Well Cushioned, Grip good on rock mud not so much
I have always been a fan of decathlon trail shoes, I have had 5 pairs of XT7's a pair of MT's and now the MT cushion. I found these a real step up from the MT's and XT7's for comfort. The extra width in the toe box is a great addition. I was a little concerned about the loose feeling at the heel but they have stayed on through some quite deep mud. The sole is quite firm and aggressively lugged. It grips rocks fairly well which you would expect because it does say hard surface the shoe. On rock I don't think the grip is as effective as the XT7, the XT7's do have a softer compound with much better hold. The extra grip on the XT7 does come at the expense of faster wearing. These shoes do let themselves down quite a bit on wet and muddy slopes. I managed to slip and bruise my knee quite badly on the side of a Scottish mountain whilst wearing these. Yes it does say hard surface on them but I defy anyone to find a trail in Northern Europe that does not consist of a mixture of hard and soft surfaces, it would be ridiculous to change shoes every time the surface altered. The cushioning of the shoe is very good especially during fast descents on hard surfaces. I recently tested the shoe on a 50km run on a mixed trail, the cushioning was very good. I did get some blistering on the sole of my foot at the interface between the insole and the main shoe, this is a problem I have had with all of my Decathlon shoes that I usually solve by swapping out to third party insoles (we shouldn't have to do this with the top of the range shoe). I have now run 150km in these shoes and in summary,
Pros
Wide toe box
Great cushioning
Laces pocket (why don't all shoes have this)
Grip on rock
Cons
Poor grip on mud and grass
Feel like heel is floating (insecure)
Insole scoops at foot arch
Comparatively Expensive