New Balance Fresh Foam More Trail vs More V2 Comparison Shoe Review

Josh reviews the New Balance Fresh Foam More Trail v1 trail running shoe – a max cushioned off-roader to protect your feet on your next outdoor adventure, and touches on how it varies from the New Balance Fresh Foam More v2 road shoe.

This top trail shoe prioritises comfort from the ground up without compromise to the stability that keeps you sure-footed and confident over challenging terrain. 

A full ground contact outsole delivers controlled traction – whether running uphill or downhill, over dry and dusty trails or slick, slushy terrain. It sheds water and mud easily, so you won’t be weighed down if you run into unexpected weather.

An elevated stack height creates a protective platform between you and hazardous terrain. The Fresh Foam X midsole dampens the jarring sensation of sharp stones or twigs underneath your feet with plush cushioning for a distraction-free run.

A supportive upper with internal heel counter creates a structured, locked-in fit around your rearfoot – so you don’t have to stress over heel slippage when you’re dodging gnarled roots or leaping over rocks. Available in a wider width, it caters to broader foot types seeking to take their fitness off-road.

Check out the review with full transcript below.

Hi guys, Josh here from Sportitude and it's shoe review time. Today we're going to be touching on the New Balance Fresh Foam More Trail v1. This is a completely new shoe to the New Balance trail family.

It adds to their growing max cushioned category which we've seen previously with the New Balance Fresh Foam Hierro which is up to its 5th version now. The New Balance More Trail is a phenomenal addition and there's a lot to like about this shoe.

I'm currently using it and I'm really enjoying what this shoe is all about. Like all our reviews we’ll touch on the engineering features of this shoe being the outsole, the midsole and the upper. We'll profile the runner that could potentially consider this shoe at home. Without further ado let's get stuck in.

Runner Profile

First thing we're going to touch on is profiling the person that could be considering the New Balance More Trail. As you can see it is a max cushioned shoe. We have a generous stack under the foot, so much so that we're talking 33mm in the heel with a 29mm forefoot construction. That's a heel-to-toe offset of 4mm.

There is a lot of shoe underneath the foot so if you're a trail runner seeking that max cushioned feeling, this is one you could certainly consider. It is a neutral shoe so there's no additional arch support that comes into play. When you’re grabbing your trail shoe most brands aren’t overcomplicating things with arch support on the medial side.

The main reason being is when you're running trails every single foot placement is going to be different from the previous foot placement. That's why brands don't like to overcomplicate things and put too much arch support inside your trail shoe, because it can ever so slightly play with your foot position going through your gait cycle.

Outsole

Let's get stuck into the engineering features of this shoe because there's a lot to like and as I touched on before I'm currently using them and I'm loving them. First things first what we have going on with the outsole is great full ground contact.

You can see straight off the bat there is a lot of surface area underneath this shoe. I really like that and the main reason being is I have great confidence going down tricky terrain in my favourite trails with lose gravel and rocks. Even when it was wet and slippery a couple of days ago, I still felt super confident coming down hills. You've got a great purchase area at the back for heel striking and descending hills.

Although it looks heavy, I found it’s pretty light for going uphill. I've got great purchase, grab and pull with the forefoot construction. Straight away there was nothing that I didn't like about the outsole set-up. I liked how it grabbed the ground and I felt super confident when I decided to pick the pace up in this shoe which is fantastic.

I didn't find it carried lots of mud, so on that wet trail day I didn't feel like I was carrying extra weight that I didn't need to. I’ve experienced from some trail shoes previously that if you hit some muddy spots, it can stick to the bottom of the shoe and add extra weight which we don't want when we’re running on trails.

Midsole

Coming through to the midsole we've got the Fresh Foam X cushioning system from New Balance. They’ve rolled that out in a few shoes now; the New Balance Fresh Foam 880, New Balance Fresh Foam 1080, New Balance Fresh Foam More v2 and now obviously the New Balance Fresh Foam More Trail v1. 

They’ve started to roll that engineering across most of their Fresh Foam series. You’re going to get a super soft, plush shoe underneath your foot. There’s nothing else to compare to it in my opinion. It’s very soft and cushioned.

The only thing to be aware of from soft high stacked shoes on the trail is sometimes you can lose a little bit of stability. That’s based on my previous history using high stack trail shoes.

However, with the New Balance Fresh Foam More Trail I felt comfortable and confident. That could have a couple of things to do with the heel counter where the upper overlaid with my foot, but I felt super safe inside this shoe and well protected which is phenomenal.

Upper

The other thing I'd like to touch on when we're coming up to the upper is the heel counter. The heel counter for me is such an improvement on their road shoe. One thing that I had a little bit of a gripe with regarding their road shoe is that I found the back of the heel counter is not quite as plush and supportive as what I previously experienced in the New Balance Fresh Foam More v1 road shoe.

In the New Balance Fresh Foam More v2 they have this slightly deeper elf or pixie design with the heel counter and not the greatest amount of support underneath or around the back of your calcaneus. It’s certainly OK but not what I would want to experience from a road running shoe of that ilk.

However, the New Balance Fresh Foam More Trail has an internal heel counter that offers a nice stable structure. I wish they had carried this over to the road shoe but I'm sure that New Balance are all over it and maybe in v3 of the Fresh Foam More they might do a change for us.

That's just me touching on one feature I love about this shoe. It has a nice, structured heel counter. Looking at the depth it doesn't look like a deep shoe, but the midsole does wrap up around the upper around the back of your heel, so your foot does sit nice and deep inside the heel counter.

Plus, you've got the additional eyelet at the back to tinker with your laces as well. We also have this string loop. You can see the yellow line that zigzags its way down to the forefoot. That provides extra lockdown when you're doing your shoe laces up.

When you're running trails and even more so when you're running in a shoe like this and you're a little bit higher off the ground, you want to make sure your foot is secure and stable on that upper. Therefore, New Balance have executed a new engineering system where you can get an extra lockdown with your lacing design to help keep your foot nice and stable on that platform.

When you look at the upper connection to the midsole you can see on the lateral and medial side they've overlaid some welding designs. That gives the upper a lot more support in conjunction with the midsole wrap around.

When you're talking about running trails and have acute rapid movement through your gait cycle, you want to make sure there's not a lot of pressure that's going to be put on the upper to midsole wrap.

Everything about this shoe is designed to be nice and comfortable, stable and supportive off-road and that's what went on with the upper as well.

Width

Coming through to the forefoot you'll notice the generous width of this shoe. That's one thing I want to touch on. The men's in Australia is only available in a 2E width and the ladies’ is only available in a D width. Now, that is in theory.

The men’s 2E fits like a 4E. I want to point that out because if you’re looking for a generous shoe that has plenty of width and you fit the profile of max cushioned running shoe and you're looking for something that's extra wide, this is a phenomenal shoe. I am technically a D and 2E. I’ve ran in 2E in some shoes previously and I thought that was going to be a barrier for me personally inside this shoe.

However, I found that with the lacing system I have a good lock through the midsection. But no surprises, there is a fair bit of wiggle room through the toe area. I found it quite comfortable going downhill and I didn't feel like my foot was slipping forward too much. I'm happy with how I feel inside this shoe.

It is a 2E but know that I'm finding that it fits more like a 4E. When we're having the clientele come through the doors at Sportitude and they’re searching for a generous wide offering with max cushioning we've been hamstrung previously. We didn't have much available in that 4E offering with good quality and technical features that we can confidently put on someone's foot and say let's go.

However, this shoe is certainly fitting nice and generous regarding the upper. It could be a good thing that it's fitting a little bit wider than a 2E, so make note of that at home.

The same story goes with the women's. The feedback from our staff members that have been using the shoe is that the D width is a little bit more generous than your traditional D width.

There you have it guys, that is the New Balance Fresh Foam More Trail v1. I’m super excited about this shoe. Just to touch on the reasons I like this shoe, it offers great grip, great control, is very cushioned and super soft.

Although it is a little bit broader, the upper delivers a secure lockdown from the midsection and the heel counter is nice and stable. I'm really looking forward to pushing some more Ks inside this shoe in the weeks and months to come.

If you have any questions regarding this shoe please contact our Sportitude shoe experts. If you haven't subscribed to our Sportitude YouTube channel already please do and we'll keep giving you as much running shoe content as we can possibly get our hands on.

Until next time stay safe, happy running and we'll see you on the road.

FEATURES

• Support: Neutral
• Upper: Mesh
• Midsole: Fresh Foam X
• Heel Height: 33mm
• Forefoot Height: 29mm
• Offset / Drop: 4mm

Men

• Width: 2E (wide)

Women

• Width: 4E (wide)