New Balance Fresh Foam Zante v4 Review

Featuring an engineered design elements built for high speeds including a no-sew bootie enhanced with HyperSkin and not forgetting New Balance’s signature Fresh Foam midsole cushioning, the New Balance Fresh Foam Zante v4 shoes are described as being set to deliver runners with a sleek silhouette and an ultra-lightweight responsive ride.

Set to help you push for your next PR

These shoes, according to New Balance, are designed to help runners to push for their next personal record, with a sleek profile to help you hit your top speeds.

Originally named after a beach in Greece, the Zante series initially burst onto the running shoe scene about four years ago, and each year since then, the model has been continuously updated, with the v4 iteration having been launched just this year.

Received a pair courtesy of RUN Singapore

I received a pair of the New Balance Zante v4 shoes, as part of the RUN Singapore x Oasia Hotel Novena Staycation that I had attended last month.

And since then, I have been clocking some of my training runs with the shoes, as I attempt to step up my running with the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon fast approaching next month.

Clean and simple look

The unit that I had been given had been described as being of the “Gunmetal with Arctic Fox & Black” colour-way. This is basically a dark grey colour with both pink and blue trimmings on the edges.

I thought that these shoes had an unassuming, clean and simple appearance and as such, they will appeal to those who prefer their shoes to blend in well with the rest of their sports attire.

Lightweight

When I took the shoes out of the box for the first time, my impression was that they were rather light, weighing in at 212 grams, and when I put them on my feet, they felt quite soft and malleable, too.

Snug Fit

I found that the fit for the New Balance Zante v4 shoes is quite snug, and hugging around the feet like a sock.

For me, wearing my regular size is still okay and there is still enough room in the toe box for my toes to wriggle around as I have average sized feet.

But that said, I have to stress that I do not recommend these shoes for runners who have wide feet, though.

Running with the shoes

To date, I have clocked several runs of varying mileage with these shoes, and so far I find them to be pretty good.

My longest run had been about 17km and my shortest ones were around 4km. I have done a mixture of sessions with the shoes, ranging from faster runs on the track, to slow, easy sessions.

Responsive and Bouncy

When running in the shoes, I found them to be light and responsive for doing my mid-distance runs, with the shoes performing well enough in terms of both comfort and cushioning.

This is thanks to New Balance’s “Fresh Foam” technology in the shoes, which is described as offering runners a smooth ride that will not weigh them down during their runs at the same time.

I found that the shoes have enough bounce for me to pile on the speed, yet at the same time, I could still feel some cushioning that was protecting my knees and shins from the harsh pounding of the pavement during the runs where I slowed down my pace and heart rate a bit.

Blend of cushioning and speed

In this way, I feel that the New Balance Zante v4 shoes have a rather good balance between cushioning and speed, making them a pretty versatile running shoe that is tailored for both speed work as well as mid-distance training sessions.

Also, I think that these are suitable to be used as racing shoes too, as I feel the lighter weight of these kicks would work in the New Balance Zante v4’s favour, too.

But that said, I would probably not do my long training runs for my upcoming marathon with these shoes, though, as I prefer shoes for such sessions, to have more cushioning and protection.

This is because towards the end of my 17km run, I could feel the snug fit, together with the lack of underfoot padding in the shoes, wearing down my feet and causing some slight aches.

Shoes feel like a second skin

The shoes also stick firmly on to the feet when I am running and do not slip and slide around at all, thanks to the HypoSkin wrap technology, which is designed to act as a second skin and mould around the foot like a sock.

The bootie design and the no-sew upper also contribute to the snug fit of these shoes.

But I am grateful for this, because the last thing that I want especially when I am doing intervals, is for my feet to slosh around inside my shoes and affect my running rhythm.

Breathable upper mesh

The Zante v4 shoes also feel very suited to running in Singapore’s tropical weather, thanks to the breathable engineered Jacquard mesh material in the shoe upper, which had helped my feet to remain relatively cool and dry in Singapore’s muggy weather – even though I had been perspiring profusely.

However if you happen to be caught in the rain with these shoes on, like I had been on a couple of occasions, do take care though, as running on wet ground or puddles may cause the inserts to slide down, so you may have to stop running midway in order to stop and fix it. This can upset the running rhythm.

Overall Thoughts

Nonetheless, as a whole, I would say that I like these shoes and I can definitely see myself using them regularly during some of my track sessions as well as on my mid-distance runs of about an hour plus.