The Pegasus is without a doubt the most popular running shoe in the Nike lineup. A great fit, coupled with very decent cushioning and Zoom Air added in for some extra responsiveness make it a very easy shoe to like.
Rather than introduce a dramatic price hike and design change, Nike spun off the Turbo variant to capture the market that wants the overall design of the Pegasus shoes, but with the most bleeding edge tech on the foam with Nike’s ZoomX foam.
We will here compare the latest versions of these shoes: Nike Air Zoom Pegasus 41 vs Nike Air Zoom Pegasus Turbo Next Nature.
The sole units of these two shoes look very similar at first and surely they are in terms of geometry. They both rock a 10mm heel drop and a familiar outsole pattern for traction.
This is about where the similarities end because the sole unit is the biggest differentiator between these two shoes.
While the Nike Air Zoom Pegasus uses ReactX foam to deliver a soft but responsive ride, the Turbo Next Nature uses Nike’s best: ZoomX foam. It’s the lightest, most energy efficient foam Nike has ever made.
Nike states this ZoomX formula gives you 85% energy return. For reference, other foams produced by Nike returned 60-65% of the energy.
The science and bio-mechanics around efficient foams is still growing, so it’s hard to quantify how much faster a runner will be with more efficient foam, but it is clear that this foam feels bouncy, soft, and won’t slow you down.
The entire upper of the Pegasus is a simple, almost seamless mesh that wraps from the front to the rear, with only a clipped Nike logo embossed on the side.
This upper mesh isn’t a tight bootie, or super flexible/stretchy fabric like some of the other nike shoes (notably the Motion Flyknit), but is just a durable and simple mesh. The internal structure of the mesh gets a bit denser around high-stress areas of the shoe like edges of the toe and top of the lacing area.The Pegasus has a comfortable fit with a superb lockdown.
There’s also enough structure to the heel without any bulky overlay/counter to let you slip the shoes on without feeling restricted in the heel.
The upper of the Turbo Next Nature is comprised of a thick, stretchy Flyknit material which is recycled. There are no overlays and almost no heel counter. Nothing is added to the shoe that is not the bare minimum.
While the Nike Air Zoom Pegasus is one of the shoes we recommend to most runners due to its universal fit and easy ride – the Pegasus Turbo Next Nature has a much narrower target audience.
It is a shoe that is meant to run fast, be it in races or in fast training. There are so many racing shoes out there, especially from Nike itself, that if we were to select the perfect runner for the Turbo, it would be somebody who is extremely happy with their long mileage training in the Pegasus and want a safe option to upgrade to a faster shoe before getting into racing flats or carbon plate shoes.
