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40Race Shoe FinderEst. 2023 · London

Head to head

Nike Vaporfly 4vs
Saucony Endorphin Elite 2

Vaporfly 4

£120

Typical street price · £255 RRP

35mm — road legal
Endorphin Elite 2

£149

Typical street price · £250 RRP

39.5mm — on the limit

Choose the Vaporfly 4 if…

  • You want the bigger return: 3.2–4.4% economy gain against 3–4.2%, and that gap widens the longer you are out there.
  • You want the lighter shoe: 184g against 199g, a 15g difference you will feel late in a race.
  • Money matters: it is selling around £120 against £149, and the time difference between them is smaller than the price difference suggests.
  • You are racing 5K or 10K — built for it, where the Endorphin Elite 2 is not.

Choose the Endorphin Elite 2 if…

  • 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.

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
Vaporfly 4: 165s–246sEndorphin Elite 2: 152s–233s
Cost per second saved
Vaporfly 4: £0.15Endorphin Elite 2: £0.20

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.

010203040503529
Vaporfly 4
0102030405039.531.5
Endorphin Elite 2

What you pay

Street price
Vaporfly 4£120■
Endorphin Elite 2£149

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

RRP
Vaporfly 4£255
Endorphin Elite 2£250

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

Cost per race
Vaporfly 4£32■
Endorphin Elite 2£39

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

Cost per second saved
Vaporfly 4£0.15■
Endorphin Elite 2£0.20

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

What it does

Estimated saving
Vaporfly 4165s–246s■
Endorphin Elite 2152s–233s

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

Economy gain
Vaporfly 43.2–4.4%■
Endorphin Elite 23–4.2%
Built for
Vaporfly 45K · 10K · Half · Marathon
Endorphin Elite 2Half · Marathon
Best use case
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.
Endorphin Elite 2Superseded by the Elite 3, which means it is now one of the best-value top-end racers you can find if you catch it discounted.

How it is built

Weight
Vaporfly 4184 g■
Endorphin Elite 2199 g

Manufacturer figure at men's US 9.

Stack (heel)
Vaporfly 435 mm
Endorphin Elite 239.5 mm
Stack (forefoot)
Vaporfly 429 mm
Endorphin Elite 231.5 mm
Drop
Vaporfly 46 mm
Endorphin Elite 28 mm
Foam
Vaporfly 4ZoomX
Endorphin Elite 2IncrediRUN
Plate
Vaporfly 4carbon fibre
Endorphin Elite 2carbon fibre

Rules and fit

Road legal
Vaporfly 4Yes (35 mm)
Endorphin Elite 2Yes (39.5 mm)

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

Fit
Vaporfly 4standard
Endorphin Elite 2standard
Stability
Vaporfly 4balanced
Endorphin Elite 2balanced

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

Race life
Vaporfly 4~240 km
Endorphin Elite 2~240 km

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

Data confidence
Vaporfly 4verified
Endorphin Elite 2verified

■ 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£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.

Where to buy

Your UK size

Best price today — some sizes£149at Startfitness — £101 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.