Brooks Divide 5 Review: Adding Stack, Subtracting Weight

What You Need To Know

Introduction to the Brooks Divide 5

SAM: When Michael and I reviewed the Brooks Divide 3, we came damn close to salivating over what was then a $100 shoe that could rip on some technical trail and suck up plenty of miles to boot. Maybe it wasn’t the most exciting shoe to run in, and maybe it was pretty uncomfortable after seven or eight miles, but it was $30 to $40 cheaper than the competition. You could pick it up and trust it to carry you through whatever daily trail miles you could toss its way, no matter the terrain, and for that, it was kind of a steal.

After all, those kinds of shoes are all but gone. Performance can rarely be bought for less than $140, and $170 to $200 sounds more reasonable with each passing season. Austin’s Atreyu Running might be the last hold out consistently producing reasonably priced shoes, and inflation has had its way with their pricing as well. To keep up with weekly mileage and stay healthy, runners are burning through shoes that cost more and sometimes don’t last anywhere near as long as expected.

So, I guess we can all give Brooks a light pat on the back for continuing to put out a shoe like the Divide, even if the price has crept up to $110 this year with the Brooks Divide 5. The Divide series has always featured a firm midsole and trail-ready outsole saddled with a road shoe upper. Our reviews here in the Believe in the Run Dirt Division have mostly repeated the same sentiments: really firm midsole, incongruous upper, good (or excellent) traction, and insanely low price. With each model, Brooks has shifted slightly by removing a rock plate, improving the lug design, or enhancing the lockdown. Each version is slightly better than the one before, but the sentiments remain. Sure, maybe the Divide 3 could secretly double as a budget short-distance racer, but it was still firm as a board and secured weirdly to your foot.

With the Divide 5, it looks like Brooks is trying to finally address the firmness issue. The shoe is essentially the same as the Divide 3 and 4, but with 4 mm of additional stack that’s supposedly 10% lighter. But, at 10.2 ounces, its total weight is only slightly lighter than last year’s model and is a tenth of an ounce heavier than the Divide 3. It still has the wildly underrated TrailTack Green outsole with a tri-chevron lug configuration and engineered mesh upper with decent toe protection. I’m always up for enhanced cushion underfoot, so I was looking forward to my test miles.

What we like about the Brooks Divide 5

SAM: Brooks sure can churn out comfortable uppers, and the one of the Divide 5 is no exception. It’s soft, the engineered mesh is breathable and durable, and it requires no break-in. There is plenty of room in the toebox without ever feeling like too much or like the ball of your foot is going to slide around.

It’s almost a secret change, but the midfoot lockdown in the Divide 5 is almost entirely revamped, at least compared to the Divide 3. In this model, it’s surprisingly amazing. It holds your foot in place and allows you to adjust the lace tension without fiddling with pulling individual laces through eyelets. On top of that, it’s still very comfortable. It seems like the Divide often gets some trickle-down technology from the Brooks Catamount or Caldera, and this lockdown feels straight from the Catamount 2, which is high praise if you haven’t had the chance to run in that shoe line yet.

The enhanced lockdown secures a midsole made from Brooks DNA Loft V2 foam. Finally, it’s softer. I did find that there is about a 10-mile break-in period before the foam really starts to feel soft, but this model, at least, isn’t completely agonizing on the tarmac.

I called it underrated above, but I think a better descriptor of Brook’s TrailTack rubber would be “among the best in its class.” I can’t say enough good things about it, Green version or not, and the only compounds I would put above it at this point are probably Vibram (of course) and Inov-8’s Graphene Grip. Honestly, the outsole alone on the Divide 5 makes it almost worth the $110. It’s tacky and almost always provided the grip I needed, but it’s also wildly durable.

What we don’t like about the Brooks Divide 5

SAM: Brooks added 4 mm of stack height to the Divide 5 and made the midsole softer and supposedly lighter. They also added ten dollars to the sticker cost. This softer foam makes the shoe slightly more comfortable on roads, but it negatively affects its stability on trails. The budget technical ripper that Michael and I found something to admire in is now mostly gone, and what remains is a stereotypical intro-level road-to-trail shoe.

Even though the midfoot lockdown is kind of spectacular, it feels strapped into a very basic road shoe upper, and because of that, the whole shoe feels a little incongruous, like the front half is a serviceable trail shoe, and the heel is from a soft, unstructured road trainer. My heel didn’t exactly slide around, but I never got it to feel secure, no matter how I laced the shoe up. The heel underfoot felt decoupled from the rest of the shoe because of that absent security. It was soft and a little unstable and even resulted in a couple of surprising ankle rolls. I never felt like I had control over my foot placement because the heel never felt like it was attached to the rest of the shoe.

The incongruity between the front and back halves of the Divide 5 was heightened because the forefoot cushioning still just feels too firm. As I said above, it loosened up a little after the first 10 miles or so, but it’s unpleasant to midfoot strike on roads, and the distance you can take this shoe on trails is limited by that forefoot cushion or lack thereof. I (rather awkwardly) transitioned to a heel strike for a mile or so on trails and again on roads, and the cushion felt much better, but the heel instability made the trail contact pretty iffy, and I wasn’t a huge fan.

Final thoughts on the Brooks Divide 5

SAM: Farewell budget technical ripper, we loved you some. It seems like Brooks took the “road shoe for the trails” idea seriously with this one. There’s nothing specifically to hate in this shoe, and there are a few elements – like the midfoot lockdown and outsole – that are truly stellar. Those elements, however, get lost in the incongruity that plagues the rest of the shoe. Where the Divide series was once a pretty decent trail offering for an incredible price, it’s now a shoe that compromises just a little too much all around for slightly more money.

Then again, if you’re on a budget and want a shoe that can suck up daily miles on light-duty trails for a price that’s still cheaper than almost every trail shoe out there, the Brooks Divide 5 is here for you. Or, if you’re just starting out in the running world and you want to decide whether to chase down road miles or trail miles, this shoe will give you a stunted introduction to both, and you won’t feel like you’re risking too much.

You can pick up the Brooks Divide 5 for $110 directly from Brooks by using the buttons below.