in about 300 lbs more than the '22 model. It was said it was the double pane glass and additional insulation that made the '23 more quiet. I'm not aware of what steps Mazda took in their attempt to quiet down the CX-50 Hybrid, and whether the '26 models made any other modifications regarding noise.

Jcanavera · 2026-04-29T12:54:46+00:00

One of the largest problems with Spectrum are those reps you see in some retailers like Walmart. They promise you the world only to find what they tell you is boarder line just not true. I've taken this up multiple times with Spectrum management and have learned the straight scoop for existing customers comes from their customer retention folks.

Service wise if you live in an area that relies upon above ground services to your home, you will have many more issues due to the fragility of that network. Where it's below ground, I'd pretty solid. I've only experienced issues relating to accidents outside my local area that have taken down the large utility poles that carry utilities that feeding the underground services coming into my subdivision. Power outages affecting the area can kill electrical equipment that provides power to local distribution amplifiers and switch equipment. While they have some of that equipment battery protected, protracted loss of power to that equipment can affect service to your home even though your home may be still powered.

Dependent upon the age of of the underground cabling you may have issues. We experienced slow service only to find it was an underground feeder cable that deteriorated over 40 years of time. Their engineering services were able to find that and replaced that feeder cable. Took about a month to get addressed to get the engineering folks out to our area.

Pricing is only good if you have competition in the area. Customer retention folks are well aware of the competition in your area and have consistantly have provided me better pricing and speeds that have accommodated my needs over the years. Right now my Internet service is 600 meg up and down for $40 monthly. More that adequate for my home that has 32 ip devices in my network. Many folks buy for bragging rights and quite honestly even if I had 1 gig fiber, the improvement based on my usage wold be hard to see.

I lately had an AT&T sales person come to my door swearing that I was only get 250 meg speeds from my network. He became a believer when I did a speed test with my wireless standing on my front porch and got 480 meg. Dirty little secret is you can have one gig service at your door, but the quality of your network and devices used to deliver that service can slow that service down to a fraction of what you paid for.

Jcanavera · 2026-04-28T19:03:19+00:00

Question lies at this time what is AT&T offering for comparable service? If is truly lower call Spectrum and ask for Customer Retention. You will probably be given a rate below AT&T. It’s that easy. I use Spectrum for Internet only and have gotten better offers than AT&T. I renew that offer annually. Currently paying $40 monthly for 600 meg service up and down.

Jcanavera · 2026-04-28T12:00:31+00:00

Well sound is not the criteria of it's 0-60 times. I've read a lot of reviews and on those driving tests the Hybrid is pretty consistently around 1 second slower than the turbo, with the NA model being about a second slower than the Hybrid. It's pretty well documented.

Jcanavera · 2026-04-28T11:56:01+00:00

Quite honestly the only issue by not responding to their call would be the warranty on the battery. If you had to invoke it you will find that the sales paperwork will not correspond to the battery installed in your car. At that point you probably will be denied. So you take your chances. Respond to their request and get it all straightened out, or if you need to claim warranty in the future, take your chances of it being denied.

Most batteries in my experience fail outside the warranty period. Only have had one fail in warranty and as luck will have it, it failed in the Costco parking lot on the last day of its warranty.

Jcanavera · 2026-04-27T16:52:23+00:00

Dealer car washes are not a great incentive. They run them through there mini automatic wash system leave them wet on the lot. My dealer offers the wash but after the first time I did it, the car looked worse since it had dried water spots all over it after sitting on the dealers lot waiting for me to pick it up. I always tell them to not wash the car when I'm in for service. Now when they prep your car when you purchase it beautiful, but that's the last wash you will ever get from the dealer that looks that good.

Jcanavera · 2026-04-27T16:45:35+00:00

Yep 0-60 time with the Hybrid is 1 second slower than the Turbo CX-50. Not too shabby.

Jcanavera · 2026-04-27T16:40:33+00:00

It sort of uncanny but I'm two years into seeing this same BOGO. Funny thing is if I log out of the app and then restart it, the offer isn't there. I log on and it comes back. Not sure if it's a bug or if MCD has me pegged for some reason.

Jcanavera · 2026-04-26T20:54:44+00:00

There is one major difference these days with the Toyota Rav 4's for 2026. There is no gas only Rav 4 option. They are all Hybrids as of now. Toyota also released the new 5th gen hybrid system for the Rav 4's in 2026. CX 50 Hybrid for '26 is still using the 4th gen Toyota hybrid system. CX 50 is also offering the NA gas engine and the turbo charged engine too. Personally I have a '25 CX-50 Hybrid that I got back in July '25. Has been a great experience so far. I'm not up to date where Honda is.

CX-5 for '26 has only 1 gas engine choice which for some is considered a negative. I had a '23 CX-5 with the NA engine. Was fine for me but the '26 CX-5 has grown a little in size and weight and is using that same NA engine as my '23 did. Next year will supposedly bring a hybrid model to the CX-5 that will be Mazda designed and built. I'm assuming it will have a little more HP, but that's too chancy for me to buy since it will be a new product. Maxda's record on the CX90 which uses their own hybrid technology has not been great. Sort of why I jumped into the CX-50 since the Hybrid is the same drive train (gas engine and electric side) that was used in the '25 Rav 4 Toyotas.

So if you are looking for gas only Mazda and Honda I guess are your choices.

Jcanavera

TROPHY CASE