Nike Vomero Premium Review: Maximum Stack, Maximum Bounce, Maximum Statement

Introduction

Few running shoes in recent memory have arrived with this much hype. The Nike Vomero Premium launched to instant sell-outs and instant debate: a shoe with a ginormous 55mm of stack height at the heel, twin Air Zoom pods, a hefty build and a price to match. Where the Hoka Clifton 1 caused a stir back in 2014 with 29mm of stack, Nike has now come out with nearly double that amount.

After putting serious miles into this shoe, the verdict is nuanced. It is unlike anything else on the market, genuinely fun, and supremely comfortable, but also heavy, expensive and built for a very specific kind of running.

What You Get for the Money

The Vomero Premium is, at its core, a jogging shoe. It is designed for easy runs and, most importantly, recovery runs, where a very slow and casual pace is the whole point. It is not a shoe trying to be everything at once.

The specification is extreme. You get 55mm of stack at the back of the shoe, 45mm at the front, and a 10mm drop. The weight is the heaviest shoe we have tested by a country mile at 439g in a UK size 12, and it set us back a whopping £210.

The tech story lives in the midsole. Two of Nike’s Air Zoom pods, one at the front and one at the back, are completely encased in Nike’s Zoom X foam. Around that sits an engineered mesh upper, a thick padded tongue, and Nike’s traditional waffle outsole with plenty of high-abrasion rubber. There are no width options, but the shoe runs fairly wide, so most people should be fine in their usual Nike size.

The Standout Strengths

The first thing to understand is that this is the bounciness king. The airbags at the front and back spring you up with every stride, and it is the closest feeling we can imagine to running with two big springs strapped under your shoes. Because both pods are so large, it does not matter where you strike the ground: heel strikers, midfoot strikers and forefoot strikers all get the same big bouncy benefit.

The second strength is softness. That pillow-like feel means you genuinely cannot feel the ground, which some runners will absolutely love. Stability is better than expected too: while 55mm of stack obviously demands caution, the airbags help keep the shoe planted, and cornering is manageable.

Comfort is the third win. The oversized padded tongue, generous mesh upper and total absence of slipping, hot spots or irritation make it a genuinely pleasant place for your foot. Wet weather grip from the waffle outsole was good, though it is a famously noisy outsole. Above all, this shoe is simply a hoot to run in: wacky, fun and perfect for racking up easy miles. Nike pressed the max button on everything here, and the result is something genuinely different.

Things to Consider Before Buying

The price is the headline problem. £210 is a hell of a lot of cash for what is essentially a niche jogging and recovery shoe, and the weight is the second big caveat. If you love running in something like the Super Blast, you will notice a huge difference here. It is very heavy and very chunky.

Versatility is limited too. You can pick up the pace in any shoe, but the Premium is not overly responsive, and the noisy waffle outsole does not help on quicker efforts. Finally, there is the physics of a 55mm platform: there is a definite increased risk of rolling an ankle, and you will find yourself scanning the ground for flat landings with every stride. In hot climates, the sheer amount of material on top of the shoe also raises a potential overheating concern, though in cool autumn conditions around 10-12 degrees there were no issues at all.

Vomero Plus: One Step Down in the Range

The Vomero Plus, released a couple of months earlier, is the more sensible max-stack option. It has 45mm of stack compared to 55mm, a difference you will definitely notice, and it costs £55 less at £155.

The midsole is the key difference: a single slab of Zoom X foam with no airbags, which makes the Plus slightly more responsive and far lighter. It suits easy runs and longer distances alike, though testing revealed some instability issues given the sheer volume of foam. For anyone looking for an Invincible-style replacement, the Plus is where it is at.

Vomero 18: The Everyday Workhorse

One further down sits the Vomero 18, essentially your regular everyday daily trainer. It shares the same stack height as the Plus, but pairs a layer of harder-wearing React foam with a layer of spongier, bouncier Zoom X on top.

At around £135, it is about £20 cheaper than the Plus and a whopping £75 cheaper than the Premium. It is firmer than both, a touch heavier than the Plus but nowhere near the Premium, and it is hard-wearing enough to last a long time across all distances. For the vast majority of runners, this is the Vomero to buy.

Asics MegaBlast: The More Versatile £210 Shoe

Priced identically at £210 in the UK, the Asics MegaBlast is the most interesting comparison. It has 45mm of stack versus 55mm, but the two shoes serve very different purposes.

Where the Vomero Premium is a jogging shoe only, the MegaBlast handles slow runs, faster runs and genuinely shines over long runs with half marathon or marathon pace blocks. You could race a half or full marathon in it and have a great time. The weight gap tells the story: 275g versus 439g, and holding them in hand they feel like completely different categories of shoe.

Buying Advice

If you want the softest, bounciest, squishiest max-stack shoe to jog around in, the Vomero Premium is that shoe without any shadow of a doubt. If you want max cushion that can also go long, look at the Plus. If you want one shoe for everything, the Vomero 18 is the value pick, and the MegaBlast remains one of the most versatile options of the year. More stock of the Premium is apparently arriving soon, so patience may pay off.

Conclusion

The Vomero Premium is a wild, crazy shoe serving a genuinely niche purpose, and it will give you a ride unlike anything you have experienced before. Whether that is innovation or Nike losing the plot is ultimately up to runners to decide. In a market full of similarity, it is refreshing to see boundaries pushed this hard.