On Cloudnova 2 review

We believe that the On Cloudnova 2 can be a great match for you if:

• you need a stylish and comfortable sneaker to wear all day long in many different scenarios - from the office to the grocery store
• you love futuristic and techy shoe silhouettes

The Cloudnova 2 comes with a rather hefty price tag which, in our opinion, is not 100% justified by everything the shoe has to offer.

We found that the Cloudnova Form 2 is a nearly identical silhouette but with a different upper fabric. It is simpler in design and is not made of recycled materials.

Another more affordable alternative from On would be the Cloudeasy. It has less cushioning but is insanely light.

We found the Cloudnova 2 to be a moderately cushioned walking shoe with a heel stack of 33.1 mm.

This is on par with the average of walking shoes offering enough underfoot comfort and support for long hours of walking and standing.

The Cloudnova 2's ball-of-foot cushioning also comes in at an average of 20.7 mm. A perfect balance of impact protection and ground feel.

In its official specs for the Cloudnova 2, On lists 14 mm as the shoe's heel-to-toe drop.

Our own measurements returned a pretty close reading of 12.4 mm which confirmed the shoe's drastic heel elevation above the toes.

We should note, however, that the nature of the Cloudtec cushioning (large apertures throughout the midsole) makes the shoe's effective drop slightly lower than stated because of the compression.

But even with that our heels remained sufficiently raised in the Cloudnova 2 putting our feet in a nice and ergonomic position that supported the heels and the Achilles during a full day of walking and standing.

While the Cloudnova 2's midsole foam is slightly on the firm side, the compression of the Cloudtec apertures makes the underfoot experience feel softer. That's the primary source of the shoe's impact protection.

The material in question is the brand's Zero-Gravity foam which we first saw in the Cloud 5 walking shoe. All we know about it from the official information is that it is the company's more sustainable type of foam.

A Shore A durometer reading of 27.9 HA confirmed that it is a firmer type of foam indeed.

Keep in mind though that leaving the Cloudnova 2 in a chilly basement overnight will make the midsole even firmer.

To test the shoe's performance in chilly weather, we kept it in the freezer for 20 minutes and then repeated the durometer measurements.

The foam firmed up by 29.6% as its HA reading went up from 27.9 HA to 36.1 HA. So a bit of warming up will be necessary.

A padded insole is one of the components that adds softness to the shoe's underfoot experience. We measured its thickness at 4.7 mm in the heel - a pleasant little buffer.

The Cloudnova 2 treated us to an accommodating toebox and a true-to-size fit.

In addition to subjective observations, we also poured custom gel into the shoe to retrieve the mould of its interiors.

Measuring the mould's widest area which corresponds to the foot's metatarsals, we got 95.6 mm in the widest part of the toebox. This is exactly the width we would expect in a D-medium men's US size 9 shoe.

So even though the broad midsole makes the Cloudnova 2's toebox seem rather wide, it is in fact just average.

Another reason why the Cloudnova 2 may seem more spacious than other shoes is the rounded shape of its toebox. Our calliper recorded 73.7 mm in the big toe area of the toebox which is a couple of millimetres wider than average.

It's not enough to make it a full-on shoe for wide feet but it does provide some extra wiggle room for a medium-width foot.

Finally, the toebox height of the Cloudnova 2 also showed a standard measurement of 26.8 mm. No toe pressing here!

If you are someone with neutral pronation and no excessive inward rolling of the foot, you are going to feel sufficiently stable in the Cloudnova 2.

As our lateral stability test above shows, the shoe offers essential side-to-side control of the foot and ankle.

The brand's official specs mention a stabilised heel pillow in the Cloudnova 2 but this doesn't imply proper stability for flat feet and overpronation. However, we did find its platform a bit steadier compared to other On shoes primarily because it has a flatter (no heel bevel) and wider shape.

A nylon blend Speedboard is embedded into the Cloudnova 2's midsole for added rigidity and support. It makes the shoe harder to twist and thus less likely to roll over as you walk.

Assessing its torsional rigidity on a 1-5 scale, we gave it an in-between score of 3. The shoe still has some flex to it for smooth heel-to-toe transitions.

The raised sidewalls of the Clounova 2's midsole also play a part in adding firmer support where it's most needed - in the midfoot.

At the back, the Speedboard transitions into an external heel clip which gives the shoe a touch of rearfoot support and a firmer heel hold.

That heel clip is actually the stiffest part at the back of the Cloudnova 2. Otherwise, the shoe's heel counter is rather floppy.

We rated its stiffness with a very low score of 2 out of 5.

What gives the Cloudnova 2 a real edge in the stability department is its impressively broad midsole.

Our calliper measured 120.8 mm in the widest part of its forefoot which is almost a centimetre wider than average! And it's only a couple of millimetres away from the chunky Hoka walking shoes.

We also recorded a considerable width of 97.0 mm in the widest area of the heel. It makes the Cloudnova 2 the widest On walking shoe we've tested along with its more stable counterpart, the Cloudnova Form 2.

The nylon Speedboard did not seem to affect the Cloudnova 2's flexibility all that much.

Measuring the amount of force it takes to bend the shoe to a 90-degree angle, we got a standard reading of 22.7N. This is about as much as it takes to bend an average walking shoe.

But the Speedboard offers a different kind of benefit - energy return. It made our walks feel a bit more charged adding a pleasant pep to the step.

Checking the shoe's flexibility in low temperatures, we didn't find any deviation from the average numbers either.

After 20 minutes in the freezer, the Cloudnova 2 stiffened up by 26.8% which is even less compared to the average.

Even though the Cloudnova 2 doesn't look particularly bulky, it clocked in a surprising number of 11.3 oz (320g) on the scale! That is in a men's US size 9.

This is by far the heaviest On walking shoe we've tested in the lab and it is over an ounce heavier than the average walking shoe as well.

Not to say that we were dragged down by the Cloudnova 2 but we did feel the shoe's presence a bit more.

Visually, the Cloudnova 2's upper design is hardly different from the first version. When we took the shoe out of the box, we even thought that we had purchased the same shoe twice! The only clear difference is the presence of perforations on the tongue of the v2.

But once we pumped smoke through the Cloudnova 2's toebox, we could see a notable step-up in its ventilation capacity. Enough to bump up the shoe's breathability score to 4 out of 5! Almost summer-ready.

According to On, the upper mesh in this Cloudnova is inspired by the fabric on the Cloudboom Echo 3 running shoe. But we could never tell that just by looking at both materials through our microscope.

The pattern? Maybe. But definitely not the threads. The Cloudnova 2 looks like a sweater compared to Cloudboom. But it is a soft and airy sweater.

Even though it is not part of the upper, the shoe's perforated insole is worth mentioning. It lightly contributes to the heat dissipation underfoot.

A dismaying lack of upper durability for the price is a common tendency we see among shoes from On. Their mesh uppers consistently get lower-than-average scores in our durability tests and the Cloudnova 2 follows the trend.

It took less than 12 seconds of sandpaper exposure to leave a notable hole in the Cloudnova 2's toebox mesh.

Seeing much smaller damage on other walking shoes that went through the 5K RPM Dremel test, we couldn't rate this On shoe's toebox durability any higher than 3 out of 5.

Our expectations remained low for the shoe's inner lining durability.

The textile couldn't even resist the drill for 4 seconds without getting scuffed! It's kind of ridiculous to see that a Skechers shoe that costs £100 less was barely affected at all!

Thankfully, the rubber outsole of this On shoe shows pretty good signs of longevity.

We are looking at a solid black rubber that returned a harder-than-average reading of 81.9 HC on our durometer.

Applying sandpaper to the shoe's rubber at 10K RPM speed for as long as 22 seconds also gave us hopeful results.

The dent on the Cloudnova 2's outsole showed only 1.1 mm which is slightly shallower than the average.

According to our calliper, the outsole thickness of this On shoe is also on par with the average at 3.1 mm.

While we've come to expect an above-average price tag from the Swiss brand, we still don't think that the Cloudnova 2 offers something truly special to justify the higher cost.

Sure, it is a comfortable and stylish sneaker but it may be worth waiting for a discount to achieve real value for money. And if you don't feel like waiting, check out its slightly cheaper counterpart - the Cloudnova Form 2. The two shoes look so similar, it can be tricky to tell them apart! 

No reflective elements have been detected on the Cloudnova Form.

The Cloudnova 2 keeps it light with the in-shoe padding and is only generous with foam around the collar.

Its tongue is barely padded showing only 4.2 mm on our calliper.

As a matter of personal preference, this is neither goor nor bad. Just a heads-up about the shoe's more minimal upper setup.

There are no pull tabs or finger loops on the Cloudnova 2 but you can rely on the extended heel collar and the tip of the tongue to pull the shoe on.

The shoe's insole is lightly glued to the strobel but it is fairly easy to remove.

We appreciate the fact that On cares about its environmental impact and incorporates more and more sustainable materials into its products.

According to the specs, the Cloudnova 2 employs recycled polyester in the following parts of the upper: 95% vamp, 100% quarter, and 80% tongue. Also, 8 out of 12 colorways were made with dope-dying (a colouring process that uses 90% less water).

The shoe's Zero-Gravity midsole foam is 50% bio-attributed and causes 20% less CO2e emissions than standard EVA.

Not to mention that the shoe itself comes in a 100% recycled paper box.