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40Race Shoe FinderEst. 2023 · London

Head to head

ASICS Metaspeed Rayvs
Nike Vaporfly 4

Metaspeed Ray

approx £164

Estimated street price · £250 RRP

39.5mm — on the limit
Vaporfly 4

£120

Typical street price · £255 RRP

35mm — road legal

Choose the Metaspeed Ray if…

  • You want the bigger return: 3.7–4.9% economy gain against 3.2–4.4%, and that gap widens the longer you are out there.
  • You want more shoe underneath you late on: 39.5mm against 35mm, which is protection over a long race rather than speed over a short one.
  • You want the lighter shoe: 129g against 184g, a 55g 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.
  • You have a narrow foot and want to be locked in.

Choose the Vaporfly 4 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 a conventional fit rather than a narrow or wide last.
  • Money matters: it is selling around £120 against £164, and the time difference between them is smaller than the price difference suggests.
  • You want more races out of one pair: about 240km of competitive life against 130km.
  • You are racing 5K or 10K — built for it, where the Metaspeed Ray 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
Metaspeed Ray: 199s–280sVaporfly 4: 165s–246s
Cost per second saved
Metaspeed Ray: £0.33Vaporfly 4: £0.15

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.

0102030405039.534.5
Metaspeed Ray
010203040503529
Vaporfly 4

What you pay

Street price
Metaspeed Ray~£164
Vaporfly 4£120■

A tilde marks an estimate: no shop we read is currently listing that shoe, so the figure is RRP less the discount comparable shoes are actually selling at.

RRP
Metaspeed Ray£250
Vaporfly 4£255

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

Cost per race
Metaspeed Ray£80
Vaporfly 4£32■

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

Cost per second saved
Metaspeed Ray£0.33
Vaporfly 4£0.15■

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

What it does

Estimated saving
Metaspeed Ray199s–280s■
Vaporfly 4165s–246s

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

Economy gain
Metaspeed Ray3.7–4.9%■
Vaporfly 43.2–4.4%
Built for
Metaspeed RayHalf · Marathon
Vaporfly 45K · 10K · Half · Marathon
Best use case
Metaspeed RayASICS answering the Adios Pro Evo directly. At 129g it is the lightest shoe here, and it feels like almost nothing on the foot.
Vaporfly 4The most versatile super shoe on sale. Light enough for a 5K, cushioned enough for a marathon, and the fourth generation fixed the upper problems that made the VF3 divisive.

How it is built

Weight
Metaspeed Ray129 g■
Vaporfly 4184 g

Manufacturer figure at men's US 9.

Stack (heel)
Metaspeed Ray39.5 mm
Vaporfly 435 mm
Stack (forefoot)
Metaspeed Ray34.5 mm
Vaporfly 429 mm
Drop
Metaspeed Ray5 mm
Vaporfly 46 mm
Foam
Metaspeed RayFF Leap
Vaporfly 4ZoomX
Plate
Metaspeed Raycarbon fibre
Vaporfly 4carbon fibre

Rules and fit

Road legal
Metaspeed RayYes (39.5 mm)
Vaporfly 4Yes (35 mm)

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

Fit
Metaspeed Raynarrow
Vaporfly 4standard
Stability
Metaspeed Raydemanding
Vaporfly 4balanced

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

Race life
Metaspeed Ray~130 km
Vaporfly 4~240 km■

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

Data confidence
Metaspeed Rayverified
Vaporfly 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

No retailer we can read publishes a live price for this shoe, so we cannot check your size. The links below go to each retailer’s own search, where they show the current price and what they hold.

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£110.25at Runlimited — £144.74 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.