PUMA MagMax Nitro 2 Review

The PUMA MagMax Nitro 2 is for you if...

You prefer max stacks of a firmer foam 

You want a midsole that’s comfortable without feeling too lazy/squishy 

You want a new recovery/easy run shoe 

What is the PUMA MagMax Nitro 2 made for?

The MagMax Nitro 2 is PUMA’s latest max-cushioned daily trainer offering. With a reported 46 mm of supercritical NITRO foam in the heel, and 38 mm in the toe, the shoe is a high rider that encourages you to “feel the bounce” on every run.  

The inaugural MagMax hit shelves in 2024 and was an instant success, offering a ride that was a bit firmer, and a bit more narrow than other max-cushioned shoes on the market. So, with the MagMax 2, we see a lot of those same emphases holding true. The foam remains firm, but has been made lighter. The toe box has been expanded. The stacks remain max. But will the adjustments that PUMA made to the sculpting and layout of the shoe enhance the original experience? Or detract from it? Our reviewers had mixed opinions. 

Comfort

Our testers agreed that the upper material for the MagMax 2 felt luxurious and premium. The fit was snug-to-narrow, which we’ll get into more in the official “fit” section, but our mileage varied on how this tight fit affected the shoe’s comfort. In some cases, we found that the upper’s construction enhanced the secure feeling that the MagMax 2 provided, while in other cases, the midfoot felt too restrictive, and detracted from the overall comfort of the shoe. 

Underfoot, the foam left us feeling divided as well. When the tense foam worked, it became "one of the most comfortable shoes I’ve ever run in” for one tester, and the comfort and protection were pronounced enough that the same tester wore them for a half-marathon. In other cases, we were disappointed that the step-in didn’t feel softer, like we typically expect from max-cushioned shoes.

Performance

The PUMA MagMax 2 manages to operate well across a wide variety of runs, comfortable enough for slow mileage days, yet responsive enough and with enough energy return that we were able to pick up the pace a bit—and even attempt a race distance in the shoes. While we found that we couldn’t pick up the pace in this shoe QUITE as much as we could in the MagMax v1, the range and versatility of the shoe still holds mostly true. We completed multiple runs in rainy and wet conditions and are happy to report that the Pumagrip outsole still gripped the road and kept us feeling stable even in less-than-ideal conditions. 

But again, like with the comfort, some of our biggest gripes with the performance of the shoe stemmed from the fit of the midfoot geometries. In multiple instances, we found that the tightness of the midfoot forced us to change our paces, or deviate from our run plans, due to discomfort. It’s less likely to be an issue for narrow-to-standard footed runners, but runners with standard-to-higher volume feet should be aware. 

Fit

As mentioned multiple times already, a lot of whether this shoe worked for us or not came down to its fit. 

For one of our reviewers, the fit was a non-issue, with no hotspots, rubbing, or issues with the tongue. She found that her toes had room to wiggle, but they still felt secure, which has been an issue with other shoes and cavernous toe boxes in the past. 

For the other side of our spectrum, though, the fit of the MagMax 2 detracted from the overall experience of the shoe significantly. A good lockdown came at the expense of pinching in the midfoot and discomfort along the lateral part of our midfoot. The shoe’s fit is adaptable...to a degree...but it seemed like there was a firm tipping point where the shoe stopped being snug and started feeling restrictive. A lot of our takeaways about the shoe stemmed from which side of that tipping point we found ourselves on.