New Balance 1080
New Balance 1080: building consensus — a public grade is not available yet; synthesized so far from 3 reviews across 3 creators, freshest review Sep 30, 2026.
TL;DR
The New Balance 1080 is a plush, comfortable daily trainer that excels at easy miles and long runs, backed by a mix of positive and neutral opinions. However, its softness is a dealbreaker for runners who want a firmer or more responsive ride — several reviewers outright dislike it for being too marshmallowy or mushy (mentions 3, 5, 6, 20, 32, 36, 41). Consider it if you want a cushioned cruiser; look elsewhere if you do any uptempo running.
Verdict
Score
Building consensus
(3 of 10 primary mentions or 23 of 30 total mentions) so far
Verdict
No call yet
A grade will appear when the evidence is sufficient.
freshest review · Sep 30, 2026
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Best for
Insufficient data: no dedicated review transcripts were supplied for the New Balance 1080, so no purpose-fit assignment can be grounded in reviewer evidence. Re-run with the review corpus attached before assigning use case, fit, experience level, surface, or distance.
Reviewers were less aligned on this shoe’s purpose — treat these as a softer signal.
Facts & figures
Evidence is still building
(3 of 10 primary mentions or 23 of 30 total mentions) so far. The attributed reviews and editorial remain available while the grade is withheld.
What reviewers said
- Ben Parkes praises the new foam for good energy return and comfort despite significant weight reduction versus the previous version (mention 2).
- The shoe is noted for being very flexible in the forefoot by Doctors of Running (mention 43), and is described as comfortable and smooth-riding (mentions 2, 12).
- It is positioned as a versatile, do-it-all daily trainer that works well as an easy-day or long-run companion (mentions 10, 13, 19, 40).
- The 1080's extreme softness divides reviewers.
- Sagasu Running finds it "way too marshmallow" and says it "wants to squish out every way" (mentions 5, 6).
The reviews behind this verdict
The cited creator reviews, watchable — press play to jump to the moment each one informed the verdict.
Yowana
“And then you have the 1080 daily trainer.”
cited at 3:17
FORDY RUNS
“I think this beats the 1080 from New Balance £150 you're going to get this discounted down. So that's good. But if the 1080 shoe or even like a Brooks Glycerine are the sort of shoes you like, then this is worth considering cuz I think it's better than both of those.”
cited at 5:51
Yowana
“Now, that is not the softest shoe out there. It's not a 1080”
cited at 37:45
Marathon Handbook
“other shoes that I'd compare it to from books possibly the glycerin 20 New Balance 1080s Nike Invincible all very similar shoes”
cited at 0:00
The Run Testers
“1080 have not tested Tom has we can talked about that”
cited at 12:45
The Run Testers
“my road shoe is the New Balance 1080. this is the London Marathon version from last October uh plenty of different color choices in this shoe... it is really nice soft foam it's comfortable... it's a good shoe I'd say for um beginners or it's just a good all-rounder shoe if you're not having loads in your rotation and you want something comfortable”
cited at 18:17
Marathon Handbook
“it's a all day long run Cruiser type of shoe very much like New Balance 1080 Sone Triumph 21”
cited at 0:00
The Run Testers
“if you want a kind of firmer ride, then there's a New Balance Fresh Foam 1080”
cited at 0:00
The Run Testers
“i personally don't love the new balance 1080 i find a bit too kind of firm and i find the ride much better on the brooks”
cited at 15:28
RadDadBodTV
“on the slightly lower end for more of like a premium daily trainer when comparing to some shoes like the 1080 or the Clifton.”
cited at 0:00
RadDadBodTV
“Some good comparisons would be in my opinion to something like maybe the Triumph, right? Maybe the 1080”
cited at 0:00
Yowana
“The OG runners, they wear Supernova Rise 3 and New Balance 1080 and New Balance Ellipse.”
cited at 17:16
Ben Parkes
“Exactly the same foam as you get in the Rebel, but a slightly different foam, albeit the same name, that you're going to get in the 1080.”
cited at 0:00
Marathon Handbook
“I don't think it's in New Balance 1080 kind of category or the Nimbus maybe cumulus um maybe 880 but it's certainly a really nice smooth riding shoe”
cited at 8:17
The Run Testers
“I just started testing the AS6 gel Nimbus, there's the Socky Triumph, the Sony Huracan, the New Balance 1080, shoes like the Brooks, Glycerin Max, even I prefer the feel of the Kip Pride Max”
cited at 11:31
Doctors of Running
“the 1080 is really flexible, so it is very flexible. It's going to give you varied stimuli, because the 1080 flexes well in the forefoot”
cited at 39:02
The Run Testers
“I've not got on with some really soft New Balance shoes in the past like at 1080 because they haven't really bounced back”
cited at 0:00
jogoncrago
“the durability is definitely not going to be as good as a full rubber outsole like on the 1080”
cited at 3:22
kofuzi
“This is the New Balance Ellipse, a shoe that looks like a 1080, weighs about the same as a 1080, and uses fresh foam X, just like the 1080 used to use. So, while the 1080 seems to have moved on to a new foam, is the Ellipse a nod to the way things were?”
cited at 0:00
Jason Jogs
“The 1080 line I don't really like either”
cited at 8:08
The Run Testers
“I do certainly think it's better than New Balance 1080 as well which is built to do be a bit more of a do-it-all work or shoe but I think is more of a cushion shoe this is a much more enjoyable cushion shoe”
cited at 15:12
RoadTrailRun
“firmer than the 1080 of a few years ago, which I barely could run in. It was so soft.”
cited at 0:00
Marathon Handbook
“even if you want to stay in the New Balance, a 1080 or an 880 is likely better for you.”
cited at 7:35
Ben Parkes
“they both use the same foam, but a lot less foam in the 1080 versus the huge amount of foam you're getting in the Moore. The 1080 is much more of a everyday shoe.”
cited at 6:20
kofuzi
“the 1080 is kind of like um a premium daily trainer at this point is kind of how I'd look at it. Like a grand touring version of a car or a sedan”
cited at 12:50
Sagasu Running
“And the 1080 is just way too marshmallow. It's just way too soft.”
cited at 0:00
Sagasu Running
“The 1080 and the Nimbus are more of a cushioned or premium daily trainer”
cited at 0:00
Hes Kicks
“New Balance already has the 1080 series... The 1080s kind of took a leap up. Now, they're like I think 110 companies or so. And the 1080 also features the Infiniam foam which is a new foam.”
cited at 0:00
Emily Heller
“The Infinian that you get in the 1080 is probably not going to be the same Infinian in the uh SC Elite V6”
cited at 6:54
Meta Endurance
“which is similar by name at least to what they have in the 1080”
cited at 0:00
Running Warehouse
“We saw it in the 1080 but that's going to be a shoe for comfort for those daily miles. This is all about performance.”
cited at 0:01
Running Warehouse
“Now we've seen Infuse in shoes like the 1080. You know, it's more of that plush. It's for those cruising efforts”
cited at 0:05
Running Warehouse
“we've got the Infinit compound that we've seen in the 1080.”
cited at 0:01
Doctors of Running
“I think the 1080 just feels like a slightly just unfinished product to me”
cited at 35:04
Yowana
“You think about 1080, you think about a Nimbus, that type of a shoe.”
cited at 0:00
Yowana
“We could even throw 1080 kind of in there. That's a hybrid between standard and max cushion.”
cited at 58:58
EDDBUD
“always found like the 1080 from New Balance was a shoe that felt better, a half size up”
cited at 6:34
Ben Parkes
“That's obviously going to be something like the 1080”
cited at 0:00
EDDBUD
“It be interesting to know whether this is the same formula as used in the 1080.”
cited at 6:40
Doctors of Running
“I thought things like the New Balance 1080 was soft. This makes that shoe look firm and it's a soft shoe.”
cited at 0:00
MidLife Runner
“The 1080 shoes from New Balance and shoes like that. There's no way I can run 730 in those shoes. They just they're too slow.”
cited at 7:56
jogoncrago
“like the 1080, the Nimbus, kind of sitting above the standard daily, is that they feel quite mushy and can sometimes not really feel at home in those more uptempo daily training paces”
cited at 0:00
Ben Parkes
“I really enjoyed this new foam that New Balance put in their shoe. Good amount of energy return for that daily shoe. It's really comfortable and supportive despite the big weight loss versus version 14”
cited at 6:48
Yowana
“Reminds me of something like a SC Elite V5 or a New Balance 1080.”
cited at 0:00
MidLife Runner
“or for the elite and sub elites, like the really like quick fast runners who don't mind a little nimble shoe, who can win 5Ks in a New Balance 1080”
cited at 0:00
Runnertia
“It's definitely less soft than a 1080”
cited at 0:01
Ben Parkes
“Another shoe I was tempted to include here is the New Balance 1080, but at 180 lb, it's just a little bit too expensive, but it is definitely a very comfortable shoe.”
cited at 6:05
Pro:Direct Running
“The New Balance 1080 summer colourways are unmatched.”
cited at 0:00
FORDY RUNS
“I want you to think of like the socky ride or, you know, like your 1080 from New Balance”
cited at 0:00
Attention consensusa separate axis
How much the creator economy weighed this — distinct from the verdict, never folded into it.
1.7Mtotal review views
2Mcombined reachadditive across channels · may overlap
49creator reviews
attention vs the catalogtop 11% in class
Heavily watched while Yeah is still building its grade.
attention over the product’s life
Why the grade is pending
Yeah is still building enough review evidence to publish a grade.
23 mentions
How creator opinions explain it
A theme-by-theme synthesis of creator opinions has not been published for this shoe yet.
Verdicts synthesize public creator reviews — not personalized. The reasoning explains the grade; it never computes it.