Saucony Men's Endorphin Shift 2 Running Shoe

Product Information

Covering the Guide is a standard engineered mesh upper. The soft and smooth mesh breathes well, which will keep you cooler on warm days, and it molds around the unique shape of your foot for a better fit. The plush shoelaces (that my cat likes playing with while I put the shoe on), anticipate the padded comfort of the rest of the upper. Beneath the shoe the outsole appears unchanged. It has the same tread pattern – comprising two types of rubber – a softer blown rubber on the forefoot and a firmer rubber at the midfoot and heel for added durability. This provided excellent traction and, so far, is showing no signs of wear. What is the fit like? The outsole consists of different densities of rubber—one firm for support, the other softer in the front. The grip is good on dry roads and less technical and wet terrain. The durability seems good, according to the testers. The sidewalls of the midsole feature discreet cutouts. Hollow-Tech TPU technology adds to stability.

Just a note, these laces feel insanely slippery in your fingers, I actually struggled to double-knot them and had to try a few times just because they kept slipping out of my hands. I was expecting a firmer medial experience through the midfoot transition, but it wasn’t as prominent as I thought it would be,” he says. “Overall, it feels more adaptable than your traditional stability shoe.”

But I'd argue the Guide 16 suits me better than the Kayano overall. It has a 6mm drop, compared to the Kayano's 13mm drop, so feels quite different on the run. The lower drop helps to promote more of a midfoot vs heelstrike and also seemed to put less load on my knees during long runs. As mentioned, it's also a lighter shoe so feels a bit more nippy and nimble. How is the Saucony Guide 16 different to the Guide 15? Overall, I would still recommend this shoe if you are looking for an everyday trainer with moderate support. It is quite durable and I can see myself running it into the ground and easily getting a few hundred miles out of it. That said, If you are looking for something for race day I’d steer clear. The Saucony Guide 14 is fine. Nothing really wrong with it, but also there’s nothing really to get too excited about. It has a purpose and it does it well, period.

David: The Saucony Guide 14 is a daily training moderate stability shoe for those who like a consistent and protective ride that isn't overly soft. The geometry of the shoe does a good job of moving through transition points throughout the gait cycle smooth without being "slappy" or awkward anywhere. There is forefoot flexibility and flex grooves integrated and the shoe feels best at consistent controlled daily training efforts. To enhance the smooth ride, Saucony layered the Guide with a comfortable PWRRUN midsole. The well-rounded foam composition cushions your landings but delivers a bouncy response for a livelier ride. My first run in the shoe actually felt refreshingly light as I had been running in Gaviota 3. I ran some fast-paced intervals amid traces of melting snow from spring! The Guide from Saucony has received high marks for consistently being a solid shoe in the brand’s stability lineup, as the mid-cushioned, firmer younger sister of the brand’s Hurricane which employs the softer PWRRUN+ midsole. I personally don’t like stiff heels, they don’t work for my foot, and the result is noticeable heel slipping.

As a runner who overpronates, I tend to wear support/stability shoes for the bulk of my miles, and have found the Guide 16 suits me really well. I've run around 60km in the shoe so far during a range of sessions, including long runs, recovery runs, interval sessions and a few tempo runs. I think this is a great shoe for recovery days and long runs where you just want to dial into a pace and zone out. The stability elements weren’t overdone and I really like seeing what different brands are doing to the stability shoe in the last couple of years. It’s got more PWRRUN midsole foam than the Guide 15 and a softer and more flexible duel-layered mesh upper. It's also a smidge lighter, shedding 12g on the Guide 15. I found the shoe fit true to size and contoured my foot perfectly. The toebox is quite roomy – arguably more so than the previous iteration – and this was great for me, as I do suffer with bunions so appreciate the extra space for my big toes to wiggle. RW verdict

I also love how light the Guide 16 is for a stability shoe, which made it really enjoyable to run in. At 221g, it's around 50g lighter than the Asics Gel-Kayano 29 (another stability shoe) and lighter than many neutral shoes, for example the Nike Pegasus 40 and Adidas Ultraboost Light (both 240g).I was somewhat let down at how the ride didn’t match the weight and profile. This was very apparent when I tried taking these out on faster efforts. I can appreciate a shoe with a firm ride, but this just didn’t have any pep to get me moving off my feet. I did not run in the 14s, but I can’t imagine how heavy feeling these used to be. The Saucony Guide is the flagship model of Saucony’s stability range alongside the Hurricane. This new version 14 comes with a modern and sleek design. As for the ride, testers find the Saucony Guide 15 pleasant. They report it’s an efficient, durable, and versatile running shoe. On top of the mesh, Saucony added lightweight overlays to provide extra structure. The minimal overlays fan out across the midfoot, which helps the mesh maintain its shape and improves the shoe’s overall secure feeling when you tighten the laces.