NEW BALANCE BUTY SPORTOWE 550PB1 | Our verdict
- Our top pick in best New Balance running shoes
Pros
- Protective cushioning
- Very light
- Snappy ride
- High-quality materials
- as las new balance
- Wallet-friendly
- Lots of colors available
Cons
- Lacks traction on wet
- Not for wide feet
- Durability is not great
Audience verdict
Comparison
The most similar running shoes compared
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Audience score | 78 Decent! | 76 Bad! | 89 Great! | 84 Good! | |
Price | $85 | $100 | $110 | $110 | |
Pace | Daily running | Daily running | Daily running | Daily running | |
Arch support | Neutral | Neutral | Neutral | Neutral | |
Weight lab Weight brand | 8.4 oz / 238g 9.1 Buty new balance ml574oma brązowe | 6.9 oz / 197g ‐ | 9.2 oz / 262g 9.3 New Balance London Spirit Polo Shirt Juniors | 9 oz / 254g 9.4 Жіночі сандалі new balance | |
Lightweight | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | |
Drop lab Drop brand | 7.2 mm 8.0 mm | 6.9 mm ‐ | 6.4 mm 8.0 mm | 6.0 mm 8.0 mm | |
Strike pattern | Mid/forefoot | Mid/forefoot | Mid/forefoot | Mid/forefoot | |
Midsole softness | Balanced | Balanced | Balanced | Balanced | |
NEW BALANCE BUTY SPORTOWE 550PB1 | Small | Small | Small | Small | |
Toebox durability | - | Good | Good | Bad | |
Spesifikasjoner New balance Shando Sko Trail Running | - | Good | Good | Decent | |
Outsole durability | - | Good | Good | Good | |
Breathability | Warm | Warm | Warm | Warm | |
Toebox width at the widest part | Medium | Wide | Medium | Medium | |
New Balance Women's 574 Purple Grey | - | Medium | Medium | Medium | |
Stiffness | Moderate | Flexible | Moderate | Flexible | |
Difference in stiffness in cold | Normal | Small | Small | Small | |
Torsional rigidity | Flexible | Flexible | Moderate | Flexible | |
Heel counter stiffness | Flexible | Flexible | Stiff | Flexible | |
Heel lab Heel brand | 32.2 mm ‐ | 25.6 mm ‐ | 32.6 mm 34.0 mm | 30.2 mm 27.0 mm | |
Forefoot lab Forefoot brand | 25.0 mm ‐ | 18.7 mm ‐ | 26.2 mm 26.0 mm | 24.2 mm 19.0 mm | |
Widths available | NormalWide | Normal | Normal | Normal | |
Orthotic friendly | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
Season | Winter | Winter | Winter | Winter | |
Removable insole | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
Ranking | #239 Bottom 6% | #244 Bottom 4% | #51 Top 20% | #163 Bottom 36% | |
Popularity | #206 Bottom 19% | #167 Bottom 34% | #217 Bottom 15% | #177 Bottom 30% |
New Balance BB550 Brown Canvas
Get this shoe if you are an entry-level in the world of running, better yet if a heel-striker, and/or you want something reliable, light, and comfortable to bring to the gym or for everyday life.
Who should not buy it
Don’t buy this shoe if you:
- have wide feet. We think you should consider the New Balance Fresh Foam More v3 instead
- need a better grip on wet surfaces. The New Balance Fresh Foam 1080 v11 brand new with original box New Balance W5740VDA
There are of course better running shoes out there, but if your priority is saving some money, it is hard to beat.
Breathability: not there yet
Based on our smoke-pumping machine test, the upper is not very airy and therefore this shoe is not ideal for warm days.
New Balance Fresh Foam Roav v2 (left): breathability is limited; Altra Torin 6 (right): very breathable.
In our tests, breathability scored just 1 out of 5. As the video above shows, very little smoke comes out. The shoe's poor breathability was also confirmed in the transparency test seen below: the light from the lamp does not pass through the mesh.
The midsole is THE reason to buy it
In our opinion, Fresh Foam is the shoe's biggest highlight. It is very bouncy, comfortable, and responsive.
In our lab, we found that the foam is not super soft though. The durometer shows 26.5 HA which is 10% firmer than the average of road running shoes. It doesn't mean that the cushioning is firm though; we found it to be well-balanced.
Midsoles tend to get firmer in colder temperatures. In order to simulate cold-weather conditions, we put the shoe in the freezer for 20 minutes and the Roav v2 got 24.5% firmer. For reference, the average is 27.1%.
Comfy feel in the New Balance Roav v2
Tecnologias New balance 997H Trampki.
The heel area is well-padded and provides a great lockdown. We tested the heel stiffness and it scored 2 out of 5, which means it's flexible.
New Balance Criança FuelCell 990v6 Hook and Loop.
All in all, after wearing this New Balance shoe all day, we didn't even realize when we took them off! That's how natural it felt on the foot.
Not ideal for wide feet
There's not much room in the shoe's toebox but it was just enough for our medium-width feet.
Measuring the toebox width in our lab, we found that the widest part of the forefoot is 97 mm. This is within the average range but nothing extra.
New balance 680 w wide black yellow blue white kids preschool casual ya680bo6-w
In this shoe, we don’t have a full-length rubber outsole, but just two small rubber pods placed on the strategic areas. The rest of the surface is made of exposed midsole foam, and although this helps keep the weight at bay and improves agility, we found that it compromised traction in wet conditions.
ZAPATILLA NEUTRA MUJER NEW BALANCE FUELCELL PROPEL REMIX W.
Perfect if you land on your heels
In our opinion, this shoe is best for the heel strikers. That’s because they can really get the most out of the 7 mm drop which makes the midsole more protective at the Tempo.
New Balance claims that the shoe's drop is 8 mm. However, we found that the stack height at the Tempo is 32.2 mm, and the height at the forefoot is 25 mm, which means the drop is just a little lower: 7.2 mm.
This is not a huge variance from the official statement, and given that in other running shoes we sometimes find much greater differences, it's certainly acceptable.
T-shirt New Balance Essentials Icon Kenmore preto.
NEW BALANCE BUTY SPORTOWE 550PB1
Fresh Foam Roav v2 is not just for running
When it comes to running, we recommend using this shoe for short efforts. It performs excellently at 5-10K distances.
What's more, we even felt confident enough to take the Roav v2 to the gym. It was stable and responsive enough for agile HIIT and cross-training.
The Roav v2's platform is 115 mm large at the forefoot (2 mm wider than average). This and the slightly firm midsole enhance overall stability, which is important for gym workouts.
Feels even lighter than it is
Weighing 8.4 oz (238g), this New Balance shoe is more than an ounce lighter than the average road running shoe! We didn't even feel like we were wearing shoes!
Given the shoe's affordable price point, it’s a significant plus.
A flexible New Balance shoe
The shoe is pretty flexible. On a scale from 1 to 5 (5 being the stiffest) we judged it to be 2.
Even after putting the shoe in the freezer, it remained 22.4% more flexible than the average.
The outsole is the weak part
Having tested the shoe for about 30 miles, we noticed that the exposed foam at the bottom started to wear out pretty quickly. Therefore, we believe that the NB Fresh Foam Roav v2 cannot stand as many miles as other shoes do.
New Balance Træner Barn Shifted 327V1.
Easy to achieve a good lockdown
Unlike many other running shoes, this shoe uses flat laces instead of rounded ones. This makes it easier to fix them and while running there’s no need to adjust anything, they remain in place.
Plenty of colors for the New Balance Roav v2
There are more than a dozen colors available for this shoe! That’s indeed impressive and not something we see very often.
A win for the budget-minded
The shoe costs $85, which is very well below the average for a running shoe ($130).