Neo Vista 3 vs Pegasus Premium 1

Mizuno trimmed the Neo Vista this year instead of making it bigger. Our spec sheet has the 3 a little lower than the Neo Vista 2 at heel and forefoot, at much the same 266g, and the RRP comes down to £150. The change reviewers noticed first is the fit: the heel now holds your foot properly, and the length complaints about the last version have gone. Underfoot it's still a big, soft max-cushion super trainer with no carbon plate, and most testers liked it more than the 2. Where they part ways is pace. Some found real spring for uptempo finishes, while one lab measured only modest energy return and called it bulky once you push. Doctors of Running graded the performance highly but marked the fit down hard, mostly for thick heel padding that bothered a tester's Achilles. We'd buy it as a long-run and recovery running shoe and leave the intervals to something lighter.

Nike built the Pegasus Premium around bounce, and on that one point reviewers agree it delivers. The full-length Air Zoom unit in its triple-layer midsole gives a springy, trampoline-like ride that most testers enjoyed. The trouble is everything around it. At 308g it's heavy for a super trainer, the fit is narrow, and several reviewers found the tall platform unstable. RunRepeat rated it great and another tester would tell you to try it, but Doctors of Running were far harsher, and one of their testers couldn't run in it at all because the tapered toe box pressed on the big toe.

At £190 RRP that is a lot of compromise. We see it as a fun shoe for easy and steady runs if you're a neutral runner with narrow to medium feet, not a versatile super trainer. If you want Nike bounce in a lighter package, the Zoom Fly 6 is easier to live with, and the Vomero 18 makes more sense for plain easy mileage.