Under Armour Infinite Elite Review: Max-Stack Daily Built for Big Mileage

Stack Height, Drop, Weight and Price

First up, a quick look at the Under Armour Infinite Elite drop, weight and price.

The Infinite Elite stack height sits at 36mm in the heel and 28mm in the forefoot, for an 8mm drop. So it’s more On Cloudeclipse than Brooks Ghost Max or ASICS Novablast/Nimbus when it comes to the volume of midsole foam underfoot.

The Infinite Elite weighs in at 11.6oz in a US men’s 9.5 test shoe. That’s one of the heaviest daily trainers going. Weightier even than an ASICS Gel Nimbus 26 and the Brooks Ghost Max.

Price wise it’ll set you back, $160 in the US. So it’s slightly pricier than the ASICS Novablast 4 ($140) but very close to many of the daily trainer rivals in this space like the Nimbus 26 ($160) and the New Balance 1080v13 ($165)

Design

The Under Armour Infinite Elite is a brand new shoe from Under Armour who are simplifying their running shoe line-up down to the Infinite Elite and Pro (a cheaper parter to the Elite) and the Velociti Elite carbon racers.

When it comes to the midsole, you’ve got a huge stack of HOVR+ foram, a sort of Adidas Boost-style beaded TPU. There’s a notable rocker shaping to it, a lot of foam under the heel and wrapping quite high up the sides. There’s a bucket-like seat for the foot so the stack is lower than it might look and Under Armour says the midsole is tuned to be soft, light, plush and bouncy. In theory at least. But more on that later.

Up top you’ve got an Intelliknit, knitted upper. It’s generally very thick with tighter knit where you need more structure and looser, perforated knit where you want a bit of breathability and flex.

Overall there’s a good amount of flex and stretch to the uppers. This isn’t a flimsy knit that flops. It holds its shape well to offer good, wrapped security.

The Infinite has big plush, padded heel collars that narrow into the heel cup. The tongue is also big and padded right down along the top of the midfoot. There are fairly thick laces and a good solid lacing structure here. None of the flimsy stitch eyelets that look like they might break at any moment. 

Inside there’s a 3D mould sockliner inside to add extra comfort. There’s also TPU heel clip to add to the heel security and a bevelled heel to help stabilise and smooth those landings.

Flip them over and you’ve got a really generous covering of a thinweb rubber outsole and overall this shoe looks solid and built to cope with high mileage. Exactly what you want with a daily trainer like this.

Fit

In testing, I ran in a US 9.5 and I found the fit spot on with good hold from the big padded heel collars, reliable lockdown from the unfussy lacing and enough wiggle room and flex in the toe box, from those knitted uppers, to give a sense of freedom. Generally a good fit and comfy feel on the foot and I’d recommend going true to size in these.

Performance

I’ve run north of 35 miles in the Infinite Elite with some lower and slower miles, some tempo work and a couple of faster marathon training sessions, too. Most of that was on the road with a few offroad miles thrown in, to test the stability.

Step in comfort was good. The plushness of the shoe is apparent from the off. I wouldn’t describe the feeling as disappearing as there’s a lot of shoe here. But The Infinite Elite feels relatively natural on the foot when you first lace them up.

The ride took a little while to bed in. On my first run, I found them a little stiff and clumpy and nowhere near the immediate softness of a Nimbus 25, a New Balance 1080v13 or a Ghost Max. Initially I felt like I was working hard to get any kind of return. But over subsequent runs, that midsole softened and the more miles I ran, the more I enjoyed the ride.

This is definitely a shoe that needs breaking in but even once you have it’s still not a pillowy soft, springy ride and despite Under Armour’s claims, it’s far from a light shoe.

It’s also lacking the energy, bounce and liveliness of many of the super daily trainers. I’d say it rides on the firmer, stiffer side with a more controlled and subtle energy to it. Some runners might actually enjoy that control. But for me it feels like a lot of shoe on the foot. Perhaps no more so than a Nimbus. But that’s the general vibe.

I think the bulk and weight limits the versatility to slower, easier miles rather than uptempo efforts. I did one interval session with 1 minute at mile pace, 1 minute recovery and found they were a bit too weighty and laboured for that kind of effort. You can do it but there are much better shoes for runs like that.

On the plus side, there’s a wide platform here that makes for decent stability. The rocker and big landing zone are decently protective over longer miles. I think you can happily lace this up for a 90-minute long slow plods. Again it might not be the best at this but it’s still capable of covering those distances.

On the whole this was an “ok but not great” shoe for me. If it was the only shoe I had to run in, I could make it work. But I don’t think I’d reach for it first over quite a few other daily trainers and easy shoes. But more on that in the verdict.

My Verdict

Under Armour has a habit of making shoes that are ok. They do a job but they rarely break new ground or blow the competition away. I like the Under Armour Velociti Elite carbon race shoes but it isn’t the best racer going.

Under Armour shoes are sort of steady 7 out of 10 territory and I’d say the same is true here. The Infinite Elite offer a solid daily training performance but don’t wow.

Now, I’m a fan of lighter, more compact shoes generally so maybe I’m not the target. But overall it’s a bit heavy and there’s not quite the energy and liveliness, I think many runners now look for from an everyday shoe.

However, it’s a perfectly capable clip-along shoe you can plod out low and slow miles in relative comfort. And if you want a big cushioned shoe that offers protection and good stability, one that’s tuned slightly firmer than the likes of the Nimbus or Ghost Max, this might be the shoe for you.

I can see heavier gym goers who do occasional bouts of running and cardio enjoying it.

But on the whole there are shoes I’d put ahead of this. The Saucony Ride 17 offers the same comfort but it’s lighter and more versatile. The NB1080v13, does long-run comfort better. So does the Brooks Ghost Max.

It’s not a better shoe than much of the competition in this space. It’s not necessarily worse either. If you’re a regular Nimbus, Ride, 1080, Glycerin runner, there’s not enough here to make you want to switch. I think UA need to make it better value to make it more competitive. Particularly when you can pick up a Novablast 4 for $140. Drop $20 off the Under Armour Infinite price and it’d be much easier to recommend.