Under Armour Velociti Elite 3

The Velociti Elite 3 is Under Armour’s new racer, designed to compete in the red-hot carbon-fiber plated shoe market. Priced at $250, it’ll be going head-to-head with some stiff competition (pun intended) like the Puma Deviate Nitro Elite 3 ($230), New Balance SC Elite v5 ($265) and ASICS Metaspeed Sky Tokyo ($270). It still comes in heavier than all of its competitors, even if it is significantly lighter than the previous version. It also has a very low drop—only 2mm—and only 36mm of foam in the heel. The step-in feel is quite nice—it fits true to size, the upper feels good, and it is easy to get a good lock-down. On the run, many of the same problems with the previous version still remain—the foam is very firm and it does not feel very good or responsive at slower, more relaxed paces, especially when doing more heel-striking. As we picked up the pace to marathon pace, the foam felt more bouncy, especially in the midfoot, but you do have to be hitting a very specific spot to get the best out of the shoe. The bottom line is that there’s a better shoe for any job. If you want a firm or a faster ride, the Puma Fast-R 3 is a better choice; if you want a fun and bouncy ride the Hoka Cielo X1 2.0 or New Balance SC Elite v5 are better options; and if you want a fast shoe with a normal feel the ASICS Metaspeed Sky Tokyo is what we’d recommend. It is still a carbon-plated race shoe. It has stiffness, pop and some energy return, but it’s not elevating itself on paper, or on the ride. It is serviceable, but workmanlike, and there is nothing about it that makes it better than any other race shoe on the market.