Saucony Endorphin Elite 3 Review

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

For a marathon 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. That softness feels like a letdown at 10k pace or faster, but if you're trying to hold medium-fast paces for an extended period of time, the Elite 3 feels at home there. We unanimously found that it's not a great fast shoe. But it is a great endurance shoe. Or, in the words of Cameron, "the shoe could run at race paces, but it didn't feel like it wanted to push the 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 the equation off.

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.

The Endorphin Elite 3 has, arguably, the most comfortable underfoot cushioning of all the top-level super shoes.

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 is light and breathable with a sewn-in stretchy tongue, which feels great, but which led to occasional pressure across the tops of our feet.

The Endorphin Elite 3 provides a good lockdown that's true to size, 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. Its standard/normal laces are fine, but I usually prefer serrated racing laces for this type of shoe.

"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