It was an unseasonably warm day, and I was running back and forth on a dirt road while my good-natured partner took dozens of photos at every possible angle. Usually I’d be hollering about photo timing to catch the upstride, but this morning, I kept stopping to exclaim, “These budget shoes are so comfortable!”
The Nortiv 8 shoes I wore retailed for just $60, less than half the price of most name-brand models. Initially unsure of what to expect, I was so impressed by their comfort and stability that I kept them on for an afternoon hike. Over the next two months and a dozen outings, my first impressions were confirmed: these budget running shoes are a very solid option at a very low price.
Like a suspiciously cheap sofa or a $20 bike helmet, shoes that deviate significantly from standard pricing raise eyebrows. Most road shoes use similar materials and construction techniques, resulting in a narrow cost window between $140 and $170. This makes running shoes hard to dupe and leaves me skeptical of anything under $110. Where are they saving money? Are cheap running shoes a recipe for injury?
So when I saw the positive reviews on the $60 Nortiv 8 Allswifit ActiveAiry, a cushioned, neutral road shoe, my curiosity was piqued. For direct comparison, I tested them against the $155 Hoka Clifton 10 and the $240 Saucony Endorphin Speed Pro.
Style-wise, the Clifton and ActiveAiry are fairly similar. Both are max-cushion everyday trainers with an emphasis on stability, though the ActiveAiry has a slightly taller heel stack and 14mm drop compared to the Clifton’s 7.2mm. The Endorphin Speed Pro is also highly cushioned, but it’s a race-focused performance model equipped with a carbon-fiber plate and fancier midsole foam—far from an everyday trainer, but a valuable testing addition to understand the difference between shoes at different price ranges.
Price tags and tech details, however, only tell half the story. To see if cheap running shoes can actually hold their own against the brand-name giants, I put all three models through a rigorous two-month test.
The post I Tested Nortiv 8’s $70 Shoes Against Name Brands. The Results Blew Me Away appeared first on Outside Online.
