New Balance TWO WXY V5 review

Even though its name might be challenging to pronounce, don't let the New Balance TWO WXY V5 get out of your radar if:

• You want a really stable and supportive hooper that makes you feel safe.
• An energetic and bouncy companion that will shield you from harsh impacts when you're determined to get that rebound is what you need.
• You're looking for a partner to play streetball from time to time that bites the court consistently.
• You need a versatile basketball shoe because you love changing positions when you play ball.

If you don't want to risk having to deal with a break-in period, maybe you'd like to have a look at a shoe that's comfortable right out of the box. You might not want to change brands, so what about checking the New Balance Fresh Foam BB V2 out? It feels like a soft cloud underfoot!

You might not be a huge fan of massive soles, though. If we've just hit the spot, the New Balance Hesi Low is a great option, as it will let you feel the court under your feet. Last but not least, we want to tell you that this V5 doesn't stand a huge jump away from the V4. In other words, the changes are not otherworldly, so you might not want to spend more money for little updates when the New Balance TWO WXY V4 is out there on sale!

With a heel stack of 32.4 mm, this NB feels really comfortable and soft underfoot.

It features Fresh Foam X only in the heel area (look at the darker blue part in the cushioning). This foam focuses on impact protection, so when we jumped and pivoted aggressively, our feet felt shielded and protected from harsh landings.

The forefoot stack stands at 23.0 mm, so it's higher than average too.

In this section of the cushioning, the TWO WXY V5 shows off the energetic and responsive Fuel Cell. We really, REALLY liked this setup, as it's one of the key points that make this NB so versatile. It also helped us with strong take-offs and assertive layups, as it gave us the bounce needed to comfortably finish moves like curl cuts, for example.

After measuring the heel and the forefoot stacks of this NB, we've calculated it has a drop of 9.4 mm.

This means the position of the heel is slightly higher than where the toes rest. But it's not like our feet felt the difference: as both parts have plenty of cushioning, we just felt protected from the harsh surfaces.

As we tirelessly repeat in our reviews, cutting shoes in half is a must if one really wants to get to know them. In this case, we're going to use this picture to talk to you about a very important piece: the shank.

Look at the first picture. Can you see that black line at the top of the cushioning, right under the insole? Yep, that's it! The shank offers a lot of support underfoot, and we enjoyed it to the fullest during our wear tests, as we could go for more aggressive moves with no fear.

The TWO WXY V5's midsole features two different foams.

As we've mentioned before, in the heel it has Fresh Foam X, which focuses on impact protection. When we studied it, our durometer returned 21.5 HA, which makes it softer than average.

This shoe feels really comfortable and soft underfoot. Its foams made sure we enjoyed every jump during our wear tests, and the shank we mentioned before offered us really good support (alongside the general structure) in every landing.

The foam at the forefoot is even softer, though!

When we pressed our durometer against the Fuel Cell foam, it returned 14.5 HA. This result is 47% softer than average, making our feet crazy happy.

Thanks to this setup, we could enjoy a comfortable yet snappy and balanced experience. The only counterpart here is that the courtfeel is out of the equation.

A thicker-than-average 5.6 mm insole was waiting for our feet inside this NB.

It felt nice and cushioned. Our feet sure loved their new bed!

Despite having a wider landing base than average, the sole flares of the TWO WXY V5 don't count when we're measuring its toebox width!

At 99.2 mm, our calliper stated it's narrower than average. Even though our standard-width feet were okay with this, wide-feet hoopers should most likely go for the Wide (2E) version of this shoe!

The good part is that the toebox doesn't taper at all! In other words, it doesn't narrow down and make our feet feel cramped.

At 78.0 mm, the rounded forefoot area made us like this shoe even more. After all, its materials don't give in, so the fact that this structure is already roomy enough is great!

The lateral stability of this NB was just something else.

Look at just how little our ankles can overextend themselves! We felt the structure of the TWO WXY V5 offered our feet wonderful containment. Additionally, the upper features an extra eyelet at the top just in case you want to go for the runner's knot.

Overall, this pair provided us with lots of balance and stability, as well as a fantastic lockdown feel. On the court, this translated into fearless quick cuts, jab steps, and strong reverse pivoting.

As you might have noticed, the moves we've just mentioned don't belong to one specific position. For example, even though it's usually guards who go for jab steps, it's centres who focus on pivoting! So, why did we mix it all up? Well, because the TWO WXY V5 is a really versatile shoe. On New Balance's official webpage, it comes tagged as "positionless", which means every position will benefit from its advantages.

All in all, and after trying it out during our wear tests, we can assure you we couldn't agree more. This hooper's adaptability is off the roof, so no matter what position you play, it'll most likely be a great companion.

As expected after our lateral stability test, our fingers struggled a lot trying to twist this shoe, so we decided to give it a 5/5 on our torsional rigidity test.

The big rubberized wall acted like an armour, and even though we tried to get past it, its protection prevented the TWO WXY V5 from bending at our will. During our wear tests, this translated into great support, stability, and, most importantly, safety.

You know, when shoes get a high score on this test, it most likely means their materials are too rigid at the beginning, which leads to a required break-in period. In our personal opinion, this initial effort is totally worth it, as it means we'll feel confident playing in them due to its wonderful containment.

The heel counter was a little bit too rough on our feet.

As you can see, it was impossible for our fingers to make it bow to us, so we've given it the 5/5 on stiffness it deserves. It stood its ground firmly, and even though its structure does offer our heel a lot of support, its stiffness was also harsh to our feet at the beginning.

To improve its overall stability even more, the TWO WXY V5 features a wider-than-average landing base.

Our calliper returned 116.6 mm when we measured the midsole width in the forefoot, which means our feet and toes had enough space to stretch and readapt themselves when we were back to the court after jumping for a rebound.

The heel has an even bigger difference in comparison with the average.

At 94.6 mm, it's a solid 5% wider than the typical score in this category. This might not sound like much, but trust us, every mm counts!

Despite its high scores regarding rigidity, the TWO WXY V5 surprised us when our force gauge marked it only needed 23.7N to go all the way up to 90 degrees on our flex test.

We could feel this when we ran up and down the court. The shoe bent easily alongside our feet, following their every move. The fact that it's pliable in this specific area is also very convenient if you usually go for fakes. Stiffer pairs might be more complicated to smoothly follow your intentions from minute 1, but this NB was ready to fool our defender with us!

As we were saying, the TWO WXY V5 didn't feel heavy or too bulky on foot. It's definitely not the quickest hooper out there, but we could go for quick cuts, fast breaks, and explosive layups during our playtests with no problem. It really kept up!

When we took it to our lab, our scale marked 13.8 oz/390.0g, which is an average score. For a hooper with this amount of inner padding, we believe it's a pretty good weight!

Overall, it feels great on foot. Running up and down the court was easy, and thanks to the wonderful containment and lock-in feel, defending guards on this shoe just felt right.

There are 3 tools we needed in order to perform our breathability test properly: a light, our smoke machine, and the microscope.

We started putting the cut-in-half part of the TWO WXY V5 right in front of the light to see if it had any ventilation holes in its upper. Nevertheless, as you can see in the video below, shining through such thick material was impossible.

This leads us to the second step, where we fill up the whole shoe with smoke and wait to see where and how it comes out. In this case, we're using the Air Jordan XXXIX to compare results. As our tests are standardised, we get to do this with every pair we buy. How cool is that!

Alright, so... it's not like the New Balance model is crazy breathable, but did let out a fair amount of smoke pretty consistently. In comparison with the lowest 1/5 the AJ took home, we've decided to give the TWO WXY V5 an average 3/5. Which is not bad at all!

There seem to be gaps with fewer layers, but the material used for the upper is pretty thick, so of course the light couldn't get through!

Even though there's a protective layer right around the toes, we always put our Dremel on the very same spot so we can compare every shoe in a fair way. And, in this case, it just didn't get the chance to defend this area from the tool.

We really panicked when we saw all those blue threads flying around. Were we gonna have to face a massive hole? Would the Dremel destroy the material completely? Should we say bye-bye to this shoe's integrity?

Thankfully, nothing of that happened! The damage was considerable, though, just not big enough for us to give it a lower grade. So the TWO WXY V5 ended up with a 3/5 on our toebox durability test.

This super padded heel just had a 4-second nightmare when our Dremel went all in to try and ruin it.

The tool ate up the area, leaving an ugly hole behind. We just couldn't give this New Balance anything higher than a 1/5. Look at the picture below, you'll definitely agree with us!

We pressed our durometer against this shoe's outsole to measure its hardness, and it returned 80.0 HC.

This clean result is also average, which means the TWO WXY V5 should offer a healthy mix of durability and grip. But this is just our hypothesis, so let's see if our upcoming tests agree!

As we expected, the rubber outsole of this NB showed us good durability. Even though we tried to ruin it with our Dremel for 22 seconds at 10K RPM and with 3.2N of force, it put up a fight!

Once we were done, our tread gauge measured the damages. It returned 1.0 mm, which is average, so we can't complain!

Playing streetball from time to time in this shoe shouldn't be a problem, but it you overuse it in harsh surfaces like outdoor concrete courts, it might leave your side sooner than you'd want it to.

Its 4.6 mm thick outsole helped us decide if this NB pair was okay to play outdoors. As it's thicker than average, we believe it should last more than a couple of games!

Even though this also adds some extra weight to the shoe, and not just durability, we didn't feel it was bottom-heavy at all. In fact, it was more like we felt quick in it! Nothing crazy, but it's a nice pro to point out.

To keep it short, we were pretty happy with this shoe's traction.

In fact, not being the grippiest of hoopers out there doesn't mean it lacked bite. Like, at all! It offered us constant traction on every court, and if you love it when your shoes squeak, let us tell you the TWO WXY V5 is pretty loud!

Also, we believe its new round and wavy pattern (in comparison to the one the TWO WXY V4 features), as well as the bull's eyes, improved multidirectional traction. We found it grippier than its predecessor on indoor and outdoor courts, and its consistency was just the cherry on top for an already "I feel so safe" hooper!

After analysing this shoe deeply, we can say it offers a whole lot of advantages for a very reasonable price. Nevertheless, it's quite similar to the previous iteration, which we believe you might find way cheaper now that this new version is out.

The TWO WXY V5 is definitely an improvement in comparison with the V4, that's for sure. But, is it worth it to go for the latest version when the previous shoe is so similar and on sale right now? Well, that's for you to decide!

No reflective elements here. If you play streetball at night, make sure to be safe and in lighted areas!

This shoe's tongue is thicker than average at 12.5 mm, which made our insteps feel really comfortable.

It features two foam layers that made sure lace bite was totally out of the way!

A semi-gusseted and nicely padded tongue held our feet in place.

We believe the brand outdid itself with this choice, as it let us have the best of both worlds. First, it offers extra support and containment, which is a key point in this shoe. And then, the fact that the tongue is tied to the upper using an elastic band leaves a big gap towards the upper, which definitely improves breathability.

Instead of having a finger loop or any detail along those lines, the TWO WXY V5 features an extended heel collar.

This piece doesn't only help to put the shoe on, it also offered some extra support to our heels during our wear tests!

We love New Balance's insoles, but if you have a different taste or you need to use your own orthotics, don't worry.

The TWO WXY V5 features a removable insole!