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40Race Shoe FinderEst. 2023 · London

Head to head

HOKA Cielo X1 2.0vs
Saucony Endorphin Pro 4

Cielo X1 2.0

£150

Typical street price · £250 RRP

■ 46mm — over limit
Endorphin Pro 4

£120

Typical street price · £210 RRP

36mm — road legal

Choose the Cielo X1 2.0 if…

  • You want more shoe underneath you late on: 46mm against 36mm, which is protection over a long race rather than speed over a short one.
  • You are racing Ultra / 50K+ — built for it, where the Endorphin Pro 4 is not.

Choose the Endorphin Pro 4 if…

  • Your race is run under World Athletics rules — this one is legal at 36mm and the Cielo X1 2.0 is not.
  • Money matters: it is selling around £120 against £150, and the time difference between them is smaller than the price difference suggests.
  • You are racing 10K or Half marathon — built for it, where the Cielo X1 2.0 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
Cielo X1 2.0: 138s–219sEndorphin Pro 4: 131s–206s
Cost per second saved
Cielo X1 2.0: £0.15Endorphin 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.

010203040504639
Cielo X1 2.0
010203040503628
Endorphin Pro 4

What you pay

Street price
Cielo X1 2.0£150
Endorphin Pro 4£120■

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

RRP
Cielo X1 2.0£250
Endorphin Pro 4£210

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

Cost per race
Cielo X1 2.0£27
Endorphin Pro 4£22■

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

Cost per second saved
Cielo X1 2.0£0.15
Endorphin Pro 4£0.13■

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

What it does

Estimated saving
Cielo X1 2.0138s–219s■
Endorphin Pro 4131s–206s

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

Economy gain
Cielo X1 2.02.8–4%■
Endorphin Pro 42.7–3.8%
Built for
Cielo X1 2.0Marathon · Ultra
Endorphin Pro 410K · Half · Marathon
Best use case
Cielo X1 2.0Enormous, cushioned and surprisingly stable. For heavier runners and slower marathoners it may genuinely be the most comfortable way to cover 42km fast.
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
Cielo X1 2.0230 g
Endorphin Pro 4217 g■

Manufacturer figure at men's US 9.

Stack (heel)
Cielo X1 2.046 mm
Endorphin Pro 436 mm
Stack (forefoot)
Cielo X1 2.039 mm
Endorphin Pro 428 mm
Drop
Cielo X1 2.07 mm
Endorphin Pro 48 mm
Foam
Cielo X1 2.0PEBA
Endorphin Pro 4PWRRUN HG
Plate
Cielo X1 2.0carbon fibre
Endorphin Pro 4carbon fibre

Rules and fit

Road legal
Cielo X1 2.0No (46 mm)
Endorphin Pro 4Yes (36 mm)■

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

Fit
Cielo X1 2.0standard
Endorphin Pro 4standard
Stability
Cielo X1 2.0stable
Endorphin Pro 4stable

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

Race life
Cielo X1 2.0~350 km
Endorphin Pro 4~350 km

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

Data confidence
Cielo X1 2.0verified
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£150at Armaghsports — £100 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.