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40Race Shoe FinderEst. 2023 · London

Head to head

ASICS Magic Speed 5vs
PUMA Deviate Nitro Elite 3

Magic Speed 5

£130

Typical street price · £150 RRP

38mm — road legal
Deviate Nitro Elite 3

£109

Typical street price · £200 RRP

38mm — 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 300km.

Choose the Deviate Nitro Elite 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: 175g against 218g, a 43g 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.
  • Money matters: it is selling around £109 against £130, and the time difference between them is smaller than the price difference suggests.
  • You are racing 5K — built for it, where the Magic Speed 5 is not.

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–158sDeviate Nitro Elite 3: 145s–219s
Cost per second saved
Magic Speed 5: £0.14Deviate Nitro Elite 3: £0.13

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
010203040503830
Deviate Nitro Elite 3

What you pay

Street price
Magic Speed 5£130
Deviate Nitro Elite 3£109■

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

RRP
Magic Speed 5£150
Deviate Nitro Elite 3£200

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

Cost per race
Magic Speed 5£16■
Deviate Nitro Elite 3£23

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

Cost per second saved
Magic Speed 5£0.14
Deviate Nitro Elite 3£0.13■

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

What it does

Estimated saving
Magic Speed 583s–158s
Deviate Nitro Elite 3145s–219s■

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

Economy gain
Magic Speed 52–3.1%
Deviate Nitro Elite 32.9–4%■
Built for
Magic Speed 510K · Half · Marathon
Deviate Nitro Elite 35K · 10K · 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.
Deviate Nitro Elite 3The sane sibling to the Fast-R. Light, versatile, considerably cheaper, and easily the most underrated racer here.

How it is built

Weight
Magic Speed 5218 g
Deviate Nitro Elite 3175 g■

Manufacturer figure at men's US 9.

Stack (heel)
Magic Speed 538 mm
Deviate Nitro Elite 338 mm
Stack (forefoot)
Magic Speed 531 mm
Deviate Nitro Elite 330 mm
Drop
Magic Speed 57 mm
Deviate Nitro Elite 38 mm
Foam
Magic Speed 5FF Blast Turbo
Deviate Nitro Elite 3NITROFOAM Elite
Plate
Magic Speed 5carbon fibre
Deviate Nitro Elite 3carbon fibre

Rules and fit

Road legal
Magic Speed 5Yes (38 mm)
Deviate Nitro Elite 3Yes (38 mm)

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

Fit
Magic Speed 5standard
Deviate Nitro Elite 3standard
Stability
Magic Speed 5stable
Deviate Nitro Elite 3balanced

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

Race life
Magic Speed 5~500 km■
Deviate Nitro Elite 3~300 km

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

Data confidence
Magic Speed 5estimated
Deviate Nitro Elite 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£109at Startfitness — £91 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.