Most any other shoe I wear a 10.5 2E US, but I ordered these in an 11 D US to have an identical comparison against the original Deviate Nitro that I have. I found the 10.5 D US width felt too small in the toebox so I returned them and ordered an 11. The color is called black-ultra blue-fire orchid. Why they don’t start it with fire orchid is beyond me because the upper is 99.9% fire orchid except for the blue Puma logos. There are significant differences between the Deviate Nitro first generation and the Deviate Nitro 2. Starting with the ankle collar. The 2 has a generous amount of padding around the collar whereas the original virtually has none and you don’t hit any in the heel upper until you get almost an inch down on the original. I don’t find that a huge thing for me as my ankles don’t really touch the collar in the first generation shoe anyway. I’m also more of a mid-foot to forefoot striker too which may have an impact on the ankle area. The tongue on the 2 is remarkably thicker which does make a difference for me. I thought the original Deviate Nitro’s tongue could have the laces feeling like they were cutting into the top of my foot. I should note that in my breathability testing using my light, the original tongue allows some light through whereas the Deviate Nitro 2’s tongue doesn’t, so the newer model may trap in some heat through the top of the foot. Puma added “PWRTAPE” on the upper of the Deviate Nitro 2 across the medial arch area and out at the lateral pinky toe area which they say is for “Targeted reinforcement for upper support and durability.” They also added a reflective element on the toe just below the tongue. Puma also claims a heel-toe drop of 6 mm in the Deviate Nitro 2 but the original Deviate Nitro spec had the heel-toe drop listed as 8 mm. The insoles look and feel pretty much the same on both shoes. From the outward appearances Puma ditched the TPU heel spoiler piece in the midsole on the 2nd generation shoe, but their specs say differently. The midsole heel on the 2nd generation definitely appears to extend out further than the original. It also looks to my naked eye that they’ve increased the thickness of the PUMAGRIP outsole on the 2nd generation shoe. The original Deviate Nitro’s I have pictured here have less than 20 miles on them and just about half of that is on the treadmill. The original Deviate Nitro weighed in at 585 grams (size 11 D) for the pair where the new generation 2 shoes have apparently gone on a diet and dropped 27 grams to 558 grams. I don’t know exactly where the weight savings came from but they mention a reworked PWRPLATE which looks like it may have been split between the big toe and the rest of the foot. The original has an INNOPLATE, carbon fiber plate. They also indicate they used a full layer of Nitro Elite foam in the midsole, but the ‘standard’ Nitro foam is used closest to the outsole. Maybe there is more nitrogen/air injected into the Nitro Elite foam which helped loose some of the weight. Some measurements of the Deviate Nitro 2 show the widest point of the midsole forefoot it is 107.9 mm and at the heel it is 87.6 mm. The original is a bit wider at 111.7 mm at the widest part of the forefoot and a tad narrower at the heel measuring 85.4 mm. The upper on the 2 measures 75.3 mm at the heel, 98.4 mm at the widest part of the toebox and 77.9 mm at the big toe area. The first generation is a tad smaller and was 70.9 mm at the heel, 96.5 mm at the widest part of the toebox and 76.4 at the big toe area. The original’s PUMAGRIP outsole has a Shore A Durometer average hardness level of 58.2 HA over 12 datapoints. The Nitro midsole foam has an average hardness of 32 on the original over 10 datapoints. For full transparency the width and hardness measurements on the first generation shoe were taken after they had the 20 miles on them. I didn’t have the tools to take those measurements when I originally purchased them. On the Deviate Nitro 2 the midsole foam averaged 30 over the ten datapoints notably the higher being taken on the bottom of the midsole. The 2nd generation PUMAGRIP has a Shore A Durometer hardness average of 60.3 which is a bit harder than the originals. I don’t know if the slightly harder rubber and a thicker outsole will equate to better durability or not. I guess only time and miles will tell! If you are looking for a carbon fiber plated daily training shoe I would hope these changes will extend the life and mileage of the Deviate Nitro 2!
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