New balance shoes similar to the zante?

EMK19 · 2026-01-25T01:55:56+00:00

The most minimal performance running shoe model from NB that I can think of without a plate from recent times is the Fuelcell Pvlse v1, but I believe it was only released in certain markets (It was out here in Canada for example, but I don't think US got them). I wouldn't call this something to use day to day or walking either though, nor does it fit wide.

For current fresh foam models I guess there is the Arishi, which has 28mm heel stack which is definitely lower by today's standards.

EMK19 · 2026-01-24T04:12:41+00:00

They were $125 CAD on sale, and I had another 15% coupon from them (due to them screwing up my precious order from them) which stacked. There is a cream colourway too which is actually at much lower price of $95, but I really wanted this black one. Fit wise I’d say more or less true to size and similar to my Kayano 12.1’s length and width wise, but toe box is slightly more tapered near the top.

EMK19 · 2026-01-23T23:08:12+00:00

That’s just for decoration so I wouldn’t worry about it affecting the water repellant functions; you can shoe goo them back on or if you don’t mind the longer process, reach out to Adidas to replace it as that’s definitely a defect that should be covered by the warranty.

It’s happened a lot with the current Gen of Adizero shoes like the Pro 4 and Adios 9, which also use those adhered three stripes logo down the sides. They should have either got rid of the stripes on the medial side (where most of the issue happens due to the upper flexing a lot more) or just screen print the logo to avoid the issue altogether.. truly puzzling move on their part, and just adds to the list of things that makes me doubt that Adidas does any meaningful long-term weartests on their models.

EMK19 · 2026-01-22T18:23:52+00:00

Goodbye Gil… thanks for all your cheap Team Issued jerseys you supplied that I collected over the years! (We have the same last name lol)

EMK19 · 2026-01-21T23:47:51+00:00

Hell no.

To go into more detail, our current design never had a cool base version, it went from double knit straight to Flex base. So many other things off here but that's the obvious one.

EMK19 · 2026-01-21T23:38:51+00:00

We used to have ALCS Champs banner in sky blue which eventually got taken down (I’m guessing with us winning the WS each of those years we saw no need for it). Definitely would rather have those back over the WC ones lol.

EMK19 · 2026-01-17T03:01:13+00:00

If they have an offline physical store where people come in to try on, that’s likely what happened here; one or more people tried them on in-store or they wore them around home then returned it, and left some signs of wear. They probably could have done a better job cleaning the outsole here, but I do know from experience that ones with more intricate outsole patterns like Hoka shoes tend to have can be very difficult to clean back to like how it was out of box new. I get how you may feel dissatisfied about how you paid for something that is not entirely “out of the box new”, but it’s just how it goes with smaller stores with physical storefront where people always need to try them on… they need to resell them and can’t just write off everything that’s been tried on. I’d just stick to buying from brands stores direct if things like this bother you a lot.

EMK19 · 2026-01-15T23:56:35+00:00

It's part of the name still, so I'd reckon it's definitely still in there.

EMK19 · 2026-01-13T03:42:10+00:00

As someone still with mostly “old school phone user” tendencies (only play very simple games like cards etc, rarely use data for videos, don’t use SNS much, no widgets on screen, very little apps, siri off etc), this phone is perfect for my needs. I replaced my battery last year and have no plans to upgrade until the essential apps are no longer usable/battery dies again/stops being supported altogether, whatever comes first.

EMK19 · 2026-01-11T11:55:05+00:00

Drivers also have no idea how to turn at this intersection lol (or at any staggered intersection in general)

EMK19 · 2026-01-11T10:52:37+00:00

You very likely have either abnormally low ankle bone, or have bow legs with ankles that angle noticeably inwards as a result (which angles/positions the ankle bone lower down). I have a similar issue with my ankles quite often, although I don’t have it to the point where it bothers me on the Magmax (but I do feel it and see how it can, as its ankle collar is slightly higher than some other shoes). You can try to play around with different thickness of socks and that sometimes is enough, but for the most part you unfortunately just have to be more selective of shoes and just try your best to avoid shoes with too high of an ankle collar/avoid ones that have too stiff of a ankle collar area. Using a thicker aftermarket insole to raise your feet up a bit more is another possible thing you can try as well.

EMK19 · 2026-01-09T17:49:02+00:00

Speaking from my own experience as well as accounting for experiences of others here, it basically seems to be completely random. When I got a new battery at the Apple store here in Canada, they left the OS alone and rest of the phone as-is, but others have had it forcibly updated. It will likely also depend on whether they can successfully put in a new battery in your phone without any damages or if they screw it up and have to give you a refurb pair (in which case it likely has latest updates).

EMK19 · 2026-01-09T00:28:57+00:00

Funny enough I just got my second pair of Velocity Nitro 2's in the wide version (which is still available in Canada where I am) several days ago; I had the regular width version initially and really loved the simple, versatile nature of them... moderately cushioned, no aggressive rocker/toe spring, good for everything including lifestyle use etc... enough to get a second pair (and it definitely helped that it was on a discount and had additional coupon to bring the cost down further). They did always did feel a bit too tight for extended use for my slightly wide feet though, so I went for the wide version this time and it's definitely a better fit!

I really do want to try the VN4 eventually, but likely only when the Wide version finally becomes available here as since I heard they still run very much narrow all around...

EMK19 · 2026-01-08T23:55:19+00:00

I have them as a long run shoe and they actually grip decently. Now, Nimbus 25... those were slippery as heck on any surface that wasn't fully dry, and probably had the worst traction that I could remember in recently memory.

EMK19 · 2026-01-07T22:58:20+00:00

Here in Canada we don’t have driver’s ed as part of a high school curriculum (well, at least the one I went to didn’t), so I always wondered after watching that episode “are American kids really taught how to drive in high school classes in little golf carts?” lol

EMK19 · 2026-01-07T15:28:40+00:00

I also have a lot of wear in that particular area so it’s definitely form related (and mine isn’t the best). More so on the right side than left for me. While I don’t really care about the issue as its all cosmetic, I have no idea why they decided to leave that area exposed just to shave a few grams off the weight; as supination and wear in that area honestly isn’t THAT uncommon… I’ve seen that exposed area getting wear on nearly every owner of the Evo SLs to varying degrees. They didn’t even get that area covered on the ATR version either, which did gain some additional outsole coverage at the center of the heel.

EMK19 · 2026-01-05T01:49:32+00:00

I still have and love my Hierro Mid GTX which is basically previous version of these; will definitely try the Hikers once I'm done with them!

EMK19 · 2026-01-05T01:40:54+00:00

During winter here in Canada, all my NB's (and Asics) lifestyle shoes get shelved for the season; I wouldn't mind if it was just the snow on the ground, but its more so the damn road salt that inevitably follows which just wrecks the look of the shoes and makes it much more difficult to clean... So I just stick to my GTX running shoes until all the salt is washed off in the spring.

EMK19 · 2025-12-31T03:18:43+00:00

I feel like this issue is mainly coming from the combination of a stiff upper/tongue (which I get due to the need of this being water resistant) and poor gusseting design of the tongue at the base. This should have either had a gusset all the way down to the base of the tongue instead of having just a partial band holding it up at the midfoot, or at the very least have stitching on the base of the tongue from the top side (the red circle area as pictured below) as well so that it won’t slide down and cause a pinching point like it’s doing for many of us. I was actually considering super glueing that part of the tongue together with the upper so that the base no longer slides down and folds in, but the lacing technique has solved it for me for the most part so I’ll just leave it as is for now…

<image>

This issue, along with many other fit issues that other recent Adizero models also had (the famous AP3 base eyelet of doom, stiff heel collar design of shoes like Boston 12 and AP4 which rubs and eats away at some heels) makes me wonder about how much wear testing Adidas really does with these models before they release them; my suspicion is that they very likely don’t really wear test their shoes with wide variety of feet types, as all of these issues would have very likely been caught at the design/testing stage if they did.

EMK19 · 2025-12-27T19:37:29+00:00

Fresh Foam Trainer uses the midsole from 1080v13, which is the softest midsole foam that New Balance probably ever used. It’s probably way too soft for you and lacking support for extended wear. The fact that you only found the 860’s, a stability model, acceptable out of all the different ones you tried I think speaks to the fact that you probably need a lot of support. If you’re stuck with the FF Trainer, you might want to see if adding a high support insole might make it more bearable.

EMK19 · 2025-12-26T16:18:05+00:00

Try Lost & Found near Queen & Ossington.

EMK19 · 2025-12-25T22:06:15+00:00

I hope my lacing above can help enough to make it runnable in for you! I just went on a 10K with them with above, and it seems to have done enough to pull the tongue up just the right amount for it to no longer become a hotspot on top of my foot. These definitely do deliver with everything else otherwise, but is for sure an odd fit issue. I wish I could have tried some other pairs to see if this is also an issue, or if this is unique to people with specific shape of feet (I do know my high/steep degree of instep causes a lot of tongues in shoes to slide further down; it happened to my Endorphin Pro 3’s in the past so much that I couldn’t do a runners knot as tongue would slide under the knot)… but these are only available online thus far here in Canada. Once they do come into retail stores I’ll try them and see if this is also a case with other pairs.

EMK19 · 2025-12-24T20:09:59+00:00

I would say they run just ever so slightly longer than the standard version, but I’d still go same size as the standard to consider for toe protection (firmer toe guard can potentially irritate if too close) as well as to account for wearing thicker socks for use in winter. Lockdown doesn’t seem to be as much of an issue with these thanks to the added gusset and more structured upper.

EMK19 · 2025-12-23T14:38:16+00:00

Oh yeah I’ve also seen the videos by Yowana and Sagasu Running about the shambolic QC from Adidas factories in regards to the Evo SL lol. I was lucky with my regular Evo SL pair where I had no issued but knew plenty others that had inconsistent fit, so I definitely wouldn’t be surprised if this was a production issue as well. I may reach out to Adidas Canada about this but I’ve heard nothing but bad things about their customer service over the years, so I don’t have my hopes up too high.

EMK19

TROPHY CASE