Nike Promina review

The Nike Promina should be on your radar if:

• you want a cheap walking shoe that offers great value for money and doesn't break down within a month
• you need a shoe with good shock absorption that can keep up with all-day wear
• you love the smooth ride of rockered shoes

If you don't mind shoes from the higher price range, the Nike Motiva is a much more comfortable and durable option with the same grooved rocker aesthetic.

And if you are on a tight budget but want to see what other cheap shoes offer soft and generous cushioning, try the ASICS Versablast 4. Its MSRP is a tad higher, but the shock absorption is exceptionally high!

Although it looks so deceptively similar to the Nike Motiva, the Promina's midsole showed a notably lower shock absorption reading of 111 SA. But this is fair considering the price difference between the two shoes.

The good news is that you can still expect lasting cushioning and all-day comfort from this affordable Nike shoe.

Our energy return test also confirmed that the Promina's basic cushioning foam is not as dead as some might expect. At 55.8%, there is a touch of rebound in this shoe's ride.

With an above-average stack height of 36.0 mm, the Nike Promina sits on the taller end of the walking shoe spectrum. Its generous buffer kept our feet pretty high off the ground.

Its forefoot stack also came out taller than average at 25.3 mm, contributing to the Promina's high-rise feel.

However, the shoe's heel-to-toe drop didn't bring any surprises with its regular measurement of 10.7 mm. It is an optimal setup for a whole day of walking and standing, as it helps minimise stress on the Achilles and calves.

Here we need to push back against Nike's statement that the Promina 'makes every walk a soft ride.'

Pressing a Shore A durometer against the shoe's half-cut midsole, we recorded a fairly high reading of 27.0 HA. This indicates a moderately soft (even somewhat firm) experience! It's nowhere near as soft as the Motiva (15.0 HA) or Nike's mind-blowingly plush ZoomX foam shoes.

Nike went for a pronounced rocker shape in the Promina's midsole to smooth out the heel-to-toe transitions and make the ride feel more effortless. This makes even more sense considering the shoe's towering stack height.

Referred to as the 'grooved rocker,' it is very reminiscent of the Nike Motiva's design but feels a bit more toned-down and less aggressive. It doesn't require as much getting used to in the Promina.

We also have to challenge Nike's promise of a 'widened forefoot and toebox' in the Promina, but let us fill the shoe with special liquid and wait until it solidifies in the fridge first.

There, the gel mould is done. And it confirms the fact that the Promina's fit is not as accommodating as the description suggests.

The widest part of its forefoot (ball of foot area) showed a pretty narrow reading of 92.2 mm on our calliper. Not only is it NOT wide for a men's US size 9, but it actually falls into the narrow width range!

So, people with wider foot shapes or bunions will have to opt for this shoe's Extra Wide version. Luckily, Nike offers one for the Promina.

The shoe's toebox also proved to be rather snug, showing a low calliper reading of 67.3 mm in the big toe area. This is pretty narrow for a Regular (medium) width.

You might as well feel restricted by the shoe's low toebox height, especially if you have any toenail issues (black, ingrown) or toe deformations like hammertoes.

With its below-average reading of 23.1 mm, the Promina's upper sits very close to the toes.

With a solid friction coefficient of 0.44, the Nike Promina's rubber outsole proved to be grippy enough for most urban conditions, including moderately wet concrete.

However, it's better not ot trust this shoe too much on extra slippery surfaces like wet or dusty stone or slick subway tiles.

The Promina's full-length rubber outsole with compact lugs and two prominent flex grooves is yet another similarity to the Nike Motiva. Its wavy midsole design is also reflected in the rubber outsole to help the shock-absorbing effect.

You can't expect much pliability from a high-stacked shoe, but the Promina proved to have enough forefoot flexibility to keep the ride feeling smooth and easy.

Our shoe bending tester recorded that it needed a moderate amount of force (13.2N) to bend by 30 degrees. This is a normal result for a walking shoe.

The Promina's thick slab of foam also showed up in its heavier weight, resulting in an above-average reading of 10.8 oz (306g). But it weighs exactly the same as the Motiva and doesn't feel foot-dragging at all.

What looked like a thick and impermeable fabric at first glance turned out to be a rather breathable material after all!

The Promina's upper proved to be porous enough to allow large billows of smoke to pass through it pretty quickly in our breathability test above.

Even when we took a closer look at the shoe's textile through our microscope, we could see how tightly-woven it was.

And yet, that didn't limit the shoe's ventilation capacity too much, keeping its breathability score summer-friendly at 4 out of 5.

Nike is being very upfront about the Promina's stability level, calling it 'moderate' in the product description.

Our tests proved this evaluation to be fair, as the shoe is devoid of any stabilising components indeed. We don't think it could support someone with moderate-to-severe overpronation (excessive inward rolling of the foot).

But the Promina won't let your foot buckle over the edge of the sole so easily.

Testing its torsional rigidity in our manual test, we found that the shoe has a pretty solid structure that can keep the foot stable side-to-side. On a 1-5 stiffness scale, we gave it a higher rating of 4.

However, the shoe's heel counter proved to be more forgiving in our push-and-squeeze test.

Its soft foam collar and the absence of a stiff TPU cage resulted in a lower rigidity score of 2 out of 5. But it should work perfectly fine for people with neutral pronation or mild overpronation.

A sufficiently broad landing area also helps with the shoe's stability. Our caliper recorded 113.3 mm in the widest area of the forefoot, which is a typical reading for the walking shoe category.

The widest part of the shoe's heel also proved to be on par with the average at 91.6 mm. Not too wide to make it clunky, but just right to confirm the brand's promise of 'moderate stability.'

No bold marketing claims were made regarding the Nike Promina's durability, but we tried not to set our expectations too high in view of the shoe's price point.

But the shoe's exposed mesh showed some resistance to our Dremel and thus earned a moderate toebox durability score of 3 out of 5. Not so bad for a budget-friendly shoe!

However, the same cannot be said about the shoe's inner mesh lining.

The material developed notable wear after a very brief encounter with sandpaper, lowering the heel padding durability score to only 2 out of 5.

But Nike did mention a 'durable outsole' in the Promina's description, so we had to challenge that with our Dremel test as well.

Luckily, the material resisted! Once the drilling was done, our tread gauge measured the depth of the dent at only 1.1 mm. This is even a little better than the category average! Great result for a shoe outsole in this price range.

The shoe's outsole also showed a promising thickness of 3.3 mm, which is another bonus point towards its longevity.

The insole of this Nike shoe showed a moderate thickness of 4.5 mm. It is a very basic footbed with no added arch support.

You can replace this stock insole with your own orthotic to boost cushioning and support.

Like most cushioned walking shoes, the Nike Promina's midsole tends to get firmer in low temperatures.

Having kept the shoe in the freezer for 20 minutes, we repeated the durometer measurement and got a notably higher reading of 34.8 HA. In other words, the foam firmed up by 29%, going from moderately firm to very firm.

Our dark room test revealed no reflective elements on the Nike Promina.

The Promina's interiors proved to be adequately padded without excess.

Its tongue, for example, returned a standard thickness of 6.3 mm on our calliper.

There are no tongue gussets here.

The Promina is one of the cheapest walking shoes you can get from Nike.

And while it's not as comfortable as its more advanced counterparts, there are no serious dealbreakers either. Nothing holds us back from saying that this shoe offers great value for money.

A synthetic finger loop at the back helps with the on-and-off. Unlike most fabric loops, it feels like it's built to last.

According to Nike, the Promina was made with at least 50% recycled content by weight.