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The Velocity Nitro line has been one of our favourite value picks for a few years now, and we’ve rated pretty much every version that’s come before it, including the Puma Velocity Nitro 4. The Velocity Nitro 5 carries that on, but it lands in a market that’s moved on a lot since the original launched.
For a similar price you can now get shoes like the Adidas Adizero Evo SL or Puma’s own Deviate Pure Nitro, both of which offer a bit more versatility, so the Velocity Nitro 5 has more work to do to stand out than earlier versions did. You can see how it stacks up against the wider field in our round-up of the best running shoes.
Design & Key Stats
- Price: £110 / $140
- Weight: 244g / 8.6oz (men’s UK size 8)
- Drop: 8mm (35/27)
- Midsole: Nitrofoam made from 100% aliphatic TPU
- Upper: Engineered mesh
- Outsole: PumaGrip rubber
Puma Velocity Nitro 5 Review
How’s The Fit?
We tested the Velocity Nitro 5 in a UK 8 and a UK 8.5, and found Puma’s sizing to run a little long and narrow, which is consistent with what we’ve found across the rest of the best Puma running shoes.
If you’ve got a narrower foot, or you sit between two sizes, going half a size down is likely to give you a better fit. If you always wear the same size, the standard size should work fine.
There’s a fair bit of padding around the heel and tongue, and the toe box has just about the right amount of room without feeling excessive. Runners with wider feet should take note, as this isn’t an especially roomy shoe through the midfoot.
The padding around the heel and tongue is generous, and while that’s more than some of us would want personally, it never became a problem on the run and helped keep things comfortable over longer distances.
The Run Test: Likes
The outsole is still one of the best parts of the shoe. The PumaGrip rubber gives fantastic traction, almost gravel-shoe level grip, with more exposed foam on the bottom than you’d get on many actual gravel shoes, yet the grip is still fantastic across a range of surfaces. It’s a thick layer of that PumaGrip material too, so durability should be strong over the life of the shoe. It’s a shoe we’d happily use on light trails or towpaths as well as the road.
It’s a comfortable shoe for easy and steady running, and it held up well over a 50km test period that included a long run plus a mix of easy and steady sessions. There’s enough cushioning at the heel to keep most runners happy, and while the midsole foam isn’t the bounciest or most responsive we’ve tried, it ticks over nicely at those relaxed paces and never felt harsh, even with the fairly low stack underfoot.
The ride itself is simple and dependable rather than doing anything unusual, which is exactly what we’ve come to expect and like about this line. It’s a shoe that will handle everything from easy recovery runs to your regular daily mileage without fuss, and can even step up to occasional faster efforts or workouts without feeling out of its depth, since it’s not a heavy shoe to begin with.
On top of all that, it’s still excellent value, particularly once the price drops closer to the £60 to £70 mark in the UK, which it regularly does, making it a shoe several of us would happily recommend to friends looking for a dependable, no-nonsense workhorse trainer.
The Run Test: Dislikes
This is a relatively low stack shoe underfoot, and while that’s fine at easy paces, we did notice it in the forefoot in particular. It can feel a bit thin if you’re pushing on for longer distances, and especially if you’re speeding up towards faster paces, where it doesn’t feel quite as full or give you as much energy back as some rivals with a slightly higher stack, such as Puma’s own Deviate Pure Nitro or the Saucony Endorphin Azura.
The midsole foam, while decent, isn’t quite as pingy or responsive as we’d like either, and it doesn’t feel as lively as the PEBA-style foam Puma uses in some of its other Nitro shoes.
iIf you already own the Velocity Nitro 4 there isn’t a huge amount here to tempt you into an upgrade. It’s also not a shoe we’d reach for when it comes to speed work or tempo running. There just isn’t a lot of roll-through or energy return built into the ride, so it’s best kept for comfortable, easy-to-steady daily efforts rather than anything faster.
While it’s still a good shoe in isolation, it’s increasingly hard to make the case for it as a standout pick given how many other daily trainers now offer similar value with a bit more versatility thrown in.
Verdict And Alternatives
The Velocity Nitro 5 is still a good running shoe, and if you like a straightforward, traditional daily trainer with decent midsole foam and excellent grip, it continues to deliver on that. It’s not a hyper-rockered ride and doesn’t feel unnatural underfoot, so it makes a solid, balanced base for daily mileage.
Where it struggles is against the sheer number of good value daily trainers now available at a similar price. The Adidas Adizero Evo SL is a genuine rival on price and offers more overall, though the Velocity Nitro 5 is more stable and a little more accessible for newer runners. If you can stretch your budget slightly, Puma’s own Deviate Pure Nitro is a step up, with a more enjoyable and bouncier midsole.
For a smoother, more flowing ride at a slightly higher price point, the Hoka Mach 7 is also worth a look, and if you want a bit more bounce underfoot, the New Balance Rebel v5 is another strong option in this part of the market, and you can see how it fits into the wider New Balance range in our best New Balance running shoes round-up. For more of Saucony’s options, our best Saucony running shoes round-up covers the Endorphin Azura and its stablemates in more detail.
Overall, this is still a solid, good value shoe that does exactly what you’d expect from the Velocity Nitro line. It just isn’t the standout it once was, given how strong the competition has become in this part of the market.