On Cloudsurfer 2 vs Brooks Launch 12:
Which to Choose

On paper these two line up closely: both are neutral platforms with no plate, both rate 4/6 for pace and responsiveness and 3/6 for stability, and both get their energy return from a resilient superfoam rather than a carbon or nylon plate. The drops are nearly identical — 7mm on the Cloudsurfer 2, 8mm on the Launch 12 — and the stacks are in the same neighborhood, with the On sitting around 34mm heel / 27mm forefoot and the Brooks at roughly 33mm heel / 25mm forefoot. The real split is in character. The Cloudsurfer 2 is the more cushioned of the two (4/6 vs 3/6), and its Helion foam shaped into the CloudTec Phase geometry gives a distinctly springy, rolling ride as the "clouds" collapse in sequence — lively and moderately soft, though it feels a touch less planted at very slow, casual paces and rewards a runner who keeps some rhythm. The Launch 12 goes the other direction: its nitrogen-infused DNA Flash foam (snappier v2 in the forefoot) is firm-leaning and ground-connected, with a flexible, natural-feeling transition and real forefoot snap when you push turnover — you feel the road rather than float above it. Weight tips toward Brooks: the Launch 12 is a light 244g in the men's version, and the Cloudsurfer 2 carries noticeably more mass. Use cases overlap but aren't identical — the Cloudsurfer 2 is a true 10K-to-half shoe happiest at steady tempo efforts, while the Launch 12 stretches a bit shorter and faster, genuinely shining from 5K through the half with its sweet spot around crisp 10K tempo and shorter races.