I would move Salomon to serious. If youre buying them you have a purpose in mind. Would move Nike and adidas down to next tier. Mostly bc they are the most popular so law of averages moves it to the middle. Both make some great shoes but also many duds. I would add Altra and Inov8 to serious. Like Salomon, if someone is wearing them in the gym their probably on the more serious side since you don't pick them up just anywhere. Also know this is late to the discussion but anyone buying gym or running shoes should either go to a local shoe store where you can try as many as you want or buy from somewhere you can return. I'm in a bit of an off running period but for many years was buying 10 pairs of new running shoes a year (5 road and 5 trail). Some models I would stay with multiple times but when models changed I would try new options. Most brands if you buy direct allow you to try and return, usually up to minimum 15 days). That is plenty of time to get multiple miles/workouts in to make sure they work. If not that, REI is awesome with returns. At one point I had 8 shoes sent to me to try when they changed my favorite pair of Brooks. Out of 8, only 1 worked, returned the 7, and rocked that one show for a few years. Would've never found it in store at the time