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40Race Shoe FinderEst. 2023 · London

Head to head

ASICS Magic Speed 5vs
HOKA Rocket X 3

Magic Speed 5

£130

Typical street price · £150 RRP

38mm — road legal
Rocket X 3

£140

Typical street price · £220 RRP

39mm — road legal

Choose the Magic Speed 5 if…

  • You want something more forgiving. This is the steadier platform — useful if your form goes late, or if you are on your feet longer.
  • You want more races out of one pair: about 500km of competitive life against 280km.

Choose the Rocket X 3 if…

  • You want the bigger return: 2.9–4% economy gain against 2–3.1%, and that gap widens the longer you are out there.
  • You want the lighter shoe: 200g against 218g, a 18g difference you will feel late in a race.
  • You race off a strong, repeatable stride and want the more aggressive ride rather than the safer one.

What does this
mean for you?

Every figure below is recalculated from your race and your current time. The gap between two shoes is not fixed — it grows with how long you are on your feet.

Over marathon from 3:45:00

Time back
Magic Speed 5: 83s–158sRocket X 3: 145s–219s
Cost per second saved
Magic Speed 5: £0.14Rocket X 3: £0.17

Ranges, not promises. Both figures are against a standard trainer, and the honest answer for most runners is that the difference between two shoes of this class is smaller than the difference a month of decent training makes.

Every number.

010203040503831
Magic Speed 5
010203040503934
Rocket X 3

What you pay

Street price
Magic Speed 5£130■
Rocket X 3£140

What the shoe is actually selling for across the shops we read, not its RRP.

RRP
Magic Speed 5£150
Rocket X 3£220

List price. Almost nobody pays it for a race shoe.

Cost per race
Magic Speed 5£16■
Rocket X 3£32

Street price divided by the races the foam stays fast for.

Cost per second saved
Magic Speed 5£0.14■
Rocket X 3£0.17

The whole-life question: what each second of race time costs you.

What it does

Estimated saving
Magic Speed 583s–158s
Rocket X 3145s–219s■

Against a standard trainer, over the distance and time set above.

Economy gain
Magic Speed 52–3.1%
Rocket X 32.9–4%■
Built for
Magic Speed 510K · Half · Marathon
Rocket X 310K · Half · Marathon
Best use case
Magic Speed 5The best entry point to carbon. Real plate, real super foam, durable enough to train in, and about half the price of the flagships.
Rocket X 3HOKA’s legal racer, and much the better shoe for anyone who actually needs to comply with the rules. Balanced and predictable.

How it is built

Weight
Magic Speed 5218 g
Rocket X 3200 g■

Manufacturer figure at men's US 9.

Stack (heel)
Magic Speed 538 mm
Rocket X 339 mm
Stack (forefoot)
Magic Speed 531 mm
Rocket X 334 mm
Drop
Magic Speed 57 mm
Rocket X 35 mm
Foam
Magic Speed 5FF Blast Turbo
Rocket X 3PEBA
Plate
Magic Speed 5carbon fibre
Rocket X 3carbon fibre

Rules and fit

Road legal
Magic Speed 5Yes (38 mm)
Rocket X 3Yes (39 mm)

World Athletics caps road racing shoes at 40 mm of stack.

Fit
Magic Speed 5standard
Rocket X 3standard
Stability
Magic Speed 5stable
Rocket X 3balanced

Neither is better in the abstract — it depends on your stride.

Race life
Magic Speed 5~500 km■
Rocket X 3~280 km

How long the foam stays fast, not how long the shoe survives.

Data confidence
Magic Speed 5estimated
Rocket X 3estimated

■ marks the better figure where one is genuinely better. Fit, foam, drop and stability carry no mark — they depend on your foot and your stride, not on which shoe is superior.

In your size.

Where to buy

Your UK size

Best price today — some sizes£119at Startfitness — £31 under RRP

9 retailer checks failed on the last run, so their prices are missing rather than wrong.

Prices are captured when the site is built and stamped with the time of that check. We never rank a retailer by what it pays us; where a link earns a commission it is marked sponsored and the price you pay is unchanged.

Where to buy

Your UK size

Best price today — some sizes£140at Interval Running — £80 under RRP

9 retailer checks failed on the last run, so their prices are missing rather than wrong.

Prices are captured when the site is built and stamped with the time of that check. We never rank a retailer by what it pays us; where a link earns a commission it is marked sponsored and the price you pay is unchanged.