New Balance Balos Performance Review

Think about the New Balance Fresh Foam X Balos (New Balance Balos from here on out) as a brand deciding to make a daily running shoe without worrying about cost and then pricing it wherever things shook out afterwards. That’s exactly what New Balance did here. They threw in a bunch of fun features that you don’t necessarily need to make a solid daily trainer just to see what would happen.

So what did happen? Let’s find out.

What is the New Balance Balos?

The Balos is a shoe that must have been fun for the New Balance design team. They got the chance to cook.

Starting at the bottom, the Balos uses a Ground Contact EVA outsole (GCEVA). The idea is that it conforms to the uneven ground, provides some extra cushion, and weighs less than typical rubber outsoles.

Just above that, the Fresh Foam X is Fresh Foam X in name only. Instead of the typical Fresh Foam X foam blend, the New Balance Balos packs a PEBA/EVA blend. Ideally, that should increase the squish of Fresh Foam X beyond what we’ve felt before but also keep it ready to pick up the speed in a way Fresh Foam X usually can’t.

Paired with the Fresh Foam X is a pronounced camber geometry, or rocker. This should increase the feeling of falling forward and the likelihood of wanting to go fast.

On top of all that is a lightweight engineered mesh upper with some good structure and a fully gusseted knit tongue. The New Balance Balos aims for an upper that fits a bit closer than a typical daily running shoe, removes some bulk, and feels fast.

But does the build of the New Balance Balos, along with all its bells and whistles, add up to high performance?

How did the New Balance Balos perform for Drew?

Drew: The New Balance Balos was a fun shoe but probably too soft for me to purchase for myself. Its closest analog is the Nike Invincible, but with much better ground feel. It’s the softness where the two shoes converge the most. The New Balance Balos is so soft that larger heel strikers will bottom out the cushioning. And depending on how you run, you may find it more plush and sinky than bouncy.

The New Balance Balos does have bounce, but unless my legs felt good, it was just too soft to enjoy it. My legs needed to be able to weather the sinking feeling and its inherent instability before getting to feel the bounce at the bottom of the footstrike. If I felt peppy, the Balos felt peppy. If I felt tired from a workout the day before, the Balos made me feel like I was working harder the next day.

The rocker did propel me forward onto my toes and into my next stride; but again, if my legs were tired, it was hard to find the sweet spot for landing and pushing off. I would just get lost in the soupy PEBA/EVA blend of Fresh Foam X instead.

So while the midsole performance is a mixed bag, the GCEVA outsole was more durable than I expected. Most outsoles built with foam are horrible in terms of durability. The Balos’ outsole might actually be able to make it to 300 miles and approach what some rubber outsoles can do.

And while the engineered mesh body of the upper was average, I love the knit tongue. The thing molds so well to the top of the foot and really locks the foot into the footbed. The laces become a secondary tightening mechanism because the tongue setup is so good. I’d love to see this tongue make its way into other New Balance shoes. It seems perfect for the Rebel line.

So for me, the New Balance Balos is an interesting shoe with some bright spots and very specific use cases. That makes its price point a hard sell, which we’ll discuss later. Right now, I’m interested to hear how Annie liked it, as I think it’s a shoe where reviewer opinions could vary greatly.

How did the New Balance Balos perform for Annie?

Annie: I will say that my enjoyment of the Balos was a slow burn in that I wasn’t quite sold on my first few runs. I agree that there’s a sweet spot/catch-the-wave sort of thing happening with the midsole here, which means the Balos was not the most ideal option on super tired legs. It’s definitely going to work those stabilizers of the feet and legs more than an Asics Superblast 2 or a Brooks Glycerin Max, for example.

The forefoot and rearmost part of the heel felt the softest to me. The majority of the blended midsole’s lively bounce felt like it was concentrated directly under the midfoot. Landing around that midfoot also let me feel most in-sync with the benefits of the camber/rocker geometry (which was oh-so-lovely).

So, depending on where you tend to make the most contact with the ground and how much force you drive into that squishy PEBA/EVA blend, the dominating feeling could run the gamut from comfy-but-unstable to bouncy-and-smooth.

For me, the dominating theme was super-cushy, yet bouncy impact protection with a really smooth geometry that favored my running style. Combine that with a weight of only 7.3 oz for a women’s sample size, and my favorite use case for the Balos ended up being long runs that involved a lot of moderate, marathon, half-marathon, or even tempo paces. Efforts much faster than that would pull me forward toward the softer squish and away from that gloriously bouncy midfoot.

The upper worked great for me except for one bizarre flaw. Over time, a structural piece of the upper collapsed inward against the medial side of the big toe on both the left and right shoe, and it caused some callusing. This was frustrating since the Balos otherwise had such excellent long run chops for me. It was the only thing that deterred me from trusting it for my longest-of-long efforts and, in fact, was the only thing that negatively impacted my experience of the shoe at all.

Hopefully, the upper weirdness was a fluke in my case; but I have to wonder if the extra softness of the midsole combined with the upper’s stiffer structure in that particular spot makes the material prone to warping. It looks like a dented fender. I tried to pop it back out before lacing up, but it always immediately caved in again. The upper otherwise had great lockdown, and the fit suited me really well. So that material failure was a bummer.

Pros

• PEBA/EVA blend of Fresh Foam X is super squishy with some bounce
• Fully gusseted bootie tongue helps with lockdown and comfort
• Foam-based outsole that will be fairly durable
• Very nice, rounded rocker

Cons

• Price doesn’t match the use cases
• Potentially too much squish and instability
• Foam can bottom out
• Upper may pucker

Is the New Balance Balos wide foot friendly?

Drew: The toe box of the New Balance Balos offers some good room for toe splay and has room to fit many wide footers. That said, the midfoot and the gusseted knit tongue fit very tight and will likely turn many wide footers away. There are much better options for wide footers, especially in the New Balance lineup.

The New Balance Balos does fit true-to-size lengthwise.

Annie: I found the Balos to be true-to-size in length and generally pretty accommodating (aside from where the aforementioned material collapse occurred). I didn’t have any width issues through the ball of the foot on the lateral side, which is my usual problem spot. But while I loved the snug wrap of the gusseted tongue, I could see it being a bit too tight for those who frequently need extra volume in that area.

Is the New Balance Balos worth $200?

Drew: No. Not because the New Balance Balos is a $200 daily trainer, though that’s not great. It’s because the $180-$200 range of super trainers has some real gems that are much better, more versatile shoes (Asics Superblast 2, Puma MagMax Nitro, Brooks Glycerin Max) than the Balos. The Balos is a fun shoe for running shoe geeks to try, but most people won’t get anywhere near $200 of value out of it. 

Annie: Not really. I got a lot of enjoyment out of the Balos and do think its ride personality is unique in the market of shoes against which New Balance has positioned it. But I’m not sure I’d lay out $200 for it over those other options that can deliver more durability along with their own fun identities.

For the majority of runners, I think those other shoes will technically offer more value. New Balance’s own SC Trainer v3 (review coming soon) is one such $180 option, though you’d be trading some novelty in exchange for your $20. I’d also say, while the ride experience is likewise vastly different to that of the Balos, the Brooks Hyperion Max 2 covers the same variety of runs for me (and is perhaps even more speed-capable) for $180.

New Balance Balos Summary

Drew: The New Balance Balos is extremely interesting and I’m glad New Balance made it. I’d only recommend it to absolute shoe nerds that need to try all the oddball models. I think some of the innovation on the Balos should trickle into the mainstream New Balance lineup. The knit tongue, the GCEVA outsole, rocker shape, and the PEBA/EVA blend midsole (if tweaked) all show promise for use throughout various future shoes in the New Balance line. The problem is they just don’t work well enough together in the Balos.

Annie: The New Balance Balos brings a lot of tech to the table in a fun, bouncy package. The ride seems to favor midfoot landings and/or runners less likely to bottom out the squishy PEBA/EVA-blended midsole. The GCEVA outsole surprised me with its marriage of softness and a touch of unexpected durability. But other aspects of the shoe, such as the midsole and upper, may get outlasted by competing models that are also generally more approachable to different running styles.

How does the Author Run?

Drew Whitcomb (age 42, 6’6″ 195lbs): Runs daily with a once a week rest day. Runs a lot of miles due to testing needs and a growing affinity for long-distance races. Regularly competes in marathons, half-marathons, 10k, and 5k races.

Annie Keris (age 39, 5’0” 117lbs): Typically follows a “two days on, one day off” running routine. “On” days include daily miles, speed work, and long runs. An “off” day usually involves yoga and mobility/recovery work. Enjoys occasional racing but perhaps enjoys the training process even more. Gravitates most toward the half marathon distance, but ventures into the 10k and 5k as well. The marathon is thus far uncharted territory…

Disclosure

While New Balance did send pairs of the New Balance Balos to facilitate this review, the company had no involvement in this review, didn’t receive an advance look at it, and has not attempted to influence it.