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40Race Shoe FinderEst. 2023 · London

Head to head

HOKA Rocket X 3vs
Saucony Endorphin Pro 4

Rocket X 3

£140

Typical street price · £220 RRP

39mm — road legal
Endorphin Pro 4

£120

Typical street price · £210 RRP

36mm — road legal

Choose the Rocket X 3 if…

  • You want the bigger return: 2.9–4% economy gain against 2.7–3.8%, and that gap widens the longer you are out there.
  • You want the lighter shoe: 200g against 217g, a 17g 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.

Choose the Endorphin Pro 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 more races out of one pair: about 350km of competitive life against 280km.
  • You would rather buy on measured numbers: this shoe's specs are manufacturer-confirmed, the Rocket X 3'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
Rocket X 3: 145s–219sEndorphin Pro 4: 131s–206s
Cost per second saved
Rocket X 3: £0.17Endorphin 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.

010203040503934
Rocket X 3
010203040503628
Endorphin Pro 4

What you pay

Street price
Rocket X 3£140
Endorphin Pro 4£120■

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

RRP
Rocket X 3£220
Endorphin Pro 4£210

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

Cost per race
Rocket X 3£32
Endorphin Pro 4£22■

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

Cost per second saved
Rocket X 3£0.17
Endorphin Pro 4£0.13■

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

What it does

Estimated saving
Rocket X 3145s–219s■
Endorphin Pro 4131s–206s

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

Economy gain
Rocket X 32.9–4%■
Endorphin Pro 42.7–3.8%
Built for
Rocket X 310K · Half · Marathon
Endorphin Pro 410K · Half · Marathon
Best use case
Rocket X 3HOKA’s legal racer, and much the better shoe for anyone who actually needs to comply with the rules. Balanced and predictable.
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
Rocket X 3200 g■
Endorphin Pro 4217 g

Manufacturer figure at men's US 9.

Stack (heel)
Rocket X 339 mm
Endorphin Pro 436 mm
Stack (forefoot)
Rocket X 334 mm
Endorphin Pro 428 mm
Drop
Rocket X 35 mm
Endorphin Pro 48 mm
Foam
Rocket X 3PEBA
Endorphin Pro 4PWRRUN HG
Plate
Rocket X 3carbon fibre
Endorphin Pro 4carbon fibre

Rules and fit

Road legal
Rocket X 3Yes (39 mm)
Endorphin Pro 4Yes (36 mm)

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

Fit
Rocket X 3standard
Endorphin Pro 4standard
Stability
Rocket X 3balanced
Endorphin Pro 4stable

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

Race life
Rocket X 3~280 km
Endorphin Pro 4~350 km■

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

Data confidence
Rocket X 3estimated
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£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.

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.