****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
The PRO bits -- These are great FITTING shoes. It just seems like all the curves and bumps and hollows are in exactly the right place for MY foot. NB's have always fit well. I've worn them since the 70's. This style is noticeably better fitting than even other New Balance styles with lower price points.- Light Weight. This too is something I think NB has always done well. Again, this pair is just "a little better" (lighter) than their lower priced shoes.- Cushy but resilient soles. The bottom of the sole is appropriately tough. Difficult to puncture with rocks, cactus needles, sticks etc., probably wouldn't resist a rattlesnake bite. (Doesn't everyone live on a ranch in the desert?) The inside, foot side of the sole, is the usual, very well molded, NB insert. I've never found a good replacement if/when the original NB inserts get worn out. They're just really good. Somewhere between that outer and inner layer is some kind of magic foam stuff that is plenty cushy but always seems to rebound after wearing. You don't see the "footprint" inprint in the sole for years. Whatever they put in there, and whatever design the engineers thought up, works great. Great for me, a heavy guy that walks and does ranch chores all day. Nicely reduces joint impact from the feet on up.The CON bits -The color - Imagine a board room full of people with different ideas about what color a product should be. Some want dark. Some want light. Some want wild stripes, dramatic graphics. Some want slouch, some camo. The "poor compromise" is what I'd consider the color of these shoes. One of it's colors is "Pigment". Really? You name a pigment "Pigment"? That's like developing a new fruit and calling it "Fruit". This shoe is blue, green, brown, tan, purple, gray, in some places all of the above at once. It's as if they mixed all the left over dye in the vat and came up with some kind of gray-mauve-blue. The heel detail looks like a leaky spray gun applied the color and it splattered. It's the design, not a real splatter. It's weird splashes of mud colored pigment applied here and there.Heel Flippy Things - Aft of the heel there's a flap of rubber that extends rearward about .500 bananas (~12 M&Ms). I imagine(?) this rubber flap is some kind of "Design feature" that dramatically improves your marathon times or something. For me, a guy walking around on a ranch, it tends to grab little bits of rock and stick and bug poo and flip it up into the ankle cuff of my shoes. Bug poo down your socks is an annoyance at worst. But an annoyance none the less.Despite the CONs above, I still rate them 5 stars., if for no other reason, because they simply FIT so well. These shoes were 160 clams, 'murican. They are notably better fitting then the 100 or the 60 dollar style NB shoes I wear, in exactly the same size. Needless to say, my feet aren't your feet.
