Topo Athletic Magnifly 5 Introduction
The Topo Athletic Magnify 5 is a zero-drop daily trainer that can be used for your easy recovery runs or any other daily use such as walking.
This simplistic shoe guides you through your gait cycle as you feel natural during your runs.
The upper uses a recycled mesh upper that is very comfortable that includes a wide toe box.
The Zipfoam technology used in the midsole gives it a more forgiving ride underfoot than last year’s model.
And at only $135 its appealing price tag not to ignore.
Topo Athletic Magnifly 5 First Impressions
When I opened the box and put the shoe on, I noticed right away that the heel counter was a little loose. Either way I went out to run in them.
The looseness of the heel counter continued until around 5 minutes in, then the feeling went away.
The midsole itself felt firm to my liking.
But I was for certain the shoe was going to break in at some point as I was continuing to test the shoes out.
And after running in a 6mm drop shoe for a bit and transitioning to a zero drop I can feel the major difference as I felt I was working a little bit harder on certain paces.
Topo Athletic Magnifly 5 Upper
The upper uses a recycled engineered mesh that is breathable and fits true to size.
The mesh felt comfortable on my foot with no reports of any irritations or signs of hot spots whatsoever.
For a daily trainer, the one thing I really appreciate about the Magnify 5 is the wide toe box. The wide toe box provides plenty of room to allow your toes to spread naturally and comfortably. The toe boxes resembled to me a lot of the Altras.
Both the shoe lacing system is unique because as you are lacing up your shoes there are extra loops that are placed on the top of the tongue so the tongue will be stabled during your runs.
The tongue itself is not gusset, which is the reason for the extra loops on the top. The tongue provides enough padding to be comfortable on top of the foot. I am happy to report that I did not encounter any hot spots or blisters during my testing.
However, when it came to the heel counter, I found it to be a little on the wider side. There were a few times on the start of my runs where I felt like the shoe was going to slip off, but then the feeling goes away.
The heel counter does provide little padding but not enough to make you feel locked in.
One thing that I noticed the outer heel counter does provide is rubber structure that wraps around just above the midsole for some stability assistance if needed.
Topo Athletic Magnifly 5 Sole Unit
The Topo Athletic Magnify 5 uses an updated Zipfoam midsole, an EVA compound, which is softer and lighter than last year’s model.
From the 50 plus miles I’ve put into this shoe, I found the ride to be very simple and unexciting.
The midsole compound Topo uses really reminds me of Altra’s EGO MAX that I just tested out recently. When pressing into the midsole with your fingers it feels soft, but when running on them, it is not.
The shoe started out a lot firmer for my liking. But as I started putting more miles the less it became, but not significantly better.
And I believe it started becoming a lot less firmer not because of the midsole itself, but the insole it uses. The Magnify 5 uses an Ortholite insole that is soft and forgiving underfoot.
With the midsole designed to your natural gait cycle, along with the shoe being wide width, the shoe felt fine going on sharps turns with no feeling of turning an ankle whatsoever. And with the stack height being 25mm you still get a sense of feeling contact with the ground/terrain.
While testing the various mileages in the shoe, I found the sweet spot to be running easy paces with low milage.
The longer the miles the more fatigued I got, and that was probably because I was recently in a shoe with a higher offset.
The rubber outsole is put in strategic places and is designed as foot pods, which are either square or rectangular rubbers that are naturally constructed to improve the flexibility of the human foot as you go through your gait cycle.
Just by running over 50 miles with the Magnify 5’s I have noticed the exposed Zipfoam midsole on the bottom already tearing up a bit.
Not sure how long the exposed midsole will last when it comes to durability. The rubber foot pods durability itself have had no significate wears or tears on them.
While running on various terrains during my testing, I have noticed the traction to be very good. I felt confident as I was running through gravel, dirt, concrete, and pavement.
Topo Athletic Magnifly 5 Conclusions
The Topo Athletic Magnify 5 is a shoe, I believe, that is best suited for recovery days and daily walking.
I probably wouldn’t use them running more than 10km with.
Although it is a pretty light weight shoe (8.7 oz for men’s size 9) I still wouldn’t use them for any speed work as there are plenty of options out there in the market for those specific shoes.
If you are the type of runner that is in search of a zero-drop shoe that is light weight that provides a non max midsole, this could be a good option.
