 Brooks, Glycerin 18, the A6 Nova Blast, and the New Balance, which I'm putting them all into a general, I think they're all in a similar category. Back, we're back in action. Oh yeah, there they are, the New Balance 880 V10s in blue, and I'm going to get you a explanation as to the numbering system that New Balance uses for all of their running shoes. Once I get back into the studio and first run back, feeling good, going to go nice and easy today, we shall see what these shoes end up being in the running shoe rotation. Let's lace up. Oh, I'm actually, I'm more excited about this 880 than the 1080, alright, and I'll probably do a little comparison between the two in the studio, alright, here we go. Immediately noticing, plush tongue, plush heel counter. So if you like cushion, if you like, yeah, just a nice plush feel, it's definitely present in the 880 V10 right now. And we're rolling with the first impressions of the New Balance 880 V10, but first, a couple packages arrive whenever something arrives that is not in the shape of a shoe box. I'm just very intrigued to open up as quick as possible, especially, I think this might be coming from Germany, so let's just see what's going on here real quick. Hope you're having a great day out there in the world. It's just one day, it's another, it's a new week. It's a new week. Let's see here, what is this? Oh, oh, oh my goodness. This is my, that's crazy. This is my Homburg Marathon T-shirt that never happened. Oh man, well, what are you going to do, everybody? What are you, it's a nice T-shirt. That's awesome. Well, hey, the marathon that never happened, I hope maybe I'll be able to run Homburg someday down the line. I don't think it's going to be in 2020, but that is awesome. Thank you for sending that along. And then this is definitely a unique shape. Hold on here. Hold on, let me get out the knife. What could this be? Oh, I know what it is. This is amazing. Oh yeah. Okay. I did not print a nice poster. Here it is, the poster from the race. That is so, Christ, Christ, Christ, I think his name is Christ. Thank you, Christ. Thanks, Seth. Love each other. That is, he has a photography business. This looks beautiful. This looks absolutely beautiful. Okay, I'm going to wrap it right back up so I don't mess it up out here in the studio. Okay, we're going to set it down there. I don't know. Maybe I should put it back on that back wall there, that poster. Thank you again. All right. Moving on to first impressions of the New Balance 880 V10. All right. Remember I said the tip about the numbering system for New Balance? I just, well, I knew this, but I had to look it up again to confirm today. If a shoe from New Balance ends in the numbers 80, that means it's a neutral shoe. In fact, let's do the twist test. Yeah. Oh yeah. It's got some dance going on in there. And then if a New Balance running shoe ends in 60, that means it's a stability shoe. Okay. Now there's varying degrees of stability in that lineup, but 80 at the end is neutral. 60 is stability. Just want you to know that. All right. 10 millimeter drop, 28 millimeter stack height in the heel, 18 in the forefoot for that 10 slope, which is actually pretty high for a trainer. Moving on to that weight, we're looking at 10.2 ounces in men's size 9, 9.1 ounces in my size. Okay. And there it is on your screen in grams. And then in women's size 8, we are looking at 8.6 ounces, 8.6 ounces for women's size 8. Moving on to that upper. It's a hyponit upper, basically an engineered mesh upper. As I mentioned, lacing up very plush. The heel tab especially. So you know how I had issues with the Nova Blast? Here it is. The Nova Blast, I still don't know why. In fact, I'm going to run in this shoe again, maybe in like the next week. I don't know if I think, well, I don't want to get too far away from the 880, but basically the plush factor in the 880 is much higher compared to the Nova Blast. I still love the Nova Blast, love the ride of the Nova Blast, but thus far the 880 is winning with respect to the heel tab, which is basically right here at the top of the heel counter and the back of the collar. So this is the collar of the shoe, which again, this whole ankle area that wraps around your ankle, very plush, including the tongue. Okay. It is not a gusseted tongue, just so you know, one little minor drawback for new balance shoes in general, and I'm just looking around here for the Beacon, but I don't see it exactly, is I don't love the construction quality of the eyelet chain. I think that this one's not doing too bad, but especially the original New Balance Beacon. I can see a reminiscent eyelet chain to the New Balance Beacon. I just think the build quality could be higher through that eyelet chain. What else on the upper? I could foresee, well, hopefully the shoe is breathable enough in warmer temperatures as temperatures rise here in the United States. In fact, it was beautiful out today, mid-70s, so I didn't, I'll have to take it out on a longer run to see about the breathability. So there you go on the upper of the New Balance 880 V10. Almost forgot, back of the heel counter here, a piece of, I guess I'm gonna call it a piece of plastic right here, wrapping around the heel counter, and it's supposed to help with lockdown in your heel. I don't know if it's completely necessary. We'll see. I mean, it just seems a little clunky there in the back, New Balance, and frankly adding weight to the shoe as well. And I didn't notice a ton of extra like, okay, my heel is locked down perfectly. Again, just first impression, I'll get you my full thoughts after 50 miles. Moving on to the midsole and the sock liner. Let's pull it out. Remember, from the beacon line up, the sock liner's not being incredible. Not like screaming at you, but let's just pull this out. Okay. Feeling better. Yeah. Feeling better there. Not like, not amazing, but feeling better as far as just the build quality of that sock liner inside the shoe. And then we're looking at Fresh Foam X Midsole Foam. Fresh Foam X is the name of the foam, basically Fresh Foam. If you like Fresh Foam, this is reminiscent of that feel, but it's supposed to be a little more responsive through the foot strike. And not saying I felt it incredibly today, but again, today I wasn't going very fast. So I will take this shoe at higher speeds sooner rather than later for all of you. No issues with that midsole. Okay, I did want to mention. Okay. I'm glad I remembered. Here we go. Here's the 1080. Okay. 880, 1080. Okay. I was a little disappointed. In fact, people were asking, why did I, why did I not do a full review of the New Balance 1080? I was expecting a little more cushion, a little more absorbing of the pounding on the pavement. Because of the taller stack height in the 1080, it felt, frankly, that Fresh Foam felt a little too firm. All right. That's why I did not take this shoe to 50 miles. Now in the 880, I am sensing a little more give through that midsole. I'm excited, not a ton, but a little bit. So again, I'll keep testing for all of you. A little more give just to absorb the pounding on the pavement and the concrete. Okay. Moving on to the outsole, the bottom of this V1080, sorry, 880, V10, all these numbers. It's a blown rubber and you know how I always get a little nervous when I see this much outsole rubber. And there's a lot there, which bumps up the durability. I'll just say now, I'm going to predict, I'm going to predict at least 500 miles. I really do. But here's the trick. Here's where, here's the crossroads of running shoe durability predictions and how much rubber to put on the bottom of the outsole. Maybe, okay. Hear me out here. If a midsole is going to get you 350 to 400 miles of good responsiveness, good energy, good energy return, but yeah, responsiveness is the best way to put it. But the outsole rubber actually could take the shoe to let's say 550 and 600 miles. I'm going to make the argument that I don't think a shoe company should put this much rubber or frankly any other company out there, put this much rubber on the outsole. If the midsole is not going to live up to the longevity of the outsole. Because if the outsole is going the distance, but the midsole feels mushy and dead after 350 miles, I think I would rather have the shoe drop down in weight by reducing the amount of rubber on the outsole. Does that make sense? So that's what I'm sensing thus far again, just first run, but that's what I'm sensing thus far in the 880 is let's bring it down a little bit. Let's bring it down a little bit and move it on to that fit and comfort fit true to size worked perfect for me today. The toe box, I'm going to say it's not wide, but I didn't feel scrunched up inside the toe box. All right. And then the comfort very, very comfortable upper very much so and the midsole ride is with solid with solid. I will just mention though the 10 millimeter drop, not sure I would. I love 10 millimeter for daily trainers or easy day shoes. And I'll just say how will I use this shoe moving forward most likely most likely I would say actually daily trainer over easy day. Easy day. I like real soft cushion. I like to go nice and slow. This I think has the potential to go a little bit faster than an easy day shoe. Positives and drawbacks. The positive is the lockdown through the midfoot was amazing. You know when you can just cinch a shoe down perfectly, just like it's I don't know it just cinches well where you can really feel like you're dialed in. That's what I was feeling. Even though I don't love the actual holes in the eyelet chain, the way that the laces were working with the tongue of the shoe, just spot on great cinching down. Drawback is the weight 9.1 ounces and my size is pretty heavy for a daily trainer. I actually personally don't mind it because I think it just makes your legs a little strong. Like you're carrying more weights through your through your foot strikes through your gait cycle and eventually when you start putting lighter shoes on your feet later in the training block for tempo days, threshold days, workouts and or putting on race day shoes, I think your overall responsiveness to that reduction in weight later in the training block is a good thing. All right, but getting rid of this plastic heel counter and reducing the weight of the rubber I think would drop the weight quite significantly probably over an ounce. Who is the shoe best for? If you like a plush upper and if you if you like high drops, so I'm more in that six to eight millimeter range for daily trainers, but if you like that 10, 10 plus drop, this might be the shoe for you. Oh yeah, moving on to the price point, $130, 130, which I'm going to say is the upper echelon of what I'm willing to pay for a daily trainer. It's pushing it, but it's right there. Okay. One 20 to 125, even 115, I'd be much happier, but 130 is it's right there. I wouldn't want it to go above 130. And one last point is that if I had to choose between, I'm just looking around, if I had to choose between it's somewhere in here, the Brooks, Glycerin 18, the A6 Nova Blast and the new balance, which I'm putting them all into a general, I think they're all in a similar category. And then the 880V10, I would choose the Nova Blast and the Glycerin 18 at this point over the 880V10, even just holding in my hands right now, these two, the Nova and the 880, it's pretty significant difference in weight. So but I think the Nova can be used for tempo days. Oh man, this is a good shoe. This is a great shoe right here, everyone, even though it does make my heels bleed a little bit, bleed a little bit. All right. Thanks for being here. Question of the day. All right fans, let's hear what you got to say in the comments. What's your favorite new balance running shoe right now, whether it's racing, whether it's training, whether it's roads, whether it's trails. Let us know down in the comments. Sound good everyone? All right. You guys rock. That's the vlog for today. We're up. We're back at it. We are back to running. It's good to be back in the wind in the hair. The wind in the hair. All right. We're going to toss it back too. But you know what? Let's toss it back to the A6 Nova Blast full review right there. Nova Blast full review. Oh man. Love that shoe. Got to put it back on. Got to put it back on. All right. You guys rock. Onward and upward. See beauty. Work hard and love each other. See you tomorrow.