Nike Zoom Fly 5 vs 4 Comparison Running Shoe Review
The main difference between the carbon-plated Nike Zoom Fly 5 and the Nike Zoom Fly 4 is that the Nike Zoom Fly 5 features a recycled ZoomX midsole and a higher stack height for an optimal blend of fun, compression and stability, while the Nike Zoom Fly 4 features Nike React foam and a lower stack height.
With the full-length carbon plate, the feel underfoot is relatively stiff. The midsole technology isn’t overkill in any direction – it’s not ultra-soft or ultra-responsive, creating a happy medium and offering versatility that could potentially make it the best running shoe for you.
The Nike Zoom Fly 5 has an increased surface area from heel to forefoot, providing a more stable platform to allow you to run confidently on the higher stack height when you shift the pace up a gear. This set-up offers an accommodating ride for heel to midfoot strikers and protects the ever-reliable ZoomX midsole against excess wear.
The updated upper mirrors the support of a high mileage shoe to keep you secure on the platform, hugging your heel and stepping up the padding on the tongue to elevate comfort during your daily training.
Check out the review with full transcript below.
Hey guys Josh here from Sportitude Running. Today is shoe review time and we're going to be talking all things Nike Zoom Fly 5 which has just landed in our warehouse in Australia. It's had a few weeks now on the global market so there's been a number of people that have heard of this running shoe and watched some reviews. We've had a couple of our staff and team members downstairs put it on their foot and take it for a few gallops out on the road.
There's a lot to like about where Nike have come from their Nike Zoom Fly 3 and Nike Zoom Fly 4 and what they have put into the Zoom Fly package. In today's review we're going to dive over all those key changes in the outsole, midsole and upper. We’ll profile the runner and the foot type that could be considering this shoe and look at where it sits in the whole scheme of things in terms of your shoe rotation to give you all the information that you need at home to potentially make this your next shoe purchase. Without further ado let's get stuck in.
Runner Profile
Before I jump into the engineering features let's touch on what this shoe is and where it sits. It's not the lightest shoe in the market by any stretch of the imagination. We're talking 286 grams for a men's size 9, but it is pitched at that lightweight category. It’s for someone that wants that slightly quicker, snappier feel on their foot when they're going out the door for their tempo runs.
It has a full-length carbon plate so you certainly feel like you have that enhanced push through toe-off. However, the midsole compound which Nike have used in this shoe is that recycled ZoomX. You would think that the ZoomX midsole would have that similar fit and feel to what you get out your Nike Air Zoom Alphafly Next% and your Nike ZoomX Invincible Run Flyknit. However, I hate to break your hearts but it's a slightly different feel. It has the same technology which we see in the Nike Air Zoom Vomero 16 which is the SR02 compound so it's a relatively soft but a pretty resilient midsole.
That's where the confusion probably kicks in for a lot of runners. When we're looking at this shoe it's a little bit lighter than most daily trainers but it's certainly not very light like the Saucony Endorphin Speed 2 for example because it's talking to that same consumer, that runner that wants that snappy feel on their foot.
However, it's certainly stable enough for the right foot type that could be using this for some daily training as well as someone looking for a pretty snappy ride when they get out the door as well.
The other thing to note is it is a neutral shoe. We'll touch on that in the midsole part of this review. To determine whether you have a foot type that should consider this, check out What Running Shoe Is Best For Me which identifies the foot types out there.
Outsole
Let's touch on the outsole first. With the Nike Zoom Fly 5 and the Nike Zoom Fly 4 side by side you can see they have two split outsole pieces. You have the heel covered, some exposed midsole through the midfoot and then you have the outsole configuration through the front half. Technically speaking on paper, it looks pretty similar however the biggest change is the overall surface area.
The Nike Zoom Fly 4 has a very narrow midsection. If you’re a heel striker or midfoot striker you don't get a very broad platform for your foot to sit on. However, in the Nike Zoom Fly 5 they've increased that surface area, not only in the heel part of this outsole but as you come through to the midfoot you have a slightly broader footbed. As you shoot through to the forefoot they've increased that surface area as well.
As we touched on with that outsole configuration, you have a durable rubber in that back half for your heel strikers to protect the midsole. I want to call out that there's a little window that allows you to visibly see that recycled ZoomX midsole.
As you come through to the forefoot, you can see there's plenty of surface area on offer up the front half of this shoe. That's where a lot of this attention is driven when you're talking about lightweight shoes and your tempo shoes. You want to make sure that front half has plenty of surface area and coverage to give you the confidence and grip out there on the road and also to protect that midsole, being the asset.
Upper
Jumping through to the upper of this shoe review and it's probably my favourite part of this shoe review in comparison to where it was last year. The Nike Zoom Fly 4 had a very bootie-like construction up top. I actually thought at the time it was a really good piece and a really good execution of engineering.
However, where it probably fell away was it wasn't as supportive as it needed to be to keep the foot on top of this footbed, with the shoe being quite narrow through the midfoot. It’s very similar visually to what you see out of your Nike Next% models but the biggest change is the midsole compound and the midsole technology being the React foam.
The upper as we touched on is that bootie-like construction. It feels good when you put your foot in it, I had no issues whatsoever with that. However, when you get it up to speed and try to get a little bit more out of it, the upper doesn't lock that foot in as much as I thought it needed to based on what this running shoe was all about.
That takes us to the Nike Zoom Fly 5. Up top I feel it's probably more of an execution of what you'd expect out of a good mileage shoe. You have a decent heel counter at the back half offering really good stable support.
It's certainly not a thick tongue, but it's a padded tongue. It's nice and comfortable in comparison to the very thin but bootie-like upper in the Nike Zoom Fly 4.
As you come through to the forefoot in the Nike Zoom Fly 5, I really like what they've done regarding the execution piece. You have the overlays which sits underneath the upper and that medial side which gives that conformed fit. On the lateral side you can actually see through the upper. That strap piece which sits on that lateral column is going to keep your foot nice and stable and locked down on top of that arch.
The best part is the execution of the upper throughout the forefoot. It's nice and breathable but it's a really good strong configuration. As I touched on a minute ago, this fits and feels like you want out of a good mileage shoe, but they've put it on a pretty light and fun package with this midsole which is what we're going to get to next.
Midsole
Talking all things midsole, let's jump to the statistics straight away. In the men’s model we have an 8mm heel-to-toe offset. We have 41mm in the heel and 33mm in the forefoot for that variance of 8mm.
I'm going to call it out and I've touched on this in my intro, it does have Nike ZoomX written on the forefoot. However, if you're a Nike lover or you have ran in your Nike ZoomX Invincible Run Flyknit or your Nike Air Zoom Alphafly Next%, you know what a ZoomX midsole feels like. It's incredibly light, very soft and responsive.
Nike have come out and said that yes, this is a ZoomX midsole but they're using recycled ZoomX technologies to execute what this midsole is all about. In one way it's slightly misleading. I'm not being critical there, but when you put this running shoe on your foot you don't have that sinking compression which you get out of other ZoomX shoes, nor do you get that really snappy responsive feel through toe-off.
You have to wonder, what is this midsole doing? What's it all about because if it's not going to be really soft or really responsive, where does it sit?
It does have a full-length carbon plate from the heel through to the forefoot, which is injected inside this SR02 midsole which is what we get out of the Nike Air Zoom Vomero 16. If you're familiar with that shoe you'll know how that fits and feels underneath the foot and that's what we experience with this running shoe.
Again, it's a good, resilient midsole. That's the only way I can explain it. It's not crazy soft and it’s not crazy responsive. It just fits and feels pretty honest underneath the foot. However, seeing as it has a carbon plate the midsole is quite stiff.
Therefore, because it's injected inside this midsole we're not going to get that compression engagement where you're really connecting with the carbon plate to get that snappy, responsive push off. It's a pretty dense set-up underneath the foot.
However, I like what it does for me personally. I think there's a lot of runners out there that will relate to what this shoe does and how it performs but there will also be a lot of runners out there that may be let down by the fact it does say ZoomX and they may be expecting something different regarding how it performs.
Touching on the technical features of this midsole, let's jump to the medial side. It is a neutral shoe so there's no additional guidance or any arch support. It is all about getting you through your gait as quickly and as efficiently as you possibly can by allowing for a little bit of give on the X and Y axis. When you take away that support system it's all about pushing you through to your toe-off which is that Z axis with regards to the carbon plate execution.
Being a higher stack height, I think that plays into what this shoe does. If it was lower which we experienced last year in that 39mm to 31mm heel-to-toe drop, it wouldn't feel as fun on the foot, it would probably feel a bit firmer. Just by taking it off the ground a bit higher, they increase the overall surface area underneath the foot to get it extra stable and also to allow for a bit more compression through that vertical force when you hit the ground inside this shoe.
Similar Shoes To The Nike Zoom Fly 5
Let's jump into where the Nike Zoom Fly 5 sits regarding other shoes that are on the market. I'm going to jump straight into it and compare it to the Adidas Boston 10 and Adidas Boston 11 (above) which has just launched.
It offers a relatively high stack height with Lightstrike foam and the carbon rods. It’s a pretty stiff system in that Boston franchise and the same thing goes with the Nike Zoom Fly 5. You have that mileage fit, feel and mileage weight with a stiffer midsole and pretty high stack height. The Nike Zoom Fly 5, Adidas Boston 10 and Adidas Boston 11 are pretty similar running shoes.
In my Saucony Endorphin Speed 3 review I felt that they might have been two similar shoes. I'm sorry for those that have watched that review and may watch this review and find that I’m contradicting myself. I'm going to go back on what I said and it's OK to admit when you're wrong.
I think the Saucony Endorphin Speed 3 is a lighter, poppier and softer shoe. The Nike Zoom Fly 5 doesn't even come into that same conversation. I feel that this is definitely more suited to your Adidas Boston 10 and Adidas Boston 11 runner looking for a decent, stable ride but wants a little bit more of a rocker feel with that full-length propulsive carbon plate which you get out of the Nike Zoom Fly 5.
For those of you that are watching this review for the first time you may have seen the Nike Zoom Fly 5 silhouette floating around somewhere before. There was some leaked images of this shoe very early in 2022 or even late 2021. A couple of Instagram pages were launching what we thought was going to be the Nike Pegasus Pro.
That was the early shout out of the Nike Zoom Fly 5. It's an honest call because the silhouette, the shape of this shoe, does sit halfway between what we see with Nike Zoom Pegasus 29 and the Nike Air Zoom Vomero 16.
It’s a similar stack height, the midsole technology looks similar and as I touched on in this review, this feels like a mileage upper on top of a relatively honest, snappy midsole for want of a better term.
It has a lot of combinations of a lot of shoes put into one package in my opinion which is going to be a good thing. As I said earlier I think there's some runners that may be let down by what this shoe does, but there will be some runners that pick it up and run with it and really like what this shoe does for them.
The Wrap Up
In summarising the Nike Zoom Fly 5, I certainly think it's a great update from where it was with the Nike Zoom Fly 3 and Nike Zoom Fly 4. I think there's a pretty big grey area around who can use this shoe. I know there's going to be runners downstairs and a couple of our team members that are going to grab this shoe and use it for some mileage running. It's light but it's stable enough. I wouldn't say it's an absolute go-to for someone looking for that lightweight, really snappy speed shoe.
However, in saying that there will be some runners that that will feel that this gives them what they need regarding that lighter tempo/progressive run set-up in a shoe. For me personally I find this shoe will be stable enough. I'm not running nearly as quick as I used to, so this is a running shoe that's going to give me all that I need. It's going to be stable, it's going to feel snappy enough and I'm not going to feel too banged up after my quicker runs which is a good thing.
There you have it, that's our take on the Nike Zoom Fly 5. If you've used this shoe, if you're intrigued by it and you want to know more contact our Sportitude running shoe experts and let us know what you're thinking and what this shoe may or may not do for you.
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On that note stay safe, be kind to one another, take care of each other, happy training and we'll see you on the road.
FEATURES
- Support: Neutral
- Upper: Mesh
- Midsole: Nike ZoomX
- Heel Height: 41mm
- Forefoot Height: 33mm
- Offset / Drop: 8mm
- Weight: 286g / 10.1oz (Men's US 9)
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