Saucony Endorphin Elite 3 Review

Performance was the category where we were the most at odds over the Elite 3.

For a race day shoe that is meant to shine at marathon paces, the Saucony Endorphin Elite 3 hits its target. It's soft, light on foot, and has more than enough cushioning for long-distance runs. We unanimously found that it's not the fastest shoe, but it is a great endurance shoe. The softness feels like a letdown at 10k pace and faster, but hits the sweet spot of comfort and speed at marathon pace.

For Loucas, who wanted the option to push the faster paces, he found the shoe's speed ceiling to be too low. For him, the Elite 3 compressed just as well as the Elite 2 did, but it didn't punch back in the same way. The broader-based geometries and the less aggressive toe rocker tweaked a shoe that had previously magically threaded the race-day needle, but which has now thrown off the equation.

However, for Jonathan and Aliyah, staying back in their pace ranges allowed the cushioning of the shoe and the responsiveness to shine. It felt good for longer than other super shoes, and the emphasis on cushioning helped them to hold their paces over long distance efforts comfortably.

As for the outsole, we had no issues with how this area performed. The rubber is thin and smooth, and has a typical amount of coverage for a race-day shoe. It gave us decent traction without making noise on the pavement, and we did not experience premature wear. Overall, the outsole is nothing more or less than what we like to see on our race-day shoes, which did the trick for us.

The Endorphin Elite 3 arguably has the most comfortable underfoot cushioning of all the top-level racing shoes. It feels cloud-soft underfoot, which gave us a unique experience of max-cushion plushness with high-end racing foam. From a comfort perspective, we foresee many runners will appreciate its impact-absorbing marshmallow properties while pounding pavement for hours during marathons.

The incrediRUN foam that Saucony uses compresses spectacularly, and has been paired with a wider net base than the Elite 2 had, and a toe rocker that activates later in your stride. As a result, the Endorphin Elite 3 feels more stable underfoot and less "tippy" than the previous model. It's still a very high-riding shoe, and sharp turns should be approached with caution, but the shoe's SpeedRoll construction eases you through smooth strides while emphasizing comfort.

The upper feels light and breathable, and we liked the sewn-in stretchy tongue. Generally speaking, the shoe gave us a nice comfortable fit in the upper. As one small note, Jonathan experienced some slight pressure on the top of his foot, which he was able to easily resolve with relacing.

The Endorphin Elite 3 provides a good lockdown that's true to size, which worked well for our variety of foot shapes, with enough space to accommodate the foot swelling that occurs over longer efforts. The toe box is significantly roomier than what we found in the cramped version 2, and the heel cup felt more confident and secure with just a thin bit of extra padding. The stretchy, one-piece, sock-fit tongue seems nicely adaptive.

"These are two very different shoes that produce the same result: faster-paced marathons. The Nike Alphafly Next% 3 has a snappy feel that is taut underfoot. Even though it has a lot of cushioning, I felt connected to the ground. The Saucony is soft and feels like a comfort-cruiser.

Despite the differences, both shoes resulted in similar paces at the high end of my zone 2 heart rate and both were significantly faster (30 seconds per mile) at this heart rate compared to daily trainers. It should be noted that my footstrikes were loud in the Nike." -Jonathan

"At ~7 oz, the Alphafly and the Endorphin Elite 3 are both about an ounce heavier than other super shoes. In the world of pinnacle racing performance, that’s a BIG difference, and I can absolutely feel the difference on foot while running.

At first, the Alphafly’s sock-fit opening is tougher to slip into, but the overall upper fit is similar enough to the Saucony. ZoomX is quite soft and crushable in the heel, but (very importantly) the Air Zoom units in the forefoot give a firmer responsiveness advantage to the Nike, for me." -Loucas

"I would say the Saucony Endorphin 3 has an adaptable fit compared to the Nike Alphafly Next% 3. The Alphafly is snugger around the midfoot compared to the rest of the shoe; the Endorphin overall does not feel snug anywhere." -Aliyah

"First off, the METASPEED Sky Tokyo is the bargain of this group, at $20-30 less than the others. It’s also the lightest. While ASICS' FF Leap foam is quite soft and highly responsive, it’s not as soft as Saucony's incrediRUN. The Sky Tokyo feels much firmer right under your sole, because the FF Leap is bottom-loaded, with the top-loaded carbon plate quite close to your foot.

I don’t feel a forward drop in the ASICS, and its relatively modest rocker doesn’t exactly throw me into toe-offs. The ASICS has the narrowest base width footprint of this group. Combined with the soft FF Leap, it can feel the most outwardly tippy. I’m VERY aware of the “narrow” arch feel of the upper material/fit of the ASICS, plus a slightly loose heel fit. And yet despite all of that, the Sky Tokyo is very hard to beat for value, light weight, and responsive performance." -Loucas

"Tricky! In terms of weight, the METASPEED Sky Tokyo has the Endorphin Elite beat by an ounce and a half. Weight isn’t everything, but it lends itself to the METASPEED’s faster feel. The Endorphin Elite falls into a steady cruising state for me, while the METASPEED is more aggressive and ready to push the pace.

For full-marathon comfort, the Endorphin Elite may have my pick, but that’s coming from a non-elite runner who might have a hard time with the more aggressive option for multiple hours." -Cameron