Nike Vaporfly 3 Review

The original Vaporfly introduced the world to “super shoes,” and the Vaporfly 3 carries on that legacy. We think it's still one of the better race shoes on the market. Nike's supercritical ZoomX foam saves our legs from pounding during the hardest efforts, and the aggressive geometry promotes a snappy toe-off.

Performance Comparison

Landing Comfort

The ZoomX foam might be the best part of the Vaporfly 3. Coming in just under World Athletic regulations for maximum stack height, we measured 39 mm of bouncy foam in the heel and 28 mm in the front. That's a thick chunk of extremely lightweight padding.

In combination with the carbon plate, the energy from each impact is absorbed by the foam and feels as though it's redirected into forward motion. It makes each landing very comfortable, even at the end of a long, hard run. We didn't experience any bottoming out, although the landing experience on loose dirt or gravel was significantly less enjoyable.

The Vaporfly earned excellent scores in this metric. There is a caveat, though — it's a shoe that thrives at marathon pace or faster. It starts to feel less enjoyable at slower paces. The cushioning remains high, and it still feels plush and comfortable, but we just didn't enjoy it as much. That likely has to do with the fact that this is a very stiff, carbon-plated shoe, so it isn't as pliable when you're not putting as much force through it.

We are a big fan of the generous forefoot padding. That's one area where the Vaporfly stands out compared to many other shoes on the market, particularly others with carbon plates. Often, we experience some harshness in the ride of carbon-plated shoes, particularly in the mid/forefoot area. We experienced none of that with the Vaporfly, just a smooth and energetic ride.

Responsiveness

The Vaporfly 3 is a very fast race shoe that makes use of a gentle rocker and extremely high energy return to give best-in-class responsiveness. At the end of the forefoot, the shoe feels as though it's throwing you forward into a snappy toe-off. It's less pronounced than in previous models, making it feel more natural, but when you lean into the shoe, the propulsion is very apparent.

The responsiveness of the shoe makes it a natural for hard efforts and races. It feels fantastic down to about mile pace, at which point the mass of the shoe starts to get in the way. That same responsiveness makes this a poor choice for easy runs. It's hard to run slowly in the Vaporfly.

This is one area where we think the Vaporfly is outclassed by the competition. Shoes like the Saucony Endorphin Pro 4 are slightly less responsive, which means their top end doesn't feel quite as fast and effortless, but they also are a little easier to run slowly in. When it comes to getting after hard efforts, the Vaporfly 3 is great. We just don't recommend it for anything else.

Stability

A high stack of bouncy foam, lightweight upper, and low traction means this shouldn't be your first choice for either lateral stability or motion support. The Vaporfly isn't a trainer, so it absolutely is not a shoe to buy for day-to-day use. It actually feels very unstable while standing in it. The foam compresses and doesn't provide much direction. As soon as you start running, that feeling disappears, and the shoe feels much more stable. However, it's stiff and tall. It doesn't do particularly well on high-speed turns or uneven terrain. We tested this model on the track a number of times and found that while it does well at 3k-5k paced work, the height of the shoe starts to feel unstable in turns faster than mile pace.

Upper Comfort

The Vaporfly sports an absurdly light and airy upper that's perfect for race day. As a race shoe, there isn't a ton of room in the toe box, but there is good forefoot lockdown. It doesn't feel cramped, but you definitely get the feeling that it's designed for going fast, not relaxing and spreading out.

The lacing system is different from most shoes, with the laces running down the top of the foot towards the outside of the shoe rather than down the middle. We found that this allowed for a good lockdown. It also helped offset this shoe's only real negative — the tongue is just weird. It's thin, oddly wide, made of mesh, and isn't gusseted. We initially experienced some slippage until we laced up tighter. Nothing that caused much concern for hot spots, but still, it seems like a strange place to cut weight in a shoe designed to race 26.2 miles.

The laces of the Vaporfly are nicely designed to hold tension. We wish more laces used the same ridged shape. The heel fit and hold are also interesting. There isn't an extremely pronounced heel cup to lock in the heel, but the padding on the inside of it does a good job of holding everything down with minimal friction. We actually were surprised at how well our heel was locked down. When wearing the shoe, it looks as though the upper is loose around the heel and ankle, but we had no issues with rubbing or heel-lift.

Weight

A shoe with this much foam that is this light seems impossible. Coming in at 7.24 ounces per size US men's 10.5 shoe, the Vaporfly is lighter than some track spikes. Sure, some sacrifices were made to achieve this low weight. The upper isn't plush, but we don't need a plush upper when all we care about is speed. The traction could be better; in fact, we really think a bit of added weight for slightly better grip in cold and wet conditions would be worth it. Overall, though, it's pretty silly to complain about a race shoe being too light.

Traction

As we noted earlier, the landing experience in this shoe isn't as enjoyable on loose surfaces. Some of that has to do with stability, but we also found the ZoomX is easily worn or damaged on abrasive surfaces. Occasionally, we could feel larger rocks striking the plate when running at high speeds. Obviously, running on gravel or rocky dirt roads is well outside the intended purpose of this shoe, so we don't count that against it. We do, however, wish there was a bit more grip — the Vaporfly has poor traction on wet pavement at race pace.

Should You Buy the Nike Vaporfly 3?

If you're chasing a new PR or a qualifying time in your next race and want the best shoe to do it in, we think the Vaporfly 3 should be one of your top choices. It's a racer and a versatile one at that. There aren't many shoes that are faster over 10K and up for most runners, and very few that can compete with it over 5K. Of course, premium performance commands a premium price, and you can't really use this shoe for anything other than going fast. The shoes don't make the runner — but they sure make you feel fast!

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