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{{DISPLAYTITLE:Nike Vaporfly 4% first lookReview}}
The Nike Vaporfly 4% is a much-hyped shoe, which is based on the shoes Nike developed for their attempt to break the 2-hour marathon. It's an expensive shoe, retailing for $250, and even at that price it's hard to find. There are rumors that Nike are restricting supplies to drive up interest. The shoe is unusual in that it has a carbon fiber plate running through the midsole. Given all the hype, I was not expecting much from the Vaporfly 4%, but there are aspects to the shoe that have really impressed me. I'd say it's a mixture of the awesome and awful, though not in quite the ways I expected. My initial impressions are:
* The shoe has remarkable cushioning for its weight, with my measurements putting it close to the top of the table. I ran with a [[Hoka Clayton]] on one foot and the Vaporfly on the other and the Clayton felt hard and dead by comparison. The Vaporfly uses a new type of foam made of Pebax, a compound that has previously been used in harder materials like Mizuno's Wave Plate. It will be interesting to see this foam in other shoes, especially something closer to a "racing flat". There is a rumored Reebok FloatRide Racer using Pebax foam, but no details. * When you wear the shoe, it has an amazing amount of bounce. It's far more than you get in TPU shoes like the [[Altra Escalante]], and feels like there's a spring under your foot. It seems like the carbon fiber plate is acting more as a spring for the rear of the shoe than for toe off. This bounce is immediately obvious, even walking around, and feels different to every other shoe I've tried. Even at the end of a 21 mile/34Km marathon length run the bounce is noticeable and helped me keep up the pace.
* I couldn't detect much difference in toe off from any other shoe, which was disappointing. The forefoot is quite stiff compared with other shoes, but given the forces involved at toe off, this doesn't seem to be enough to make much difference. Of course, a tiny difference in efficiency won't be noticeable immediately, but could make quite a difference to your finish time.
* When I ran it the Vaporfly using a pure forefoot landing (without any heel contact) I found the Vaporfly lost all the bounce and felt very dead. (If you're a pure forefoot runner, I'd look elsewhere.)
* The Vaporfly claims a 10mm drop, and my measurements showed 12mm, but this is reduced to 8mm when loaded. This is normally way more than I can tolerate, but I had few problems in the Vaporfly. (I wish I had an explanation for this.)
* The rear of the shoe feels quite unstable, rather like I'm on a balance foam mat rather than a shoe. It's like the shoe is only supporting me heel directly under the ball, which is rather disconcerting.
* The forefoot of the shoe is even worse, with the area under the ball of the foot lower and softer than the rest of the forefoot. This means that the shoe forces your foot to pronate more than it naturally would. I measured the area under the ball of the foot as 1-2mm lower than the rest of the forefoot under load. I suspect that the carbon fiber plate does not extend under the ball of the foot for some reason, though it's hard to prove. If I try bending the forefoot of the shoe with my hand the area under the ball of the foot doesn't seem to be as stiff.
* The outsole has surprisingly little grip, feeling slick and unsure on anything that isn't a firm surface.
* I found the toe box was not as bad as I expected, though running 20 miles without cutting open the toe box resulted in a minor blister.
{{H:WhatToLookForInShoes}}
<gallery widths=300px heights=300px class="center">
File:Nike Vaporfly 4%-inside.jpg|Nike Vaporfly 4% inside
</gallery>
=Characteristics=
* {{H:cushioning}}. The cushioning of the Vaporfly is impressive, but the numbers on my comparison chart below don't really convey the level of shock absorption and bounce. One way of conveying this is that the Vaporfly is to a Hoka what a Hoka is to a racing flat. This sense of bounce is immediately obvious when you first put the Vaporfly on. You can tell the difference just standing in them, and the difference when walking can be a little disconcerting. I've found the bounce is helpful to me even at the end of a marathon length run, when normally fatigue makes any shoe seem less cushioned than at the start. This cushioning is not without its issues however, and the Vaporfly feels quite unstable. It's like your foot is balancing on a ball rather than a block of foam. The height of the sole exacerbates this instability, and taking fast, tight corners requires some care. The instability also creates extra stress on my ankles, and I've found some discomfort around the Achilles, as well as tender calves. <br/>[[File:Vaporfly Hoka.jpg|center|thumb|300px| Comparing the Vaporfly with the [[Hoka Clayton]].]]
* {{H:drop}}. Normally the massive drop of the Vaporfly, which I measured at 12mm, would cause me all sorts of issues when running, but I've got on surprisingly well with it. Part of this might be that the 12mm drop is reduced to 8mm when worn, and might be even less under the impact of running. I have had issues with my heel scraping during the float phase of my stride, but this is not as bad as other shoes. If I'd have had to guess at the drop (something I can generally do fairly well), I'd have put the drop at about 4-5mm. That's more than I'd like, but not problematic.
* {{H:structure}}. The structure of the Vaporfly comes from its carbon fiber plate. There doesn't appear to be any attempt to reduce pronation, and the carbon fiber plate actually seems to actively increase pronation. I have not dissected my pair, but it feels very much like the carbon fiber plate doesn't extend under the ball of the foot. Instead, it seems like the plate runs the full length of the shoe, but only under the four outside metatarsal bones. Towards the end of a marathon length training run the edge of the plate can become quite uncomfortable, and I've had some soreness from it. Under load, the ball of the foot is lower than the other four metatarsal heads, something I normally find when a shoe is worn out due to the midsole foam collapsing.<br/>[[File:Vaporfly (2).jpg|center|thumb|300px|This is the edge of the carbon fiber plate, which seems to be about the same on either side.]]<br/> [[File:Vaporfly (3).jpg|center|thumb|300px|From the side, the profile of the carbon fiber plate follows the purple line I've drawn, not the black line that you might expect.]]
* {{H:flexibility}}. The Vaporfly's carbon fiber plate obviously reduces its flexibility. It's far from the least flexible shoe I've tested, but the carbon fiber plate makes it more of a spring, where most maximally cushioned shoes tend to be rigid. As noted above, I'm surprised how little I noticed the toe off spring. I've tested the [[VKTRY insole]], which is an aftermarket carbon fiber plate that you can put in existing shoes. I found the benefits of VKTRY were hard to notice, but it's hard to detect things that can make a significant difference to your running performance. After all, 1% difference in running economy can be the difference between success and failure in a race, but I doubt you'd ever be able to perceive the change. The carbon fiber plate in the Vaporfly is fairly deep in the midsole, so there are no issues with it feeling hard under foot, which is a major downside to the VKTRY insole.
* {{H:outsole}}. You can see the hard rubber outsole as the black areas on the sole of the Vaporfly. The outsole seems to be fairly hardwearing, but doesn't offer as much grip as I'd like. The outsole is placed so that most of the contact areas are protected, but there's still a lot of exposed midsole that's softer.
* {{H:shape}}. The Vaporfly shape doesn't match the human foot, so the toe box compresses the toes. I found the Vaporfly is not as bad as most running shoes, but it did give me toe blisters until I [[Shoe Dissection| cut open the toe box]]. {{H:TryCuttingShoes}}.<br/>[[File:Vaporfly Toe Box.jpg|center|thumb|300px|The toe box cut open.]]
* {{H:upper}}. The upper is nicely breathable and light weight. There's no padding in the upper except for around the ankle opening, though the upper material doubles over to support the laces. I've found the upper quite comfortable up to marathon distance (I've not run further than that in them so far.) <br/>[[File:Vaporfly (5).jpg|center|thumb|300px|The doubling over of the upper to form the eye holes for the laces.]]<br/>[[File:Vaporfly Upper.jpg|center|thumb|300px|The upper backlit to show the breathability.]]
* {{H:tongue}}. The tongue is a traditional style, without connections to the upper except at the base. It's thin and unpadded, but comfortable and I had no issues with pressure from the laces. I did find that the tongue tends to slip to the side a little, which is an annoyance, but nothing more. <br/>[[File:Vaporfly (1).jpg|center|thumb|300px|The tongue slipping to the side.]]
* {{H:lacing}}. The laces work well and remained tied.
* {{H:heelcounter}}. The Vaporfly has no heel counter, just the stiffness of the upper to keep it's shape.
=A Comparison with other Recommended Shoes=
{{:Shoes-include}}