Men’s Puma Mobium Elite Running Shoe Review

Men’s Puma Mobium Elite Running Shoe Review

What Puma says:

Get ready. Running is about to change – then expand, contract, and change some more. When you move, your foot changes in length, height, and proportion. Until now, you and your feet have always adapted to your running shoes. The PUMA Mobium Elite adapts toyou. (Welcome to the world of Adaptive Running™.) Mobium offers midfoot and forefoot strikers something completely new: a running shoe that expands and contracts right along with your foot, without constraints. The shoe’s three main components work together through your entire gait cycle: Windlass Chassis, Expansion Pods, and Mobium Band. The give-and-take technology maximizes energy and propels you forward past your every notion of running.

Features:

• Specifically designed for the neutral runner who is a midfoot or forefoot striker
• Learn more at www.puma.com/mobium
• Open air mesh upper for breathability
• Lace closure and synthetic overlays for a snug fit
• moveCELL designation for its highly flexible, adaptive design engineered to enhance and maximize your body’s natural movement
• Windlass Chassis changes in length, height, and proportion along with your foot’s natural movement
• Expansion Pods located on the forefoot outsole provide cushioning, protection, and flexibility exactly where you need it
• Finely tuned, elasticized Mobium Band runs through the outsole in a figure 8 pattern, working dynamically like your foot’s tendons: the more force applied, the more spring it returns
• EverRide and EverTrack rubber at the outsole for added grip
• PUMA Formstrip at lateral side
• PUMA Cat Logo at medial side forefoot
• PUMA Cat Logo at tongue and heel

Specs:

• Stack Height = 12mm 4 ft height
• Heel to Toe Drop = 8mm
• Weight: For Men’s Size 9 = 10.6 oz.
• Materials = Lightweight breathable mesh with synthetic overlays for secure fit

The Good:

The elastic “Mobium Band” in the outsole makes these shoes instantly springy and I initially felt like they saved my lower legs some fatigue. In a short five to ten mile run the Puma Mobium may give you a biomechanical advantage especially if you’re running fast. The 8mm heel-to-toe drop promotes a forward leaning posture.

The Puma Mobium Elite supports your footing with a sturdy feeling, especially when you’ve got that slight lean. There is enough space in the toebox for my average feet and the thin tongue stayed in place. The midfoot is snug and I didn’t have any heel slippage. I stuck with the stock laces and they did their job well; the slight lace stretchiness allowed for some natural foot expansion with each foot-strike.

Puma pushed the limits of design with this shoe and I just felt fast when my running-form was dialed-in with a quick cadence and mid-foot strike (like a cat?). I’d love to say my cadence is always quick and dialed in but that’s not always true!

The Puma Mobium is built on a fairly structured footbed and the outsole is flexible by design with segmented areas in the molded rubber; Puma calls them “expansion pods” and they are modeled after a cat’s paw. The expansion pods seem to do their job and gave me a very comfortable ride. Amazingly I never had rocks getting lodged in the grooves. The tread is barely worn after forty-five miles so I expect these shoes will easily hold up for a few hundred miles. I would call these shoes plush.

The Bad:

From the start I wanted to love these shoes. They look awesome and high tech – and, my first run went great. However each 10.6 oz shoe started to feel a little heavy after a few miles. I’ve become very sensitive to “just a couple extra ounces” especially when you consider you’re lifting 500+ pounds per hour with each additional ounce on your foot. At a slower pace the elastic bands didn’t feel “activated” or springy-enough to me.

I kept wondering if the 8mm drop was stealing some of my energy, and wondering whether the “Mobium Band” was really helping me out. Though sturdy, I felt like the dense outsole material and 12mm stack height obscured my ability to feel the road. Of course this is a personal thing – I know many people have a different notion of comfortable road-feel, and I like to feel the pebbles under my toes because it reminds me to run lightly.

Overall:

Enjoyable shoe, overall. I could see racing a 5k or 10k in the Puma Mobium Elite. If Puma brought the 12mm stack height down and reduced the heel-to-toe drop (shaving off a few ounces in the process) they might hit a sweet spot for long-distance runners and running shoe geeks. I might even suggest to tighten up that Mobium band a little and make them even springier!

The Puma Mobium Elite didn’t cause me any foot problems, toe issues, blisters, hot spots, knee pain, shin splints or anything else out of the ordinary. They are a well built shoe that delivered an overall good running experience.

Women’s Puma Mobium Elite Review

About the author Stein L.