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40Race Shoe FinderEst. 2023 · London

Head to head

New Balance FuelCell SC Elite v5vs
Saucony Endorphin Pro 4

FuelCell SC Elite v5

£135

Typical street price · £250 RRP

40mm — on the limit
Endorphin Pro 4

£120

Typical street price · £210 RRP

36mm — road legal

Choose the FuelCell SC Elite v5 if…

  • You want the bigger return: 3.3–4.5% economy gain against 2.7–3.8%, and that gap widens the longer you are out there.
  • You want more shoe underneath you late on: 40mm against 36mm, which is protection over a long race rather than speed over a short one.
  • You want the lighter shoe: 182g against 217g, a 35g difference you will feel late in a race.
  • You have a broad foot, or your toes spread as a long race goes on.

Choose the Endorphin Pro 4 if…

  • You want a conventional fit rather than a narrow or wide last.
  • You want more races out of one pair: about 350km of competitive life against 250km.
  • You are racing 10K — built for it, where the FuelCell SC Elite v5 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
FuelCell SC Elite v5: 172s–253sEndorphin Pro 4: 131s–206s
Cost per second saved
FuelCell SC Elite v5: £0.16Endorphin 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.

010203040504036
FuelCell SC Elite v5
010203040503628
Endorphin Pro 4

What you pay

Street price
FuelCell SC Elite v5£135
Endorphin Pro 4£120■

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

RRP
FuelCell SC Elite v5£250
Endorphin Pro 4£210

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

Cost per race
FuelCell SC Elite v5£34
Endorphin Pro 4£22■

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

Cost per second saved
FuelCell SC Elite v5£0.16
Endorphin Pro 4£0.13■

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

What it does

Estimated saving
FuelCell SC Elite v5172s–253s■
Endorphin Pro 4131s–206s

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

Economy gain
FuelCell SC Elite v53.3–4.5%■
Endorphin Pro 42.7–3.8%
Built for
FuelCell SC Elite v5Half · Marathon
Endorphin Pro 410K · Half · Marathon
Best use case
FuelCell SC Elite v5The best super shoe for wide feet, and one of the most stable at full stack. A 4mm drop and a broad platform make it unusually forgiving late in a marathon.
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
FuelCell SC Elite v5182 g■
Endorphin Pro 4217 g

Manufacturer figure at men's US 9.

Stack (heel)
FuelCell SC Elite v540 mm
Endorphin Pro 436 mm
Stack (forefoot)
FuelCell SC Elite v536 mm
Endorphin Pro 428 mm
Drop
FuelCell SC Elite v54 mm
Endorphin Pro 48 mm
Foam
FuelCell SC Elite v5PEBA FuelCell
Endorphin Pro 4PWRRUN HG
Plate
FuelCell SC Elite v5carbon fibre
Endorphin Pro 4carbon fibre

Rules and fit

Road legal
FuelCell SC Elite v5Yes (40 mm)
Endorphin Pro 4Yes (36 mm)

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

Fit
FuelCell SC Elite v5wide
Endorphin Pro 4standard
Stability
FuelCell SC Elite v5stable
Endorphin Pro 4stable

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

Race life
FuelCell SC Elite v5~250 km
Endorphin Pro 4~350 km■

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

Data confidence
FuelCell SC Elite v5verified
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£135at Runningbear — £115 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.