The New Balance Fresh Foam 1080v5 running shoes are a cautious New Balance venture in running shoes with a slightly softer sole. They have not gone as far as another well-known shoe company went some time ago with gel soles and air cushioning, which is just as well. That crazy marketing idea resulted in too many sprained and torn ankles (and probably worse), due to a complete lack of proprioceptive feedback (i.e., you could not feel the ground). The New Balance 1080v5 shoes with their, "Fresh Foam" technology have just enough cushioning at the heel to remove that pounding heel strike shock you get when running on hard surfaces while leaving your feet fully aware of the surface you are running on.
Read on for the full review!
Article Outline
- Introduction
- Performance
- Summary
# of Photos: 2; Word Count: 1000
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Discussion
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Companion forum thread to: New Balance 1080 v5 Review (What is Fresh Foam?)
The newly released New Balance 1080v5 shoes have “fresh foam” technology to minimize running wear on the body without compromising stability.
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.
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