New Balance 1080 v5 Review (What is Fresh Foam?)

Thanks for the review. Sounds like they complement the Leadville V2 shoe, with a road focus. I look forward to your durability results.

I have been wearing a pair of Fresh Foam 980 shoes the last few weeks.  They have become my preferred hiking shoes for the moment,  I removed the insoles and inserted gel heel cups to cushion my tender heels.  No insole material under the toes leaves plenty of volume for my toes.  The soles are thick enough and stiff enough to tolerate stepping on rocks.  The mesh material above the forefoot allows the entry of dust.  Max carried pack weight so far is about 20 pounds; the shoes worked fine at that weight and I intend to use them to carry 23-24 pounds next week. (I tried to separate the above into two paragraphs but it was not allowed.  What the hay?)

Roger – an unfortunate name for NZ consumers. 1080 is a deadly poison used throughout our backcountry to control possums. Stoats and rabbits to protect our native birds and fauna. There is a group of highly emotional people against this (objects not based in science). Personally, as a backcountry regular user – and a dweller of a rabbit infested area (central Otago ), I agree with its usage – Rob

Update on life:

We started wearing these in the middle of March 2016. It is now 1-September, and we are still wearing them when running for about 1 hour on 2 mornings out of 3. Running on asphalt (roadway) then rough dirt (fire trail). No significant signs of wear or breakdown so far, after about 5 1/2 months solid use. Not bad.

Cheers

Not bad at all for a running shoe. I’ve been very happy with how well the Leadville V2 works on rough trails, so I may give The Freshness a try when my regular pavement shoes die.