Unnaceptable: Dynafish Danian 1.0 70km Update
TL;DR The Dynafish Danian is a fun, snappy hyperlight workout shoe ruined by poor plate design. It hurts performance and durability. The plate should NOT break in half with standard use from a lighter runner.
I'm aware Dynafish is a new company and this was their first shoe (the Xiaonian is unbelievably good and very durable at 360km) but this is still unacceptable. I've contacted Dynafish to let them know of the issue.
**Runner Stats:**
Weight: 65kg
Height: 180cm
5K: 19:30
Workouts done in the shoes: Intervals, tempo runs, 5k PB attempt
Other shoes ran in: Vaporfly 2, Vaporfly 4, Adios Pro 3, Novablast 5, Pegasus 41, Ultraboost 5X, Dynafish Xiaonian
**General Durability**
Aside from the plate (which I'll get to) the shoes were looking pretty promising. I know the foam will die eventually but that's expected for such a soft bouncy foam.
The outsole is holding out great, there's large sections of exposed foam but it's holding up much better than my vaporflys at the same mileage. The CPU is incredibly durable as expected with literally no visible wear.
**Plate Performance**
Performance wise the plate causes issues. It's highly stiff (Dynafish shows it as having a plate and bars that go lengthways to strengthen it further) and only spans 3/4 length, meaning you can't really heel strike.
The main issue is the height. It's right on top of the shoe which makes it harsh, especially when forefoot striking. I didn't really notice at first but the harshness gets uncomfortable at a certain point. I actually bruised the bottom of my foot after a tough interval session.
**Snapped Plate**
In my last session the plate snapped during a 200m interval. I wasn't doing anything outside of normal use, I hear a crack from the right shoe and the plates gone.
I've ran the exact same workout in 2 generations of Vaporfly and the Adios Pro 3 and I've never had any issues even with much higher mileage. Obviously I can't run in them anymore
From what I know it's likely a combination of a super stiff, reinforced plate that is only 3/4 length right at the top of the shoe. The combination of a stiff plate and really squishy foam also likely contributed, like the issues adidas had with the AP4 going to new lightstrike pro.
I'm aware that not everyone will have this issue but for a break to happen I'd assume there is an issue with their design. I've seen Dynafish are developing an 'unbreakable' carbon plate and that can't come soon enough.
It's extremely disappointing because it's a fun (if flawed) shoe that I enjoyed running in even if I didn't use it much. Hopefully their next carbon plated shoe doesn't repeat these mistakes.