REASONS TO BUY
Price
Good all-around performance
REASONS TO AVOID
Warm upper
Runs narrow
Takes some breaking in
Reebok Floatride Energy 5 Review
A solid performer at a great price, but it doesn’t stand out
Credit: Natalie Kafader
RELATED: The Best Running Shoes for Men
Our Verdict
Running in the Reebok Floatride Energy 5 feels like a throwback to old-school trainers, but not in a bad way. It's simple, decent at everything, and has no frills. While it's not our first choice for any run, it sits at a wallet-friendly price point and gets the job done. The TPU midsole provides some bounce and it's responsive enough to touch on faster paces. If you can get past the narrow fit, it could be a good budget trainer for you.
Our Analysis and Test Results
Budget shoes rarely do everything well, and the Reebok Floatride Energy 5 is no exception to that rule. It's solid at a lot of things but doesn't stand out in anything except price. That does make it a decent all-arounder, with a few caveats.
Performance Comparison
The Reebok Floatride Energy 5 is a solid, if uninspiring, daily trainer.
Credit: Nathaniel Bailey
Landing Comfort
The Floatride Energy 5 feels old-school. It “only” has 32 mm of stack height under the heel and 23 mm under the forefoot, which is low by today's standards. Reebok managed to keep the cushioning solid with the Floatride Energy foam, though. It's enough to insulate the legs and keep us from bottoming out the cushioning. It is pretty firm, though, which means we didn't love using it for recovery days when our legs were beat up.
There isn't a ton of foam, and it's relatively firm by today's standards, but the Floatride Energy 5 is still a comfortable daily.
Credit: Natalie Kafader
Reebok added a midfoot plate to the shoe for torsional stability. We found that the X-plate definitely reduced midfoot comfort. Mid/forefoot landings at pace felt harsh, but slower running when we were farther back on our feet had better transitions. This is one of the few shoes we've tested recently that took some breaking in. We experienced significant discomfort around the area of the X-plate, particularly on the outside of our midfoot. After about 30 miles, the shoe was much more comfortable, although still a little tight around the midfoot.
Here, the Floatride (bottom) is shown next to another shoe that runs a little narrower in the midfoot, the Hoka Clifton 10. We think the combination of the X-plate and the comparatively narrow platform is why we experienced discomfort around the midfoot.
Responsiveness
This shoe has a mild rocker, which helps when you try to pick up the pace. It feels fine for strides and can handle threshold workouts, although it is not the shoe we could choose for quality sessions. The foam lacks the energy return of faster shoes. That isn't to say it's bad; the shoe's responsiveness is solidly decent.
The shoe has a mild rocker, but does best at easy paces.
Credit: Natalie Kafader
Stability
The X-plate that caused some discomfort does help to provide some lateral stability. This is a neutral daily trainer that errs on the side of stability.
Upper Comfort
The upper and overall fit of the Floatride Energy 5 runs narrow. That's our biggest complaint about the shoe, particularly around the midfoot area. We didn't experience any hotspots or rubbing, but we did notice that the upper did not breathe well on warm days. Runners with wider feet will not do well with this shoe, and we would advise you to look elsewhere if you know you need a higher-volume toe box.
The upper really does not breathe well.
Credit: Natalie Kafader
Weight
For a daily trainer, the measured weight of 9.73 ounces per shoe (size US 10.5) isn't bad, placing it spot on average for the group. We think a lightweight upper could help reduce some weight, but the shoe doesn't feel unreasonably heavy. We don't have any major complaints here.
A lighter upper could help, but the shoe feels reasonably nimble on our feet as is.
Credit: Natalie Kafader
Traction
Thanks to a fairly aggressive tread pattern, traction is solid, and we experienced no issues on various surfaces.
The X-plate caused some discomfort, but helps with torsional stability. The grip is solid.
Credit: Natalie Kafader
Should You Buy the Reebok Floatride Energy 5?
For a simple, affordable daily trainer, the Floatride Energy 5 is solid. A jack of all trades, master of none, it can do a bit of everything but doesn't excel at anything. If you have narrower feet and like a firmer ride, it might work well for you.
What Other Running Shoes Should You Consider?
The Puma Velocity Nitro 3 is one of our favorite budget-friendly shoes. It packs better all-around performance at a decent price. We'd recommend it over the Floatride Energy 5. The New Balance FuelCell Propel v5 is a similarly affordable trainer that performs well across a number of metrics.
—Nathaniel Bailey
You Might Also Like
