Price: $130
Type: Road
Weight: 11.0 oz (M), 9.8 oz (W)
The right shoe for: A lively ride at any distance, or anyone who has a hard time finding the right fit
Buy Men’s Buy Women’s More Images
New for 2018, Puma is overhauling its Speed line of shoes with a “Fusefit” upper. The shoes maintain an EVA-based midsole foam that helps keep the shoe feeling light and speedy, but gets a knit upper that truly lets the runner customize the fit to his or her unique needs.
The Speed 600 Fusefit is a middle of the road daily trainer, a shoe that’s capable of handling heavy mileage while still feeling fast if you want to lace it up for a workout. The 600 in the name refers to the amount of cushioning—100 is the thinnest, fastest shoe Puma offers, whereas 1000 is the thickest, softest model. Dialing up the comfort is a thin layer of “Ignite” foam that sits atop an EVA midsole, delivering a bouncy, go-fast feeling with each footfall.
“It’s a premium, road running shoe with neutral support,” says one tester. “The shoe is lightweight with cushioning that is extremely responsive. I was most impressed with the customized fit.”
That fit is thanks to the new knit upper, which features a slew of loops down both sides of the shoe, allowing you to tweak the lacing configuration and customize the fit.
Midsole
The EVA foam Puma is using is new, but remains lightweight and has more rebound. In a product briefing, Puma showed us a video where an egg was dropped from the top of a building onto a slab of the material. The egg bounced remarkably high and didn’t crack—until it landed a second time, on the concrete. That layer of foam added to the shoe makes up the bulk of the midsole, so the shoe remains light on foot and responsive—you feel quick when pushing off. Closer to the foot is a thin layer of Ignite, which is Puma’s version of the polyurethane-based foam nearly every manufacturer is rolling out. The advantage is higher energy return and better durability, though the material is heavier than EVA. Even so, used like this, you get a bouncy feeling under foot, without a huge weight penalty.
Outsole
The outsole boasts a lot of rubber coverage for durability. That means the shoe is going to weather the high mileage it was intended for. Testers noted that the rubber felt “soft,” making the shoe feel smooth and quick underfoot. Just above the rubber is a TPU “propulsion plate”—basically a Y-shaped piece of plastic extending from the arch up through the forefoot to provide a snappy feeling when you’re going through your gait cycle. It certainly makes the shoe feel stiffer at a jog—and in our lab testing—but when driven hard it snaps back for a lively ride.
Upper
The Fusefit upper is an innovative one-piece knit system, with loops engineered into the sides so you can customize the fit. For example, you can run the laces through loops closer to the midsole for a snug fit that better holds narrow feet, or you can use the top-most loops if you have a wider foot and need a more generous fit. Every tester appreciated the shoe’s comfortable, foot-conforming fit and many said the toe box even felt roomy.
All the Stats You Need!
Men’s
- Weight: Very Heavy | 11.0 oz
- Heel Cushioning: Moderate
- Download Your Training Plan
- CA Notice at Collection
- Forefoot Height: Low | 21.1 mm
- Get Fast in the Puma EVOSpeed NetFit Sprint
- Flexibility: Stiff
- The Best Running Shoes of 2025
- Energy Return: More
Women’s
- The Best Running Shoes of 2025
- Heel Cushioning: Moderate
- Heel Cushioning: Moderate
- Running Races - Places
- Forefoot Height: Low | 20.3 mm
- Forefoot Cushioning: Firm
- Flexibility: Stiff
- The Best Running Shoes of 2025
- Energy Return: More
We put each shoe through real-world usage and a battery of mechanical tests in our lab to provide you with objective—and exclusive—data. In addition to measuring a shoe’s weight, we measure sole thickness (everything that sits between your foot and the road), how well the foam cushions your stride, and the flexibility of the forefoot. All this is taken into account in our reviews of each shoe.
The Best Running Shoes of 2025 Runner’s World and the director of product testing. He has tested and reviewed running shoes, GPS watches, headphones, apparel, and more for nearly two decades. He regularly tests more than 100 pairs of shoes each year, and once had a 257-day streak running in different models. Jeff can usually be found on the roads, racing anything from the mile to a marathon, but he also enjoys racing up mountains and on snowshoes. When he’s not running, you’ll probably find him hanging from a ladder making repairs and renovations to his house (he’s also director of product testing for Popular Mechanics).
