Puma Deviate Nitro Elite 3 vs Adidas Adizero Adios Pro Evo 2:
Which to Choose

On paper these two are near-twins: both score 6/6 for pace, 6/6 for responsiveness, 5/6 for cushioning, and just 2/6 for stability, both are neutral, and both ride on a tall platform that feels planted when you're hammering but distinctly tippy at jog pace. Stack and drop are close too — the Puma sits at 40/32mm for an 8mm drop, while the Adios rides around 38–39mm at the heel with an effective drop near 7mm, so max cushioning and geometry are in the same neighborhood. The decisive gap is weight: the Adios Pro Evo 2 comes in at roughly 139g in a men's US 9, versus about 195g for the Deviate Nitro Elite 3 — a substantial difference that defines each shoe's character. That extreme weight saving makes the Adios feel like it disappears underfoot and is built to extract the most from a sustained elite-effort marathon, but it comes with a razor-thin upper, a very snug toebox, and notably limited durability. The Puma, with its stiffer carbon PWRPLATE, Nitro Elite PEBA, and a more substantial (if still minimal) engineered mesh, trades a little of that featherweight magic for a shoe that's more versatile across distances and a bit more shoe to hold up over repeated use. On use case they diverge in the same direction: the Puma genuinely covers 10K, half, and marathon with the half as its sweet spot, while the Adios narrows its focus to the half and marathon with the full marathon as its true home. Both reward a confident midfoot-to-forefoot strike and a committed pace; neither forgives a form breakdown late in a race.