New Balance shoes are bad

Also note, I just ordered a pair of New Balance FuelCell Rebel v3, and they were even worse than the Fresh Foam. As soon as I tried them on, it felt like my heels were on a stability ball and there was zero shock absorption when I even tried to run a few meters. I immediately sent them back.

993 for kick around shoe

My dad has the 990 for the same purpose

I have a cheap pair of NB as transition shoes from run to drive to walk inside home.

But yeah, I run in mostly asics and will rotate nike in.

Advice coming from a long time runner who worked in a running shop, has tried just about every shoe type for my own running, and talked to real runners with every foot type possible.

Q1. No brand of shoes suck all around, they just seem to suck in relation to what your feet need.
Q2.- Diadora Vortice- well cushioned, firm but not a brick. Durable from thick rubber outsole and not squishy midsole. Some say it runs short but it doesn’t for me to take that with a grain of salt.
- Altra escalante or Altra Torin- low drop but still cushioned. Wide toebox and wide base and not pillow soft so it’s inherently stable.

Have fun

Adidas Adios 9

Saucony Ride 15

There are actually too many others to mention.

Someone’s either got jokes or doesn’t understand the concept of firm cushioning. I tried the Saucony Ride 15 at my local running store and it makes New Balance’s Fresh Foam feel like a rock. It’s on par with the FuelCell for feeling like a stability ball. Haven’t tried the Adidas ones, but they look soft as hell too. I actually do do my own homework.

Previous poster’s recommendation of Diadora Vortices looks promising since it actually has rubber on the bottom. I will likely try it out. To be honest, I forgot Diadora existed. Brooks, Saucony, New Balance, and Hoka seem like they all stopped making firmer shoes entirely. Nike, Adidas, and Asics probably have something in their product lines but they have a lot of shoes to sort through and not all of them have a lot of information about them.

I get that not all New Balance shoes are crap, but it’s just really disappointing to me though that a company like New Balance is moving away from shoes that have worked for a long time. They seem caught between trying to be at the forefront of supershoe technology (super soft foam! carbon plates!) and still producing shoes cheaply (god forbid some of these shoes have actual rubber or synthetic rubber soles).

1080 is a great easy day shoe. I know people who love the Supercomp but I've never tried it myself

Have you tried any Nike trainers with react or recycled ZoomX (NOT regular ZoomX) soles? Stuff like the Pegasus or Zoom Fly. These are relatively firm but not uncomfortably so. And the foams are really resilient and can last hundreds of miles.

Apparently not.

Just go get a no name brand or a main brand low cost shoe, they are all old school Eva midsole, with some rubber and limited cushioning and relatively firm

Those are my favourite shoe. A lot of other people I’ve spoken to love this shoe too. Are you quite heavy footed? First time I’ve heard back feed back on them. Perhaps you need to switch to something like an ASICS Gel Kayano. They are as solid and supportive as they come.

Chuck Connors by Converse. Particularly good for steeple, but you can do just about anything in those badboys including spinning on the dance floor.

Stop being so negative. You're the outlier here, not New Balance.

The shift to softer midsoles has been well received by most runners. NB, like most shoe companies, is giving people what they want.

It's a shame you don't like NB's Fuelcell. That has to be one of the best midsole blends on the market.

Soft midsoles have many pluses besides just comfort and rebound. For anyone that runs on sidewalks or canted/crowned roads soft midsoles help the foot and ankle adjust to the slope of the surface which prevents IT Band and knee pain issues.

For a firm no frills trainer you should try the Asics EvoRide.

I’m 6’3” 200 but only have size 10 feet, so lots of force per area on my feet. All the reviews indicated FuelCell was great and something that should work for me, but holy crap was it soft.

That explains a lot. Considering your weight and proportionally small shoe size you might want to look for a shoe with a wide net base to spread out the load. Look for shoes with a wide platform and blown out medial and lateral midsole flares.

How about the NB Fuelcell Propel v2? It is considerably firmer than the Fuelcell foam in the Rebel. The consensus opinion seems to favor the Rebel, but I found the Propel to be a really nice workhorse shoe that could also handle some faster paces pretty well (down to sub-5 pace).

I found the Rebel to take longer to get accustomed to, but also really like both v2 and v3.

I am pretty sure the Propel v3 is about the same as v2, but Propel v4 is significantly different from what I have seen.

The balance ball feeling you mention isn’t unusual for softer higher stack shoes. It goes away when you are running though. They are running shoes not standing shoes.

Your height, weight and shoe size are total anomalies. I’m super curious as to the size of your member if you don’t mind me asking. The ratios are just fascinating.

New Balance was good when they innovated on racing flats. Now their racing shoes are "do what nike does, but skimp on the r&d" basically, at least it seems that way to me. Consequently, their shoes are not good. I can't speak to their trainers as I don't run in trainers.