Fashion & Footwear › Running Shoes
GEL-Cumulus 28
Model timeline
Men's cushioned running shoes
Quick take
In short: what each side says
AI panel · Buyers — each opened up in full further down ↓
ChatGPT ranks this product at #21.0 on average
Owners love the comfort, fit, and cushioning, but durability concerns—particularly premature sole wear—divide repeat buyers from previous GEL-CUMULUS generations.
The juries split — Divided. Check both sides before you commit.
Main competitors
Top rivals in Running Shoes.
Act one
What the machines think.
Several AI models read the category and place this product — model by model, list by list, over time.
Model by model?
How each AI sees it.
ChatGPT ranks this product at #21.0 on average Averaging across the AI panel, GEL-Cumulus 28 sits around #21.0 this snapshot.
Gemini
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Didn’t rank GEL-Cumulus 28 this snapshot.
Grok
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Didn’t rank GEL-Cumulus 28 this snapshot.
Perplexity
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Didn’t rank GEL-Cumulus 28 this snapshot.
AI Mode
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Didn’t rank GEL-Cumulus 28 this snapshot.
Claude
Didn’t rank GEL-Cumulus 28 this snapshot.
Rank trajectory?
Weeks of movement.
Act two · ★ new
What the people say.
The same product, judged by the owners who bought and filmed it — what they praise, what they knock, who it's for.
What buyers say?
What Google knows about it.
Beyond the video critics, Google pools 44 buyer ratings of the GEL-Cumulus 28 from across retailers — a far wider, if blunter, jury. Here’s the shape of that opinion.
44 ratings · 7 written
across 3 retailers
What owners single out
In their words
“REI has been my choice for sporting goods for more than 30 years due to their high quality products and excellent return policy. However, my best fitting running/walking shoes have been ASICS and they were not available at REI. Now they are available so I purchased a pair of gel-cumulus recently. They are excellent products; perfect fit, neutral stride and vented.”
JAC · verified purchase · REI
“For the last 14 years, I have been using GEL-CUMULUS for walking and running. The shoe has always been amazing, until the GEL-CUMULUS 28. I bought the new model from REI on 03/20/26; however, after about 170 miles of walking, the sole is worn out (see images). I still have an older pair of GEL-CUMULUS with 300+ miles of running and walking, and the sole is still in decent shape.”
gilles27 · verified purchase · REI
as of July 20 · 44 buyer ratings?
Frequent rivals?
What it competes against.
- Beast GTS 24BrooksASICS leads 1–0 · 1 sharedRead
- Supernova Rise 2AdidasASICS leads 1–0 · 1 sharedRead
- Arahi 9HokaASICS leads 1–0 · 1 sharedRead
- Gel-Contend 9ASICSGEL-Cumulus 28 leads 1–0 · 1 sharedRead
- Pegasus 41NikeASICS leads 1–0 · 1 sharedRead
- Mach 6HokaASICS leads 1–0 · 1 sharedRead
- Wave Inspire 20MizunoASICS leads 1–0 · 1 sharedRead
Alternatives by price · Same field?
Same field, less money.
The recap
Where it stands today.
- PositionBest rank #21 across 1 intent tracked (climbed 4 this week).
- FootprintStrongest in Best Running Shoes for Knee Pain (#21).
- TraitsMost often described as “balanced cushioning”.
- Closest rivalBeast GTS 24 (1–0 across 1 shared intent).
- MakerBy ASICS — see how it ranks across other intents on its brand profile.
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