Escalante 5 vs Winflo 12

The Escalante 5 is heavier than the shoe it replaces. Our spec sheet has it at 275g against 240g for the Escalante 4, with a touch more stack and a 2.2mm drop, which is still close to the zero-drop idea Altra builds everything around. In return you get a tougher outsole and a better-fitting knit upper, and most reviewers found the foam a little bouncier than before. It remains a low, flexible daily running shoe with a wide toe box, aimed at runners already used to zero or near-zero drop who want to feel the road and let their toes spread. The ride divides opinion. Run To The Finish liked the springy, grounded feel and rated it the best Escalante so far, while RTINGS found the cushioning harsh and too thin for long runs. We land in the middle. It's a good shoe for short and steady runs, but we wouldn't take it into marathon training, and if you've never run in low-drop trainers it's the wrong place to start.

At £99.99 the Winflo 12 is one of the cheapest ways into a high-stack Nike running shoe, and it's a very different shoe from the Winflo 11. Nike piled on foam, taking the heel to 40.9mm and the forefoot to 30.3mm with a 10.6mm drop. The result is a soft, stable daily training shoe for easy miles and long runs. It isn't built for speed, and at 305g it's heavy, which is the complaint that keeps coming up. RunRepeat rated it highly, mostly for how much protection you get for the money. Fordy Runs was cooler, calling it a decent budget shoe but pointing serious runners to the Vomero 18, which costs £45 more at RRP. We sit somewhere between the two. If your budget stops around £100 and most of your running is steady, it makes a lot of sense. If you want a shoe that can also handle tempo work, pick something lighter.