Nike Vomero 18 Review

Comfort and Fit

The Vomero 18 has a premium upper, utilizing padding and soft-knit materials to envelop your foot. The materials feel great, particularly around the ankle and heel. The tongue is well-cushioned and doesn't migrate on runs. Lockdown is simple with easily adjustable lacing. As a result, we had no issues with rubbing, sliding, or abrasions.

The upper materials feel very comfortable, but they create issues during wet runs. All the soft materials make for a comfortable experience, but they also suck up water like a sponge on rainy days. Compared to many other options, these shoes retain significantly more water when wet and become very heavy.

The overall fit of the Vomero runs somewhere between narrow and average. It feels somewhat typical of Nike running shoes, with a narrower-than-average toe box, tapering to an average/narrow midfoot width, and an average heel width. The abundance of padding around the heel cup can lead to some heel lift, depending on how the shoes are laced. The Vomero feels snug rather than spacious, likely due to a combination of the padded upper and the typical Nike shoe shape. Runners who like a looser fit might want to consider alternatives, or the available “Extra Wide” fit.

Cushioning

The dual-density midsole packs Nike's ZoomX foam on top of its React X foam. This design adds up to a total stack height of 41 mm at the heel, with an 11 mm heel-to-toe drop. Think of ZoomX like a bouncy ball; it is soft and highly resilient, even energetic, but it can be a little unstable. Think of ReactX as a more typical foam; it is firmer and doesn't have the same enthusiastic compression-rebound cycle of ZoomX. The ZoomX is designed to do the heavy lifting in terms of cushioning, while the ReactX provides stability. The end result is a shoe that feels uniquely comfortable and planted. It has plenty of give as you land thanks to the ZoomX compressing, but it doesn't feel like you're close to bottoming out the cushioning. Instead, it gets a little firmer as you get deeper into the foam, and there is a bit of guidance as you roll through your foot strike.

Compared to some key competitors, the Vomero 18 rolls smoother and feels far more confident. As you land at the heel or midfoot, the shoe compresses, and then it feels like it gently pushes you up and off the forefoot. In comparison, many other comfort-oriented max-cushioning trainers feel more like a pillow that you slowly sink into when you land, but then have to climb up out of as you push off. We appreciated this, noting that slow runs felt a little less fatiguing in the Vomero than in other similar shoes. Overall, the cushioning is excellent and more than adequate for any run you throw at it. However, the overall bulk of the shoe does limit its usefulness for fast running, making it better suited for feeling comfortable while running at a slow pace.

Breathability

The premium materials of the Vomero feel good, but they struggle to breathe in comparison to standouts where breathability is a top design consideration.

Overall, our feet got warm during runs over 75 degrees and were sweatier than after running in better ventilated shoes. On the other hand, these shoes performed well on frigid winter mornings.

Traction

The Vomero uses a combination of Nike's waffle pattern outsole along the edges of the shoe and polygonal-shaped lugs under the forefoot. Traction here is surprisingly good on loose surfaces. We did not have any issues on cold or wet pavement.

The Vomero outsole is very durable. Our pair has approximately 300 miles on it at the time of writing and is only showing minor wear on the high-contact patches of the outsole.

Should You Buy the Nike Vomero 18?

If you place a premium on comfort and regularly run at a relaxed or slow pace, the Vomero should make your short list. It's extremely protective, but not squishy. It has a high stack, but still feels planted. We believe the slightly firmer and more stable midsole also makes this a great choice for heavier runners who may find that they bottom out the cushioning in softer shoes. Those features also make it a good choice for runners who want a max-cushion shoe, but are nervous about the lack of stability in some of the competition. It's not a stability shoe by any means, but it offers more stability than many similarly stacked competitors.

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