Among the best walking shoes for men from Skechers, Puma, Adidas and Bata, only Skechers publishes a weight, which is 215 g in men’s size 9 for the GO WALK Max.
The five shoes suit a man who walks 30 to 60 minutes on pavement or park paths before work and wants one pair for that routine, not a running shoe. Choosing among them rests on the closure, the named cushioning and the upper, as weight and heel height are missing for three of the five.
Taken in order, the pairs are the Skechers GO WALK Max, the Skechers GO WALK 7 in the Valin style, the Puma SOFTRIDE One4all, the Adidas Ultimashow 2.0 and the Bata Power in black. Prices are not covered, and each listing is described from the brand’s own India page.
Laces or slip on and the heel check
Closure decides how much a wearer can adjust the fit. The five shoes use three different approaches, and two of the five pages do not state the closure at all.
Skechers makes the GO WALK Max as a slip on with a heel pull loop. Its GO WALK 7 pairs adjustable laces with a Hands Free Slip ins molded heel panel. Adidas lists the Ultimashow 2.0 as a lace closure shoe, while Puma and Bata give no closure detail in the text of their pages.
Mayo Clinic Care Network offers fit advice that applies to every closure. It says to shop in the socks planned for walking, to leave at least half an inch between the longest toe and the end of the shoe, and to keep the side to side fit snug and not tight.
Its test for the heel is the one that matters most for a slip on. The advice is to walk a few laps and check that the heel stays snug and does not slip. Mayo covers fit only, and it says nothing about cushioning or flexibility, so those details have to come from the brands.
For the GO WALK Max, the heel pull loop and the stretch of the knit upper are the only fit features the page names. A laced shoe offers a second way to adjust the fit once the heel has been checked.
Skechers GO WALK Max and GO WALK 7
The GO WALK Max (item 54611) has a heathered finish knit mesh upper and an extra padded heel. Its sole is called 5GEN and its insole is called Goga Max. The page lists a heel height of 3.81 cm.
That weight is the only one published among the five picks, and it applies to men’s size 9. A slip on has no laces, so fit adjustment is limited to the heel loop and the stretch of the knit upper. The shoe suits a walker who wants a stated light weight and a pair that is quick to put on.
Both Skechers pages list the same heel height, which makes them the only two picks where one stated figure can be set beside another. Skechers also lists a sibling, the GO WALK Max Hero, with an Air Cooled Goga Mat insole. It is not one of the five picks.
In the Valin style, the GO WALK 7 has a two toned engineered mesh upper with adjustable laces. Skechers names ULTRA GO cushioning, Hyper Pillar Technology and an Air Cooled Memory Foam insole. Its heel height matches the GO WALK Max.
A molded Hands Free Slip ins heel panel gives the shoe its entry style, and the laces remain for adjusting the fit afterwards. No weight is stated, so the two Skechers shoes cannot be compared on that figure.
Puma, Adidas and Bata
The SOFTRIDE One4all is sold by Puma as a men’s walking shoe, with a recycled mesh textile upper and a rubber outsole. The brand describes its SOFTRIDE foam as soft and meant for all day cushioning and comfort. A SOFTFOAM+ sockliner with an extra thick heel is also listed.
On the page, Puma gives no weight, no heel height and no closure detail. The shoe suits a walker who wants a Puma pair sold specifically for walking, with a cushioned heel.
Adidas lists the Ultimashow 2.0 (IE8899) with a mesh upper and a textile lining, plus a TPU cage and heel counter. Underfoot are a Cloudfoam midsole and a rubber outsole. The fit is regular, and the shoe has laces.
Placed in the men’s walking range on the Adidas site, the Ultimashow 2.0 has no dedicated walking shoe description in its listing. No weight or heel height appears. It suits a walker who wants a laced shoe with a heel counter and a familiar Cloudfoam midsole.
Bata lists the Power walking shoe in black with a breathable flyknit upper and a soft Lycra lining. The page makes no cushioning claim, and the insole is listed as not applicable. A walker who is happy to add an insole of their own, and who wants a knit upper from an Indian high street brand, is the reader this listing suits.
Comfort over a 45 minute walk cannot be judged from the Bata page, as it offers no cushioning detail and no weight.
Entry, grip and routine
A walk before work puts weight on how quickly a shoe goes on. The two Skechers shoes address entry directly, with a heel pull loop on one and a molded heel panel on the other, while the Adidas has laces to tie. The entry style of the Puma and Bata shoes is not described.
Underfoot, Puma, Adidas and Bata all list rubber outsoles. Bata describes its rubber as natural or recycled and ties the outsole to traction. Skechers describes its soles by name, and the pages read give no further outsole detail.
Counting what each page states
A count of features shows how uneven the pages are. Cushioning terms are brand names that do not share a scale, so ULTRA GO, SOFTRIDE and Cloudfoam cannot be ranked against one another from the pages.
Mayo’s three fit points, which are toe room, sock thickness and heel hold, cannot be read from any product page, since they depend on the foot and the shoe in hand. One shoe has a stated weight, two have a stated heel height, and two have laces. One is a slip on, and two give no closure at all.
Named cushioning is more common. Four of the five pages name a cushioning system or foam, and Bata is the exception. Skechers names the most, with 5GEN, ULTRA GO and Hyper Pillar Technology in addition to two insoles.
Across brands, uppers are described in similar terms. Skechers lists knit mesh on one shoe and engineered mesh on the other, Puma lists recycled mesh textile, Adidas lists mesh with a textile lining, and Bata lists flyknit with a Lycra lining.
The Puma SOFTRIDE Pro Dynamic Flex is a sneaker listing that gives no outsole or insole, and it is not one of the picks.
A buyer who wants to compare the five on numbers has only the two Skechers pages to work with. For the rest, the comparison rests on materials and brand wording.
Heel details
Details about the heel are among the more specific items on the pages. Skechers lists an extra padded heel on the GO WALK Max and a molded heel panel on the GO WALK 7. Puma lists a sockliner with an extra thick heel, and Adidas lists a TPU heel counter.
No heel feature is named by Bata. Heel height is not the same measure as drop, and no page here states a drop figure. Mayo Clinic Care Network does not link any of these features to the heel test it describes, and the test is simply to walk a few laps and see whether the heel stays in place.
Who each shoe suits
The GO WALK Max suits a walker who values a slip on and a stated weight. Its limitation is that fit adjustment depends on the heel loop and the stretch of the knit upper.
Skechers’ GO WALK 7 suits a walker who wants hands free entry and still wants laces to adjust the fit. The page does not state a weight, which leaves it without the one figure that Skechers publishes for its sibling.
Puma’s SOFTRIDE One4all suits a walker who wants a pair sold specifically as a men’s walking shoe, with cushioning described in the brand’s own words. The page gives no weight, heel height or closure detail.
Adidas’s Ultimashow 2.0 suits a walker who wants a laced shoe with a heel counter and a familiar Cloudfoam midsole. Weight and heel height are not stated, and the listing sits in the men’s walking range and not under a dedicated walking description.
Bata’s Power suits a walker who plans to add an insole and wants a knit upper from a high street brand. The page makes no cushioning claim and lists no weight.
Size range, width options and colour availability were not checked for any of the five. Each walker would need to confirm the size and the heel fit in the shoe itself.