Saucony Endorphin Elite 2 Review – A Fast, Fun, Wild Ride

Stack Height, Drop, Weight and Price

The Saucony Endorphin Elite 2 sticks to the same stack height as the original Endorphin Elite with 39.5mm in the heel and 31.5mm in the forefoot for an 8mm drop.

The Saucony Endorphin Elite 2 sticks to the same stack height as the original Endorphin Elite with 39.5mm in the heel and 31.5mm in the forefoot for an 8mm drop. It weighs the same as the last-gen shoe, too. It’s 7.5oz or 213g in my US men’s size 9.5 test shoe – a touch heavier than the rival ASICS Metaspeed Sky Paris, the Adidas Adios Pro 4 and the Brooks Hyperion Elite 4 PB.

When it comes to price, the Saucony Endorphin Elite 2 also keeps its big old price tag. So it remains one of the priciest running shoes going at $275 in the US.

Design

The Saucony Endorphin Elite 2 has been given a complete overhaul. The biggest change comes in the midsole, where Saucony swapped its very responsive but somewhat firm PWRRUN HG foam for a big stack of a new TPEE incrediRUN foam.

This new foam is incredibly soft, squishy and really bouncy. Perhaps the softest, most compressive foam we’ve seen yet on a carbon race shoe. There’s a full-length, slotted carbon plate in the middle to bring some stabilisation to that super soft foam. Plus you get Saucony’s familiar SpeedRoll rockering to help smooth out those transitions, along with quite a big cutaway on the lateral side of the midsole.

Up top, there’s new knit and TPE yarn mesh uppers that follow a more traditional design than the slightly complicated uppers of the original Endorphin Elite, which had a lot of flaps and moving parts.

The booty-style integrated tongue wraps and holds the foot securely and comfortably. The heel collars are minimal and unstructured with a really flexible heel counter. You also get classic rather than lace-lock laces and a lace flap folder over.

Flip them over, and there’s a good covering of PWRTRAC rubber across the midfoot and in the key heel impact zones.

Fit

When it comes to fit, I ran in a US 9.5 which is my regular Saucony shoe size and the whole I found the fit ok. You get enough length in the toe box and good clearance across the top of the big toes. The toe box also has some structure to it that keeps the uppers away from your toes. So no black toe nail woes here even over longer distances.

The integrated tongues wrap and hold for good comfort across the top of the foot. Sometimes these booty uppers can be a struggle with high insteps but I had no problems. It all translates to excellent lockdown across the mid foot, really good hold.

However, I found they came up somewhat tight, narrow and squashed around the little toe. Things loosened off somewhat the more miles I logged and it was only a worry on my longer runs. But I'd recommend looking closely at the size if you’ve got wide feet or you’re a fan of more room for your toes to splay. 

I also sometimes worry about the security of less structured, minimal heel collars, but the Endorphin Elite 2’s heel package holds securely without unwanted movement or roll down. Swapping a structured heel counter for the almost rubberised material here really works.

Overall, I’d recommend going true to size to get a good race fit.

Performance

In testing I’ve run close north of 30 miles in the new Saucony Endorphin Elite 2. I’m currently training to attempt my fourth sub-3-hour marathon at the London Marathon so I’ve put down some long marathon training runs – around 90 minutes on feet – with marathon pace segments. I also did an all out 5:50 min/mile and I’ve logged some shorter, slower runs. Most of my miles have been on the road. For reasons that’ll become clear, this isn’t a shoe for even light off-road.

I’ve loved my miles in the shoe. It’s a really fun shoe to go guns blazing. It’s light, incredibly soft, hugely bouncy, fun, energetic and wild. It’s wonderfully untamed. And nothing like the first-gen Saucony Endorphin Elite.

Some runners found the original Endorphin Elite too harsh for long runs. I wasn’t one of them. I did a 50km ultra in a tunnel in them and loved the consistency. But if that was you, you’ll want to revisit the Endorphin Elite because this is now probably the softest carbon racer going.

The midsole is all about high compression and high rebound which creates a slingshot sort of ride that’s big on energy but at the cost of certainty. If you need lots of stability, this probably isn’t the race shoe for you.

From the moment you lace them up you're immediately wondering if you’ll be able to control them. When you’re moving, it pays to focus on your landings. Careful, considered foot placement is the order of the day. That’s less the case when you’re up running mid-to-forefoot, engaging the front section of foam. Things are more reliable when you’re moving like that. You still get a highly resilient and bouncy ride but there’s more control than when you land further back towards the heel.

While landing further back, I also noticed some disconnect between the heel and the forefoot, almost a drop in the middle with the two front and rear doing different things. That doesn't make for the smoothest transition and I felt some suction when I was running the all-out 5:50 mile that was a bit distracting.

I also ran in some really wet conditions and at times the grip wasn't great. For example, if I went onto anything shiny and smooth, slightly cobbled or wetter pavement on tight corners, I didn't feel 100% secure.

However, I was happy to suck that up because when you land right this shoe served up everything I wanted in terms of propulsion, energy and bounce. This is a shoe that wants you to give it full beans on straight line runs, with a good surface underfoot. A perfect choice for punching out long straights at top pace during urban city marathons.

My Verdict

This is a very capable, fast, racy, PR-chaser that really delivers when you’re running fast, concentrating on good form, working hard with good foot placement. When you’re punching into the high-rebound forefoot stack of that super soft incrediRUN with purpose, they deliver everything you need from a propulsive, leg-sparing carbon race shoe.

I’d happily lace these up for a marathon or half in the right conditions. And they’re in my top five all-out carbon race shoes. But they come with a warning. Some runners may struggle with how soft they are and rue the lack of stability.

Depending on how you strike in the shoe, they lack some reliability in the landings and at times there’s a disconnect between the forefoot and the heel that’s not always natural or smooth in the transition. Mid-to-forefoot strikers won’t notice so much. Heel strikers might.

When you’re fresh and moving well these shoes are on your team. When you get really tired, or you end up on an even surface, or a tight twisty course, that lack of control might present problems.

Saucony has delivered a race-day ride that’s pretty unique. And like the first-gen, that could divide opinion over the Endorphin Elite 2.

If you’re looking for a more natural, controlled ride, that has a bit more stiffness and snap to the spring, the Brooks Hyperion Elite 4 PB or the ASICS Metaspeed Sky Paris are worth a look.

Those shoes are also significantly cheaper and the Saucony Endorphin Elite 2’s price tag remains off putting.