New Balance 1080v9 Running Shoe Review

Josh highlights in depth the key features of the New Balance 1080v9 running shoe and helps you identify whether it’s a top pick to lace up for your next run or marathon.

This high mileage running shoe fits neatly into the stable neutral category, comes in various width offerings and performs particularly well when paired with neutral foot types and occasionally slightly pronated foot types.

It wraps your foot in breathable jacquard mesh to keep you cool on longer runs, features Fresh Foam cushioning for plush comfort and a full ground contact outsole to ensure a stable platform as you roll up the miles.

Check out the review with transcript below.

Hey guys, Josh from Sportitude here for shoe review time and the review is going to be on the New Balance 1080v9.

It’s a pretty cool update to this shoe. I’m really looking forward to giving you as much information as possible, so you can potentially add this to your running kit.

Without further ado let’s get stuck in.

Foot Type

First things first, let’s talk about what foot type should be running in this shoe. We’re going to cross some conventional boundaries because technically when you pick up a shoe like this it’s neutral, so there’s no additional dual density support on the medial side.

It’s nice and stable however we’ve had some great success fitting some slightly pronated foot types inside this shoe. We’re talking the minority here, so runners that technically do overpronate rolling over that arch but may need a little assistance, but don’t like the feeling of support systems from other brands.

To paint that picture for you, technically a neutral foot type has a high arch or high navicular region, so it’s quite pitched. There's a bit of real estate and air between the shape of the arch and where the contact point for the shoe is. That’s what we classify as a neutral to supinated foot type, so a lot of pressure is on the outside of the foot as you go through your gait cycle.

A slightly pronated foot type on the flip side is a little flatter in the arch. When we’re talking about contact to loading phase or braking phase, the arch does flatten out quite a bit.

There are some runners, more often than not it’s the minority that don’t like the feeling of a support system underneath the arch and prefer to run in what we classify as a stable neutral shoe.

That being said, stable neutral is a category that’s growing season after season. Not a lot of stores are putting a designated stable neutral category in their shop, however specialist stores like us and a few other good retailers around the country will diagnose what stable neutral is. So 1080, neutral and stable neutral.

Like all my shoe reviews I do like to start from the ground and work my way up. I’ll grab the ladies’ model and you’re right, the ladies’ and men’s look exactly the same.

New Balance have saved some money on materials there. No, they just made gender neutral models and obviously black and white is still a very popular and high in demand colour.

Outsole

Underneath let’s look at the outsole. We’ve got full ground contact. What I mean by that is there’s no Trusstic beam splitting the heel and the forefoot. There’s a full outsole configuration the whole way from heel to forefoot.

They do have a slightly harder carbon rubber underneath that heel for that heel striker that comes down, and a little more rigidity and support underneath that contact zone.

However, being full ground contact and myself being a midfoot striker, I’ve gone through a few test runs in the 1080 and can say I do like it. I’ve got plenty of real estate for when my foot does come down in the midfoot contact zone transition.

I’m not relying on a Trusstic beam to keep me nice and stable. Having full ground contact gives me real confidence when I put my foot down.

The other thing to note as you come through to the forefoot is there’s not a lot a lot going on in terms of the flexibility through that region. They haven’t cut into the outsole which creates a really flexible forefoot.

You can see we’ve got five little slits in the outsole. Having those little slits provides a little bit of flexibility on toe-off. However, as I touched on earlier, being a stable neutral shoe it’s a good thing having more support or rigidity on that toe-off phase to keep your forefoot nice and balanced and stable.

Sometimes when you have a density foam that is quite soft which is what the New Balance Fresh Foam is, if it’s too flexible underneath and too soft you’re going to get too much movement.

They’ve compromised with making it a little bit more rigid or stiffer through the forefoot because they’ve got a really soft layer of cushioning. That’s why New Balance has gone down that engineering path.

Midsole

Moving on to the midsole. The Fresh Foam cushioning system has been on the market now for a number of years. The first 1080 they rolled out in was the v6 and the v6 was by far one of my favourite neutral stable neutral running shoes of its time. I ran a couple of marathons in them and really liked them.

I didn’t quite warm to the v7 and v8 in the 1080 family. However, the two runs I’ve been for in the 1080v9 I’ve been really impressed with. Who knows, I might use them for my next marathon, I’m still deciding.

We’re talking an 8mm offset, an 8mm heel to toe gradient inside this shoe. Therefore, it’s not great for a really hard heel striker because it is so soft, and that gradient is a little bit lower.

We want to see potentially someone who is more of a midfoot striker inside this shoe. However, there is the engineering structure to cater for a heel striker if need be but because of that offset and density of foam being so soft, it’s not an absolute go-to for a true heel striker in my humble opinion.

I’m happy for people to drop a comment and challenge me on that theory. As you come through the forefoot obviously the gradient drops down a little bit and provides a nice flexible sprung last through that forefoot, in conjunction with that slightly stiffer outsole.

Upper

Moving on to the upper. We’ve got a slightly shallower heel counter in the back. It is an internal counter, so you can feel the shoe itself has a little support through this beam or this structural configuration. It does provide enough support around the back of the heel and calcaneus, however it is a bit shallower.

Looking at that shoe when I first got it out of the box, I thought, what have they done here, I’m going to slip out of the shoe, because it’s a little bit too shallow.

I still felt nice and secure and it potentially might be because the shoe ever so slightly does angle in around the back of the heel, so you get a nice lock even though it’s not that high.

Coming through to the midfoot, it has a nice piece of overlay which helps give that midfoot some stability over the top of that navicular.

Then as you come through the forefoot it’s a nice generous forefoot, jacquard mesh engineering which provides plenty of breathability but a strong, stable upper as well.

However, I do need to touch on the fit of the forefoot. It is relatively generous through that width platform but nice and shallow.

That may sound like I’m contradicting myself. To give you a better picture at home, in the past few years in the New Balance 1080 I’ve ran in the D width, so standard width.

However, on the couple of runs I’ve done in the 2E I've felt really great. It's a little bit more width than I’m used to. However, I would probably find that the D width is a little too tight on my foot, so I’m actually liking going to that extra width.

If you’ve been a 1080 runner in the past just question yourself on whether you should be considering a D, 2E or a 4E.

Our team at Sportitude will be able to help you out with that. Drop us an email at [email protected] and we’ll be able to assist you with finding the right width.

We can put orthotics inside neutral shoes and stable neutral shoes. I personally found with my orthotic I didn’t get the depth and support around the back of the shoe. However, that being the case I do have a good 3mm - 4mm heel raise inside my orthotic and that does pop it up a bit too high.

Without the orthotic though I actually felt nice and secure inside the shoe. If you have an orthotic that has a generous heel raise just question whether the shoe is going to be deep enough for you to cater for that orthotic.

The New Balance 880 is naturally a lot deeper and a bit more supportive around the back of the heel. If you’re a New Balance fan and you do have an orthotic and you need a neutral shoe, I’d probably encourage you into the 880 over the 1080 purely for that depth factor.

To wrap up the New Balance 1080, I do like this shoe. It has great cushioning, nice and supportive. The shoe itself isn’t too heavy on the foot by any means.

You look at the weight and you’re pushing about 296g for the men’s and roughly 287g for the ladies’. That’s up around the slightly heavier neutral weight in terms of other comparative models like the Glycerin and Nimbus.

However, how it’s designed feels light, really responsive and quite whippy on the foot. I tip my hat to New Balance and their engineering department and what they’ve done with this v9.

I’m wrapped with it. I think its going to cater for a lot of pre- v7 and v8 runners like myself. I loved v6 and now I’m really excited and can potentially see myself running another marathon in this shoe for sure.

There you have it guys. Any further questions please contact our Sportitude shoe experts. If you haven’t subscribed to our YouTube channel already, please do.

Until next time happy running, we’ll see you soon.