New Balance 608 v5 review

The 608 v5 should totally be on your wish list if you're looking for:

• A comfortable and durable daily pair to be on your feet for hours.
• A New Balance shoe with balanced cushioning and a supportive insole.
• Something with a dad-shoe vibe for your wide feet.

We definitely don't recommend this New Balance pair to people with narrow feet. The testers among us who fall into this category claim it's not that comfortable, with some of them even having problems with the heel (it hurts the ankle bones). If you have thin feet too and you'd rather not play the lottery with this shoe's heel, we believe you should have a look at some affordable Skechers models.

Among those, the GoWalk 6 features a durable sock-like upper that's easy on the foot; and after our wear tests, we can assure you it's comfortable for all-day wear. The Arch Fit and the Summits have similar key points and are also pretty affordable. Don't hesitate to have a look!

It may lack advanced cushioning technologies as a budget-friendly shoe, but the NB 608 v5 does not fall short of impact protection for all-day wear.

Recording an above-average shock absorption reading in its heel (116 SA), we found that this kick's cushioning is not cheap for sure.

You won't get much bounce from this New Balance shoe's midsole as its energy return showed a pretty low measurement of 46.6%.

The 608 v5 offers more of a stable experience and doesn't feel propulsive at all.

Despite its higher-than-average weight, the 608 v5's heel stack is slightly lower than average.

At 31.7 mm, we felt enough impact protection and all-day support. So, it being lower than the standard of other models in its category didn't mean it was less comfortable!

We felt the same kind of wonderful comfort on our forefoot.

Our caliper returned 22.1 mm, which meant our toes and the ball of our foot were safely far from the tough concrete of our city.

Overall, this shoe felt really comfortable. The thing is that, well, as the super-freaky-shoe-geeky experts we are, we gotta tell you that the New Balance 990 sneakers are one of the most comfortable NB pairs we've used to walk around our town so far. Mind you, they are way more expensive than the 608 v5!

The heel and forefoot stacks leave us with a drop of 9.6 mm.

As you can see in the picture, the difference between the ball of the foot and the rearfoot is not super crazy. In other words, this shoe's drop is average, which means that you won't need to get used to it (it's also pretty comfortable out of the box!).

It also includes an internal shank that adds some extra structure and support to the midfoot (it's the grey thing you can see next to the outsole in the picture of the cut-in-half shoe).

Last but not least, some more good news, the whole structure is pretty padded. As we were saying, this didn't just make this NB more comfortable, it also leveled up its support levels.

When our durometer returned 30.6 HA, we were pretty surprised. It's a higher score than average, which means the 608 v5's foam is not specifically soft.

Nevertheless, this doesn't mean we didn't enjoy our walks with it. Actually, it was quite the opposite! As we've mentioned before, this New Balance features an ABZORB midsole on the heel for cushion and compression resistance. This last part is key, as it doesn't feel mushy when we pressure it against the floor.

We really appreciated this balance, as it didn't feel like a brick when we walked, but it also wasn't too soft to make our legs tired too early.

Thick suede overlays can make the NB 608 v5 seem wider than it is. That's why we pour a gel into the shoe to create a mold of its interiors. 

Just as we expected, the widest area of the mold showed a standard reading of 94.4 mm. Just as wide as the average D medium-width shoe.

But if you are here to find a wide walking shoe to match your foot shape, the 608 v5 is kindly offered in wide and extra versions.

Another reason to consider a wide option is the shoe's moderately tapered toebox shape. Measuring it in the big toe area returned a slightly narrower-than-average reading of 68.4 mm.

However, the vertical space of this NB shoe is very generous. Our caliper showed 29.7 mm which is notably taller than average.

Don't mind the shoe's lower price point because its outsole traction is certainly not cheap! We are impressed with the grip offered by its NDurance rubber on both dry and wet city pavements.

Measuring how much friction there is between the 608 v5's heel rubber and the ground, our machine recorded a coefficient of 0.52. That's an above-average result for a walking shoe and proves the tacky nature of this New Balance shoe's rubber.

The 608 v5 balances generous rubber coverage with decent flexibility by placing two large flex grooves in the forefoot.

As for the large cutout in the heel, it helps to make this hefty shoe just a tad bit lighter without sacrificing outsole grip and durability.   

These big boys were surprisingly good at our flex test, as it didn't take them any more than 14.2N to bend by 30 degrees. That is the category average of walking shoes.

During our wear tests, this translated into a comfortable and easy ride. The best part of how easily it was for the 608 v5 to bend all the way up to 90 degrees is that its materials are flexible but sturdy at the same time.

Let us be straightforward: if you're looking for a light pair of shoes to walk around, this ain't it!

At 13.60 oz/386.0g, the 680 v5 is a whole 28% heavier than average. If you're used to shoes that feel like a couple of feathers on foot, like the On Cloud pairs, you'll most likely feel the difference after a couple of steps.

Nevertheless, this sturdy kick felt incredibly comfortable when we had to work long shifts! Also, its upper materials are made to last, which sounds like a fair trade to us.

Even though we trust brands and believe what they say about their shoes, that's just not enough for us. It is said that every person is considered innocent until proven guilty, and well, here in RunRepeat, we're ready to spot some criminals.

Despite New Balance's breathability claims, the 608 v5 didn't show us any ventilation wholes in our light test. The only part that let some light shine through was the tongue, so... is this piece the one in charge of ventilation?

Well, it seems about right for our smoke machine! As you can see in the video, the air goes through the 608 v5's tongue, whilst the On Cloudrift, which scored a perfect 5/5 on our breathability test, lets the smoke get out through the entire structure.

Our microscope agreed on the upper material not being breathable at all. As you can see, the suede parts are just completely opaque. After having a closer look at this shoe's toebox, we understood why the mesh tongue was the only piece that would let this NB pair breathe.

All in all, we decided to give the 608 v5 a 2/5 on our breathability test. It's not the lowest score, but as it only relies on the tongue for its airflow, we couldn't really give it anything higher than that.

The durable upper materials of this New Balance helped our heels stay in place.

Also, the brand specifies in the details of this shoe that it features a dual-density collar foam that offers support and comfort for the ankle. And we agree! Nevertheless, there's something that we'd like to tell you...

The narrow-footed testers among us didn't find this pair as comfortable. They didn't really like the heel, and it even hurt some of them!

As the midsole is pretty tall, the 608 v5 didn't let us play much with it.

We decided to give it a score of 4/5 on our torsional rigidity test. Contrary to what you might believe, this didn't make the shoe harder to walk on.

Its extra padded heel followed the same path. It didn't bow easily to us even if we tried!

Its supportive structure earned a well-deserved 4/5 on our heel counter stiffness test. Nevertheless, as we've mentioned before, some of our testers found this part of the 608 v5 pretty uncomfortable.

It wasn't nearly all of us, yet it was stated that the high sides of the collar rubbed their heel bones the wrong way, causing pain and discomfort.

When our caliper returned 112.4 mm whilst we were measuring the midsole width in the forefoot, we were pretty surprised.

But don't get us wrong, this result is just average. Still, this shoe feels bulky and it's on the heavier side, so we did expect some extra midsole width to improve stability (not like there's any lack of it, though).

The midsole width in the heel is also pretty much average.

Our caliper returned 90.3 mm, and we actually can't complain. Even though there are some other walking shoes with wider landing areas, the 608 v5 felt nice and comfortable to us when we were walking around town.

When shoes get a low score in breathability, they usually balance it out with a wonderful result on durability. We trusted the 608 v5 blindly when we grabbed our Dremel and attacked it during 4 seconds, at 5K RPM and with 3.2N of force.

At the beginning, seeing the blue material fly away got us a bit tense. Nevertheless, when we put the tool aside, we were pretty happy with the final result.

Yes, the suede ended up with a bit of a scratch. Nevertheless, this is nothing compared to the holes that some other shoes end up with. In fact, do you remember the On Cloudrift? Which got a wonderful 5/5 on our breathability test? Well, look at it now. It got absolutely and completely obliterated by our Dremel.

Consequently, we've decided to give this NB a perfect 5/5 on our toebox durability test.

We always get our hopes up after a great result on the toebox durability test. But it's important to remember that the heel padding is the weakest part of a shoe, and that its material is definitely not the same as the toebox's.

The tool drilled non-stop and we just wanted to close our eyes. The 4 seconds the test lasted were enough to send this pair's heel Phantom Liner material flying as if they were swallows in the summer.

With the final picture being something like this. How could we give the 608 v5 anything higher than a 2/5 on our heel padding durability test?

If you think we're not being fair... look at the Skechers Summits and its "can't touch this" heel! We made it go through this same test, yet it looks as if it had literally never left its box!

To measure a shoe's outsoles durability, we grab our lab's durometer and stick it into the rubber mercilessly.

At 85.9 HC, it's way higher than average. This means that the 608 v5's outsole focuses on durability, as it's harder than the standard score for walking shoes.

We grabbed our Dremel again to perform our last durability test on this NB. At a new speed of 10K RPM, with the same 3.2N of force but now for 22 seconds, we drilled the 608 v5's outsole nonstop.

After, once again, seeing the materials of this shoe pop like fireworks, our expectations were not very high. When we put the tool aside, we measured the dent and saw it was 1.5 mm deep.

We can't say this shoe is one of the most durable ones out there, but it won't leave your side in a couple of weeks either. It got an average score, so it should stay with you for a while.

In order to compensate for its average score on our durability test, New Balance decided to add a big piece of rubber as the 608 v5's outsole.

Our caliper returned 4.8 mm, which is 42% higher than average. In other words, this shoe's outsole should be able to endure the constant abrasion of urban areas easily even if there's some wear thanks to its thickness.

As expected from New Balance, the 608 v5 features a very comfortable insole.

Even though our caliper returned 5.7 mm, which is pretty much the same as the average, this piece has extra padding in some specific areas. Look!

We can confirm the "soft and supportive" statement, as that's exactly how we felt during our tests. Also, as you can see, the ball of the foot and heel areas are slightly higher than the rest. You know what that means, right? Extra comfort!

The best part of having a stiffer-than-average injection-molded EVA foam midsole is that, when temperatures drop, you won't feel this shoe has become a brick.

We put the 608 v5 inside our freezer to take a 20-minute nap and then grabbed our durometer. With a solid score of 37.6 HA, it became 22.8% stiffer, but the change was by no means big enough for us to actually find this pair uncomfortable.

We're obsessed with New Balance's insoles, and the one that the 608 v5 features is, by no means, an exception!

Even though we wouldn't change it, it's removable, so you're free to do so.

No reflective elements around! We checked it on our lab, and this shoe went stealth mode as soon as we turned the lights off.

We found the 13.4 mm of padding of this shoe's tongue super comfortable, but also... a little bit too much.

But please, don't get us wrong, we're not dissatisfied or anything. We're just on the opinion that a thinner tongue would still be comfy for our instep and, at the same time, it would have reduced this pair's overall weight.

Honestly, we were pretty happy with the price-value balance of this pair. Its sturdy and great-quality suede and mesh materials, combined with a thicker outsole for durability, promise a long useful life.

New Balance decided to add a convenient finger-loop at the back of this shoe.

Even though it's only big enough for one of our fingers to fit, it still made things easier when we had to put the shoe on.

As a cool detail, we also really loved the overall color-blocking design and the fact that the brand added the number of this iteration at the back!