Merrell SpeedARC Surge review: A marketing misfire, but damn comfortable

For years, Merrell has been the sensible older uncle of the hiking world. The brand is reliable, unflashy, and just fine with that. The MOAB, their flagship hiking shoe, became a shorthand for comfort-over-style, beloved by dads, dog walkers, and the Ramblers' Association. It’s been the default shoe for people who say “I’m not here to make a fashion statement” and mean it.

But lately, something’s shifted. The MOAB Speed 2 came out with a funky orange colourway, and the MTL Longsky 2 got a sleek revamp with a silver Matryx upper and pink highlights.

In an era where Arc’teryx jackets are runway staples and trail shoes double as techwear, it seems Merrell has also been subtly stepping into this quote unquote “cool” genre of outdoor gear. And the SpeedARC Surge BOA is their latest and by far loudest attempt to gain the attention of city-dwelling fashion-forward youths.

This shoe has a retro-futurist look, a midsole you can see from space, and dual BOA dials that are sure to get older relatives making comments like “oh my, those look fantastic for micro-adjustments” and “excuse me, what in God’s name are those?”

Style aside, the shoe is undeniably comfortable – with 38mm of midsole, you’d really have to screw something up for it not to at least be plush underfoot. However, here at LFTO, we don’t review shoes based on how well they perform when nipping to Greggs – we hit the hills.

So, since Merrell have the cajones to bill this as proper hiking shoes, I’ll be holding it to our usual standard and testing it on some rough and ready terrain. Will this squishy space-age shoe get by in the countryside, or will it start to wobble (literally) when taken off the catwalk? Let’s find out…

The upper

The main material comprising the SpeedARC’s upper is Matryx – the hot new fabric all the cool kids are using these days. It’s a mix of polyester and Kevlar fibres – yes, the same Kevlar used in bulletproof vests – and it’s both light as heck and tough as nails.

Merrell first introduced us to Matryx via their trail running shoes, the MTL Longsky and Skyfire, and both of those have stayed in good shape after a year of solid use. Jimmy Roe even dragged his Skyfires through the rocky Norwegian Fjords and got home without a scratch.

Suffice it to say, I’m thoroughly convinced of the durability of the SpeedARC’s upper. What’s more, this shoe’s design actually circumvents a problem I had with Merrell’s other Matryx uppers – a lack of flexibility and stretchiness.

Matryx doesn’t really stretch, so it’s always a close call with sizing – a shoe with the perfect footbed might be too narrow around the forefoot, or have an unaccommodating toebox. But the SpeedARC doesn’t worry about a precise fit – in fact, excess material is essential to its BOA-dial approach.

You get two dials per shoe, one to lock down the forefoot and one to secure the heel. Each dial tightens a series of super thin nylon laces and, while this is certainly over-engineered, I have to admit that they work excellently. You can slip your feet into a nice airy shoe, then lock it down precisely for your foot shape. I do think they look ridiculous, but I can also see the early Yeezy-style gorpcore appeal.

The midsole

The star of the show – this massive marshmallow stuck to the bottom of your feet.

According to Merrell, the SpeedARC’s dual-layer midsole is made from FloatPro+ supercritical foam, which uses high-pressure gas to create a lighter, springier material. It’s meant to provide maximum energy return and comfort for long days on your feet.

They’re not as squishy as they look, though. The top layer of foam is softer and more cushioned, while the bottom layer is firmer to add structure and stability. Sandwiched between the two is a nylon FlexPlate – Merrell claims it delivers 100% more energy return than your average hiking boot.

Personally, I didn’t feel much of that “energy return.” The shoe felt a bit clompy. This was an odd feeling, since the shoe itself isn’t heavy – at 406.8g it’s on the lighter end of the hiking shoe spectrum. For comparison, the KEEN 450 Dirt is only 2.2g heavier, and the INOV8 Roclite GTX comes in around 350g with a waterproof membrane.

So yes, it’s a light shoe. But the clomp-clomp sensation comes from the sheer volume of foam underfoot. It is impressively airy, and it feels stable enough on flat ground, but the disconnect between foot and terrain creates a slight uncertainty with every step. That issue is made worse by the softness of the footbed – my feet felt so far from the ground that I was wary of tackling more technical trails, for fear of rolling an ankle as the midsole flexed into dips and cracks.

That said, I know some people actually prefer total foot-ground separation. If that’s you – go for it. These are wonderfully comfortable shoes for flat ground or hard surfaces like park paths and pavements.

The outsole

This shoe feels like a city trainer cosplaying as outdoor gear. The outsole has a set of wide 4mm lugs, but they don’t bite into soft terrain. The tread pattern favours blocky squares over aggressive chevrons, and the Quantum Grip rubber compound hasn’t impressed me on wet surfaces.

To be fair, the outsole does feel balanced and steady when you’re walking on dry, flat paths. But this isn’t the outsole you want if you’re tackling muddy trails or loose scree.

Price and competition

I know I’ve been harsh on the SpeedARC Surge, but you can blame Merrell for billing it as a proper trail shoe. It gets outperformed by plenty of solid hiking shoes in the £120–£130 range, so I’d expected this one to cost about the same.

But no – it costs £240.

If you’re in the market for a chunky trail shoe, don’t buy this. Buy the Salomon X Ultra 360 Edge Gore-Tex – hell, for £240 you could buy two pairs.

That said, the SpeedARC Surge does have a unique selling point: it’ll protect your feet through a full day of hard pavement pounding. Trail shoes aren’t always happy on tarmac, and even some plush road shoes like the Brooks Ghost 15 aren’t great at walking speeds, so you’ve got to give it up for the SpeedARC Surge – it’s one of the few shoes that’ll let you roam around town for hours without a blister or a hot spot.

For a unique function, and certainly a unique look, I suppose the right customer would be happy to pay this… unique price.

Verdict

An outstanding shoe for extremely easy terrain. Chunky yet funky. I wouldn’t take the SpeedARC Surge up Cat Bells, but I’d choose them over Converse or Vans for daily comfort and – dare I say – style.

For more light 'n' fast options, check out our roundup of the best lightweight walking boots and shoes.

About the author

Milo Wilson is a long serving member of the LFTO team, having joined in May of 2023 and ardently refused to leave ever since, despite us asking him to several times. Milo is our resident trail running guru, dishing out training tips on the regular and destroying trainers constantly – but he does occasionally like to slow down and enjoy some good old fashioned hillwalking. Shame he had to do that in these shoes for the last three months, but, so it goes.