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40Race Shoe FinderEst. 2023 · London

Head to head

ASICS Magic Speed 5vs
Saucony Endorphin Pro 4

Magic Speed 5

£130

Typical street price · £150 RRP

38mm — road legal
Endorphin Pro 4

£120

Typical street price · £210 RRP

36mm — road legal

Choose the Magic Speed 5 if…

  • You want more races out of one pair: about 500km of competitive life against 350km.

Choose the Endorphin Pro 4 if…

  • You want the bigger return: 2.7–3.8% economy gain against 2–3.1%, and that gap widens the longer you are out there.
  • You would rather buy on measured numbers: this shoe's specs are manufacturer-confirmed, the Magic Speed 5's are estimated.

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–158sEndorphin Pro 4: 131s–206s
Cost per second saved
Magic Speed 5: £0.14Endorphin Pro 4: £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
010203040503628
Endorphin Pro 4

What you pay

Street price
Magic Speed 5£130
Endorphin Pro 4£120■

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

RRP
Magic Speed 5£150
Endorphin Pro 4£210

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

Cost per race
Magic Speed 5£16■
Endorphin Pro 4£22

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

Cost per second saved
Magic Speed 5£0.14
Endorphin Pro 4£0.13■

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

What it does

Estimated saving
Magic Speed 583s–158s
Endorphin Pro 4131s–206s■

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

Economy gain
Magic Speed 52–3.1%
Endorphin Pro 42.7–3.8%■
Built for
Magic Speed 510K · Half · Marathon
Endorphin Pro 410K · 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.
Endorphin Pro 4The stable, sane super shoe. Lower stack, wider base, far less demanding than the flagships and much longer lasting.

How it is built

Weight
Magic Speed 5218 g
Endorphin Pro 4217 g■

Manufacturer figure at men's US 9.

Stack (heel)
Magic Speed 538 mm
Endorphin Pro 436 mm
Stack (forefoot)
Magic Speed 531 mm
Endorphin Pro 428 mm
Drop
Magic Speed 57 mm
Endorphin Pro 48 mm
Foam
Magic Speed 5FF Blast Turbo
Endorphin Pro 4PWRRUN HG
Plate
Magic Speed 5carbon fibre
Endorphin Pro 4carbon fibre

Rules and fit

Road legal
Magic Speed 5Yes (38 mm)
Endorphin Pro 4Yes (36 mm)

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

Fit
Magic Speed 5standard
Endorphin Pro 4standard
Stability
Magic Speed 5stable
Endorphin Pro 4stable

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

Race life
Magic Speed 5~500 km■
Endorphin Pro 4~350 km

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

Data confidence
Magic Speed 5estimated
Endorphin Pro 4verified■

■ 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£119.99at Run North West — £90.01 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.