Nike Lunar Tempo 2 Review

Maybe you’ve the movie “Home Alone”, and then you saw the movie “Home Alone 2” and had to ask yourself if anything changed Yes, the plot was still enjoyable, but besides a few scenery and actor adjustments, it felt and looked like the predecessor.

That’s how I feel about the Nike LunarTempo 2s. I could copy and paste in my review of the previous LunarTempos and probably no one (besides our review team here) would notice.

The shoe is still nice, I just have to look extra hard to find something new to talk about.

Nike Lunar Tempo 2 General Info

Nike Lunar Tempo 2 – Toe

The Nike LunarTempo 2 is a lightweight cushioned trainer designed to hug you feet.

Nearly identical to the previous model, the LunarTempo 2s are built on top of squishy Lunarlon foam, and encase your feet in Nike’s seamless Flymesh upper with Flywire Cables.

The only real changes to this shoe are in the upper, where Nike put a bigger logo where ventilation holes used to be, and Nike put some trim along the edges of the upper running underneath the laces.

The toebox feels tight, which can be expected when wearing shoes designed to hug your feet. This shoe would be great for mid to low mileage training, and would also do well as a casual racing shoe.

Nike Lunar Tempo 2 Sole Unit

Nike Lunar Tempo 2 – Pair

So much foam. The outsole is mostly foam, the midsole is essentially a continuous hunk of Lunarlon foam, and the insole feels like it’s mostly foam. This is how Nike achieves such a cushioned ride.

The outsole looks IDENTICAL to the previous model, so I think Nike has not made many changes there. You’re getting the same waffle-shaped patches of rubber just underneath the toe bed, and outer heel.

This minimal use of rubber makes the shoe great for treadmill and road use. Just don’t expect the rubber to last too long, I went about 200 miles in the previous model before the rubber started to smooth out.

This minimal use of rubber on the outsole is similar to the Kinvara line of shoes by Saucony.

The midsole is identical to the previous model. It’s also mostly made out of the same Lunarlon foam that’s “30 percent lighter” than the traditional Phylon foam they use while also being resilient.

It also has the same compressed accordion pattern along the walls, and the same smooth transition to the upper.

It is not a bad thing for the next generation of a shoe to look so much like the previous generation, it just means Nike is probably being risk-averse and avoided changing much anything on the soles.

Nike probably used the same equipment to make the sole of the LunarTempo 2s, so I’m somewhat disappointed current MSRP matches the previous model’s MSRP. Maybe Nike invested more into the upper?