New Balance

Fresh Foam X Hierro Series

Overall

#43 in

Trail Running Shoes

according to Reddit Icon Reddit

Sentiment score62% positive
56
12
22

Top Pros

Top Cons

Last updated: Aug 9, 2026

Reddit Reviews

Reddit IconAaronParke
9 months ago

My New Balance Hierro V7s in goretex are good on mixed terrain. A little flat perhaps and not great in full on mud. V9 is well cushioned but soft compound soles wear fast on tarmac. I'm 25% tarmac and got 350kms out of a pair. V7s are much longer lasting but getting hard to find. I think you'll struggle to get a consistent reply for you Goldilocks shoes.

10 months ago

Hi all, Just wanted to ask for an assessment (opinion) on the sole wear on my NB Hierro V9s after 285km...

10 months ago

Cheers. Yes, road to trail then road to home. They're wearing pretty quickly but there's some life left. One issue I have with this shoe is I 'fall off' them on occasions, they can twist under my foot. I'm considering the Gel Trabuco as a replacement when they're done even though I've been a long term NB fan.

10 months ago

Yes, resoling is an option. I find that the upper on these is less snug. On tramlines the shoe feels like it rolls whilst my foot remains upright. It's disconcerting. My older V7s were a completely different shoe.

10 months ago

These have more cushioning but less 'feel' for the trail I sense.

10 months ago

Midsole is holding up well. They ride really nicely, very good job of cushioning rocks and stones.

9 months ago

My New Balance Hierro V7s in goretex are good on mixed terrain. A little flat perhaps and not great in full on mud. V9 is well cushioned but soft compound soles wear fast on tarmac. I'm 25% tarmac and got 350kms out of a pair. V7s are much longer lasting but getting hard to find. I think you'll struggle to get a consistent reply for you Goldilocks shoes.

9 months ago

I haven't, no. Looks like a similar shoe to the 7. The 9 is a new beast entirely.

Reddit IconAsianthunder17
9 months ago

try getting some V8s off amazon if they have your size. i found the 9s to be much narrower than the 8s. my feet overhand my 9s and the 8s fit like a glove.

9 months ago

try getting some V8s off amazon if they have your size. i found the 9s to be much narrower than the 8s. my feet overhand my 9s and the 8s fit like a glove.

Reddit IconBillyBobGTS
7 months ago

Altra Olympus are great shoes, but it's worth noting that theyre zero drop, which if you're not used to it will feel really strange and likely give you pain in your calves due to them putting more pressure on your lower legs. If you want that Altra feel but aren't used to zero drop it's worth looking at the Altra Experience Wild which have a 4mm drop Personally, I love my New Balance Hierro v8 and my Nike Pegasus Trail 5, which are very do everything shoes and are really comfortable

Reddit Iconbuckbuckwhatup
8 months ago

Have love every version except for the v8 where the lack of tongue loop and laces stink. Haven’t tried v9 yet but ordered a pair and just arrived, and will once my v8’s wear out. Encouraged by the tongue loop on these.

Reddit IconChango13
7 months ago

I'm a mega shoe nerd and have tried a lot. I can't recommend Hokas or other high stack shoes on our trails since you come across several different types of topography in the same hike. The high stack runners, I find, are way too unstable and wobbly... great if you're just going in a straight line on flat trail... but not so great for lateral movement and scrambling. My favorite all around trail runner has been the New Balance Hierro 7... which sadly is all done and they've turned into yet another wobbly high stacker with the 9. Recently I tried a Brooks Caldera 8, and I gotta say it's pretty much spot-on the money. Really solid stability and traction for gravel, rock, incline up and down, and lateral motion. Great cushioning without being a high stacker. Nice ample toebox. They're like wearing nice comfy tanks on your feet, and fit our PHX trails almost perfectly. Shame they're so ugly, lol.

Reddit IconDifficultShoe8254
6 months ago

The ones that fit me well. I really enjoyed the old NB hierro V5 and V6, then they made them narrower and not using them anymore. Asics shoes fit me really well, used lots of pairs of trabuco and some Fuji lite for speedwork and short racing. Deciding between mount to coast T1 and Sportiva prodigio pro for this year's long objetive in high mountain technical terrain, 10 hours or so. If anyone has both, will appreciate an insight.

6 months ago

Hierro V8 is usually my choice. If I was to buy maybe mount to coast H1

11 months ago

I do a lot of technical terrain, I have the zegama 2s in my rotation. Don't take them for that purpose. They are bouncy and nice running, but they are too soft for technical terrain and scrambling for me. I use them as recovery and easy trail shoes. I like Asics trabucos for that kind of high mountain activities, but 13s upper can't handle rough terrain. Maybe you could find the 12s on sale, or just go with the 13s and be ok with getting 400km more or less from the upper. Asicsgrip is in my opinion on par or better than megagrip. I have just raced 10 hours and a half on them in high altitude with 3.600m + and 4.000m -, lots of scrambling and some running parts. Ending with "fresh legs" and no pain. Mafate speed 4s are in my opinion better than speedgoats for technical terrain. Great traction in every surface and stiff enough while still confortable for long efforts. I was a long user of hierro V5 and v6, the V8 was a "road shoe", the v9 is made very narrow now for my shoe but it looks nice. Tomir 2.0 could be another option and also prodigio pros, but I haven't try myself this ones.

10 months ago

I have run 10+ hours on trabuco 13s. In very technical high altitude terrain. Wide, cushioned enough without being soft so they work well on technical terrain, rock plate, and one of the best grips in the market. The upper is quite poor, in 250km in rough terrain the shoe looks awful, but still in use. Asics sent me a replacement pair. I tried lots of pairs looking for that long technical race. Nothing really was so confortable so I ended with my trusted trabucos. Maybe a v11 or v12 will work better in high mountain races, more durable upper and better lug pattern for rocky terrain, but less runnable. Pairs I tried, and ditched for not being wide/confortable enough to my foot: Mafate 4 speed, Topo MTN racer 3, Sportiva akasha 2, Salomon génesis (and slab genesis), Hierro v9, Zegama 2 (wide enough, but doesn't work for anything really technical, I use them for easy runs), Tomir 2.0 (weird sensation with the insoles)

Top Trail Running Shoes on Reddit

1
Mount to Coast H1

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85% positive of 177 users

Versatile road-to-trail, but struggles on wet, technical downhills.

2
Altra Lone Peak Series

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70% positive of 484 users

Spacious toe box, but cushioning and durability are polarizing.

3
La Sportiva Prodigio Series

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74% positive of 219 users

Great technical grip, but unstable for some, with sizing issues.

4
Nike Pegasus Trail Series

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75% positive of 223 users

Versatile for non-technical trails, but poor on wet, technical.

5
Mount to Coast T1

Mount to Coast

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87% positive of 84 users

Lightweight, cushioned; but lacing and underfoot protection are issues.

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