Nike Air Max Pulse review

Let this new Air Max pair make your entire wardrobe fall in love if:

• You're looking for a really trendy and comfortable sneaker to show off all day long.
• You're an Air Max lover and you just can't get enough of its sporty vibe and Air technology.
• You need a casual pair of shoes that looks great with pretty much anything.

If you're an Air Max lover and you're looking for a lightweight model, the Pulse might not be exactly what you need. This shoe is on the heavier side, and if you're used to sneakers that feel like a couple of feathers, your feet might unhappily notice it. As an alternative, the Nike Air Max DN is on the lighter side, and it has a similar clean vibe; on the other hand, the Nike Air Max SC is also pretty feathery itself, and way cheaper!

Also, despite its aesthetics, the Pulse is definitely not a running model! As shoe experts, we can't recommend anything else but pairs that have been specifically designed with this sport in mind. Click here and have a look at our catalog!

This shoe has an absolutely massive Air unit at the heel. Just look at that!

Once we had cut this AM in half, our caliper could access the materials easily, opening wide to some crazy 36.0 mm. This result is a whole 18% higher than average, which really is a lot.

During our wear tests, apart from feeling the incredible comfort of this Air unit, we also enjoyed the extra inches it offered us. Cool, comfy, and extra confident, that's how we felt!

Our toes also enjoyed some extra protection from the ground thanks to this Nike's higher-than-average forefoot stack.

Our caliper returned 21.2 mm, and we really couldn't be happier. The comfort of this pair is unparalleled!

Our caliper didn't lie when it measured the crazy high heel stack of this Air Max. And as the Pulse doesn't have an Air unit in the forefoot, this area is, inevitably, lower.

With a skyscraper of a drop that reaches 14.8 mm, we can see how this shoe might not be everyone's cup of tea.

Following our own experience during our wear tests, the Pulse felt delightfully comfortable underfoot. We enjoyed every single step, and the Air unit just felt right. As we're used to testing loads and loads of different shoes, the high drop of this pair didn't bother us at all. But we know there will be some people who won't find it as appealing. Even with the height boost and all!

It looks like we can't stop talking about the wonderful Air unit of the Pulse, but hear us out: the comfort levels double up thanks to its soft midsole!

Our durometer returned 21.9 HA, which is way lower than average. The all-day comfort is the real deal here! And we enjoyed this softness non-stop even if we had to run errands from sunrise to sunset.

Most likely to reduce the overall weight, Nike went for an insole that's thinner than average.

At 3.9 mm, the brand understood (just as we did) that with the wonderful comfort this shoe provides underfoot, there's no need to go for a crazy thick insole. And it saved some oz too!

With a 2.6 on our 1 to 5 size scale, the Pulse might fit slightly smaller.

Our caliper had to open up to some solid 100.7 mm to measure this shoe's toebox width at the widest part.

This means it's wider than average, and our standard-sized feet enjoyed this more relaxed fit from morning to evening. But the best part of it all is that the Pulse has these padded and comfy interiors that, thanks to the extra space, didn't make our feet feel cramped!

After all this time, Nike has earned a well-justified reputation for designing shoes with a pointy toebox. But lately, there's been a very welcomed shift in this trend. And we're all up for it!

Our caliper marked 76.6 mm, which is slightly wider than average. It's not like we felt we had plenty of space to move our toes around, but we felt comfortable even after hours of walking.

And talking about space and comfort! The vertical volume and the stretchy mesh of the Pulse felt just right.

Don't let its mesh upper fool you: the Pulse's lateral stability is pretty solid!

As you can see, this shoe's structure didn't let our ankles play around more than they should. This was really helpful when our feet started getting tired after a whole day walking around town.

The solid lateral stability of this Nike pair comes hand-in-hand with a crazy high torsional rigidity. Just look at that!

A wall. A barrier. A dam. A barricade. A block! And anything in between. The Pulse didn't let our fingers play around, as its high lateral walls hugged the upper tightly.

It looks like the Pulse is all about big things, and its rubberized heel reinforcement works as clear evidence of such fact!

If this was Miley Cyrus' song, our thumb would definitely not be a wrecking ball. We couldn't even dream of making the solidly structured heel of this Air Max bend. So, yeah, we gave it a perfect 5/5 on our heel counter stiffness test.

We're happy to tell you that this Nike's midsole is wider than average, which equals a more stable ride!

Our caliper marked 109.7 mm, so our feet had a spacious platform to land on each and every step.

Now the heel takes this "I'm wider than you" experience to a whole new level.

At 92.9 mm, this area is a solid 10% wider than what we see in most sneakers!

Despite its incredibly stiff heel and higher-than-high torsional rigidity, our force gauge stated we only needed 23.5N to bend the Pulse all the way up to 90 degrees.

This result is pretty much average, which means that walking around town in this Nike felt fantastic. Even with its wall-like structure, this pair bent alongside our feet effortlessly.

During our wear tests, we felt this shoe was definitely not on the lighter side. It's not like its weight was super noticeable, as the Air cushioning gave us some bounce that would distract us from the actual weight, but... it just didn't feel like a couple of feathers.

When we took it to our lab, our scale had a good explanation for all this. It marked 15.1 oz/428.0g, which is a whole 8% heavier than average. Even though that might not sound like much to you, trust us, every oz counts!

Nevertheless, this didn't mean that we found the Pulse uncomfortable or unwearable during our wear tests. It's just on the heavier side, and even though this fact itself regardless of the experience might be a breaking point for some, the Air unit energy balanced it out for us.

During our light test, we could see our LED shine through this Air Max's upper material pretty easily. This gave us high hopes, as it usually means there are ventilation holes ready to let the air come in and out!

But, following our experience... the game isn't finished until the final whistle, if you know what we mean. So we grabbed our smoke machine and kept it rolling.

You should've seen the disappointment painted all over our faces when we brokenheartedly looked at these sneakers' breathability duel. The ASICS Gel NYC (right) displayed a wonderful level of ventilation letting all the smoke out effortlessly. On the other hand, the Air Max Pulse... literally choked. In the video, you can see a couple of faint and really thin smoke columns, especially at the end, but this was clearly not enough for this shoe to earn more than a sad 1/5 on our breathability test.

Last but not least, our microscope showed us how dense the Pulse's upper material is. That's why we believe that more than one test has to be conducted: the results can be totally different!

As you can see, there are no ventilation holes at all!

A low score on breathability usually comes with a high score on durability, but in this case... we were not that sure. And it wasn't just because of us getting our hopes crushed on the last test, it was more of a gut feel after having a look at the Pulse's upper.

At 5K RPM and with 3.2N of force, the Dremel went all out and tried to break this shoe's toebox. Even though it managed to destroy some layers, this Air Max kept it together until the very end, earning a 3/5 on our durability test.

We moved the tool all the way back to the heel to keep the drilling session up.

At the same 5K RPM and 3.2N of force, we could see white material flying around our lab from the very first moment the Dremel touched this shoe's heel padding. Consequently, and after having a good look at the messed up results, we decided to give it a 2/5 on this durability test.

In order to measure a shoe's outsole hardness, we need to take it to our lab and stick our durometer to it.

As you can see, it returned 91.3 HC, which is a result higher than average. This usually means that the rubber compound used in the shoe focuses on being durable, and not so much on biting the floor.

But our Dremel is the one that has to judge if the rubber is actually durable or not. With the same 3.2N of force but this time at 10K RPM, the tool went all in and tried to destroy the material during 22 seconds.

Even though there was dust flying everywhere, the final results were not really that bad. Our tread gauge returned 1.2 mm when we measured the dent's depth, which is just slightly higher than average.

Honestly, we were pretty happy about it, as it meant that the Pulse wouldn't give up on us any time soon.

Our caliper returned 4.9 mm when we measured this shoe's outsole thickness.

Despite not being as durable as the average of its category, we believe Nike went for a thinner piece of rubber in order to reduce the weight as much as possible. And honestly, in this case, we believe it was the right choice!

As this Air Max's official webpage states, it features the brand's iconic rubber waffle outsole.

As you can see, this tread focuses on the forefoot and the hard wear areas of the mid and rearfoot. Not only did this help to reduce the overall weight of the shoe, it also contributed to the increase of its overall flexibility levels, just like the prominent cuts on the ball of the foot.

Regarding performance, we're pretty happy with the Pulse's grip. It's nothing crazy, but it bit the floor consistently when we walked around town. All in all, it worked just fine during our wear tests, and that's exactly what we need.

The Air Max line features multiple sneakers with a wide variety of prices. In this case, we believe the Pulse's cost comes from its massive Air technology at the heel, much like the AM 270, which has a similar design.

Honestly, it's a price that follows the collection's standards, and taking into account this pair's super trendy style and incredibly comfortable cushioning, we do believe it's fair.

The shiny Swoosh this shoe features at the heel is a really cool detail. Not just because of its clean vibe, but also because it makes this Nike pair safer when you're walking out at night.

This AM has a thickly padded tongue that acts like a comfy pillow for our instep.

As you can see, it looks like an infinity, as there's a point of contact of the double layers right in the middle, more or less where you tie your shoes.

Even though we really appreciated this design because of its comfort, when our caliper returned 10.1 mm, we thought it was a little bit too much. In other words, we believe the brand could have gone for a thinner tongue to reduce the overall weight of the Pulse, and still keep the same comfort levels.

Even though this also adds a couple of extra oz, we were happy to see a gusseted tongue on this Nike pair (especially if we take into account its price!).

This added some extra surefootedness to our experience, which is something we always appreciate. The foot-hugging design of this shoe felt just right!

Instead of a heel tab, the Pulse keeps it retro with the color-blocking logo of the brand at the back.

The gusseted tongue might make putting the shoe on without a heel tab slightly harder than it should be, but the fact that this detail shines in the dark makes up for it all!

The Pulse features a removable insole!

This means that you can easily change it if you need or want to, which is always great news!