Nike Ava Rover review

The Nike Ava Rover deserves a spot in your sneaker stack if:

• you are after supreme underfoot comfort, impact protection, and bounce
• you want to experience Nike's advanced technologies (ReactX foam) in a casual sneaker
• you love shoes with futuristic vibes

We can see how its visual appeal can be polarising, but there are hardly any functional deal-breakers about the Nike Ava Rover.

But if you are considering this sneaker for running, we strongly advise against it. Even though it's a running-inspired silhouette with Nike's performance cushioning foam, it's not a running shoe per se. Its upper design and overall geometry are not ideal for regular runs. We highly recommend the Nike Pegasus 41 or the Nike Vomero 18 instead. Both feature the same innovative ReactX cushioning.

And both are immensely comfortable for day-to-day wear as well!

With a generous slab of the performance-level ReactX foam in its midsole, we expected nothing less than stellar impact protection from the Ava Rover. And it delivered!

According to our lab measurements, the shock absorption of this Nike sneaker significantly exceeds the category average. At 116 SA in the heel, it makes one of the best cushioned lifestyle shoes in our roster!

Increased energy return is one of the primary benefits of Nike's new ReactX foam, and our lab data supports this claim.

Measuring the percentage of force that the Ava Rover's sole rebounds back in the heel area, we recorded a very high reading of 59.2%. This is one of the highest measurements in the lifestyle shoe category and is even equal to some running shoes!

On foot, this means a super lively and bouncy ride, which not only feels fun but also helps to reduce fatigue during long walks, keeping your feet and legs fresher for longer.

Its oversized midsole silhouette and matching upper overlays make the Nike Ava Rover appear more high-stacked than it actually is.

Having cut the shoe in half and measured its heel stack with a digital caliper (insole and outsole included), we got just an average reading of 31.7 mm.

It is the exact same stack as in the Nike Air Force 1 07.

The shoe's forefoot stack height came in at 22.3 mm, which is a couple of millimeters taller than average but not too thick.

The Ava Rover has a gradual heel-to-toe drop of 9.4 mm, offering an ergonomic foot position for long hours of walking.

It's not too low to put stress on the Achilles tendons and calves, but also not too high to cause toe sliding forward.

Nike features stacked ReactX in the Ava Rover, including one thick slab of foam at the core of the shoe and another one around it (like a carrfier foam). However, our durometer measurements showed that both components are pretty soft.

Even though ReactX is not as insanely plush as Nike's ZoomX blend, it is significantly softer than most other EVA-based cushioning foams used in lifestyle sneakers.

The core ReactX layer in the Ava Rover showed a low durometer reading of 18.0 HA, proving to be one of the softest and most forgiving materials among casual kicks.

Carrier foams are typically made of firmer foams to provide some stability around the softer component, but it's not the case in the Ava Rover.

The external ReactX turned out to be even softer than the core one! It is notably more compressible with a very low durometer measurement of 13.0 HA.

And yet somehow, this Nike sneaker doesn't feel wobbly or unstable.

There is no aggressive rocker geometry in the Ava Rover, but the moderate curvatures in its heel and forefoot add smoothness to the heel-to-toe transitions.

We've seen a lot of complaints about the Ava Rover's snug or even tight fit (particularly in the toebox), but our own measurements revealed the complete opposite!

Having poured special liquid into the shoe's forefoot, we kept it in the freezer until it solidified in the shape of the shoe's interiors. We then grabbed a digital caliper to measure the widest part of the mold (in the ball of the foot area).

The tool recorded 95.3 mm, putting the shoe into the wide width range!

Even the narrower part of the shoe's toebox returned an above-average width of 73.7 mm (in the big toe area)!

These dimensions make the Nike Ava Rover a legit wide sneaker by our standards.

We experienced no restrictions from the top of the shoe either.

The shoe's toebox height of 27.0 mm was affected by the thick felt-like overlay running through the middle of the shoe's upper.

When Nike promises 'standout traction' in the Nike Ava Rover, it really means it.

Designed for city dwellers, this sneaker proved to have an exceptionally high friction coefficient of 0.69 on wet concrete! This is by far one of the highest we've recorded among casual sneakers.

You can expect to feel surefooted on common urban surfaces like concrete sidewalks, asphalt roads, brick walkways, granite steps, and even subway tiles.

The Ava Rover features a modernized variation of Nike's signature waffle pattern.

It has thinner and more densely packed treading in the big toe area and on the outer side of the heel for improved grip where it's most needed, and larger 'carved out' lugs in the center of the outsole for reduced weight and improved flexibility.

The Ava Rover's outsole design and thinner rubber layer allow the shoe to bend more easily despite its chunky platform. And in the upper, its thin nylon textile doesn't hinder the shoe's pliability either.

As a result, we get both cushioning and natural foot bending in this Nike shoe, as it doesn't require as much force to bend by 30 degrees as some other sneakers do. At 10.6N, it turned out to be even bendier than average.

We are also pleased to report that neither the shoe's molded overlays nor the nylon upper fabric develops creases with use.

Thanks to the lightweight nature of the ReactX foam itself, the Ava Rover's cushioning-to-weight ratio is simply fantastic! It keeps the feet and legs comfortable all day long without dragging them down at all.

The shoe turned out to be one of the lightest casual kicks in our catalog at 10.2 oz (289g) in a men's US size 9.

At first sight, the Nike Ava Rover doesn't give an impression of a highly breathable sneaker.

Its nylon fabric upper resembles a windbreaker material instead of a well-ventilated one. And the shoe is promoted for 'year-round wear', lowering our breathability expectations even further.

So you can imagine our surprise when we started pumping smoke through this Nike sneaker. The billows went straight through the perforations on top of the toebox, unhindered!

This was surprising because those perforations are not very large and are covered with a mesh layer from the inside.

And yet, they do their job of letting the airflow pass through the shoe, keeping the interiors pleasantly fresh.

Our LED test also showed that these apertures are equally transparent in the shoe's tongue, and the nylon fabric is pretty airy itself.

All in all, we found the Ava Rover to be a summer-ready option with a high breathability score of 4/5.

We found the Nike Ava Rover moderately supportive for all-day wear with its raised midsole topline and firm molded overlays (aka mudguards) covering the base of the upper. The wide base at the bottom also contributes to the shoe's side-to-side stability.

However, we don't think that this sneaker offers enough lateral support to folks with moderate-to-severe overpronation (excessive inward rolling of the foot and ankle). There is too much wiggle in the ankle area, and the soft platform doesn't help to stabilize the ride either.

With no solid arch support or stabilizing elements embedded into the Ava Rover, its torsional rigidity turned out to be very moderate.

We were able to twist this Nike sneaker fairly easily in our manual test, rating its stiffness with a middle-ground score of 3/5.

The shoe's midsole walls rise pretty high up the heel counter at the back of the shoe, creating some rigidity at the base of the heel.

However, the rest of the collar gives in more easily, lowering the shoe's heel counter stiffness to the middling 3/5.

As we already mentioned, the Nike Ava Rover draws its stability from a wider base, but let's add some context to exactly how wide we're talking.

The widest area of the shoe's midsole in the forefoot clocked in at 117.4 mm, which is significantly wider than average.

The shoe's heel also proved to be very wide-set, with 97.9 mm between the most extended contact points.

That way, the Ava Rover's midsole dimensions bring it close to the chunky Nike V2K Run and put it at the top of our list of the widest sneaker midsoles.

Our Dremel test showed that the soft, felt-like material on top of the Ava Rover's toebox is nearly immune to scuffing and chafing!

Showing strong resistance to sandpaper, it got away with cosmetic damage only and earned the shoe a high toebox durability score of 4/5.

The inner side of the shoe's collar is also lined with soft fabric, but it feels more like fuzzy synthetic suede.

It proved to be just as abrasion-resistant as the exterior textile, scoring as high as 4/5 in our heel padding durability test.

The outsole rubber, on the other hand, wasn't as tough as we expected, considering the Ava Rover's purpose as the go-to shoe for the cityscape.

An 18-second drilling session left a notable dent of 1.2 mm in the shoe's rubber. Sure, it is on par with the category average, but we have concerns about the shoe losing its grippy tread pattern prematurely.

Nike deliberately chose to make the Ava Rover's outsole thinner for lighter weight and better flexibility. Our caliper confirmed it with a below-average measurement of 3.2 mm.

But seeing how easily the Dremel burned through the shoe's rubber, we have some reservations about this Nike kick's long-term durability on hard city streets.

The shoe's insole proved to be sufficiently padded with a caliper reading of 3.7 mm in the heel.

The insert is not attached to the shoe's bottom, making it easy to remove. Its contoured shape with prominent arch support may or may not be everyone's cup of tea.

Some color options of the Nike Ava Rover are adorned with reflective accents (i.e. College Grey and Sequoia/Oil Green), but not the Phantom/Light-Bone color that we got to test in this review.

But on the bright side, it's not completely invisible in low-light conditions either. An overlay on its heel counter showed mild reflectivity in our test.

The shoe's tongue is amply padded with cushioned pods at the top. We measured its thickness at a standard 8.9 mm.

Its collar padding is not overdone either.

A fully-gussted tongue helps the shoe's upper wrap around the midfoot more securely. It also eliminates any potential tongue shifting.

At $145, the Nike Ava Rover is priced higher than the average lifestyle sneaker, but it's not one of Nike's more expensive offerings either.

Our lab tests showed that it offers excellent value for money, particularly with its high-end ReactX cushioning foam. But if you want a more budget-friendly alternative, you can find equally good shock absorption for all-day wear in the Nike V2K Run ($120).

A large and sturdy finger loop is very handy for getting the shoe on.