The Hierro V8 is a trail shoe designed to be both comfortable and accessible. Like New Balance’s 1080 road range, the Hierro is a shoe built for ticking off miles with a good balance of comfort, stability and cushioning.
The foam used in the midsole is a modified version of the Fresh Foam X found across many of the brand’s trail and road shoes. In this iteration of the shoe, it’s slightly softer than the previous version to improve the ride.
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Hey Tommy from the Run testers in this Video I'm going to be doing a first run Review of the New Balance hero 8 I know I'm going to get some comments on my Pronunciation of that word so please Feel free to comment and tell me I'm Wrong right let's dive in and see what I Thought of this shoe on our first [Music] Run the New Balance hero V8 costs 140 or $149.99 it weighs 283 G or 10 oz for men In size 8 and the drop is 6 Mm the Aro V8 is a trail shoe designed To be both comfortable and accessible Like new balance's 1080 road range the Hero is a shoe built for ticking off Miles with a good balance of comfort Stability and cushioning the Pham used In the midsole is a modified version of The Fresh Foam X found across many of The Brand's Trail and Road shoes in this Iteration of the shoe it's slightly Softer than the previous version to Improve the ride the outs soole features A healthy layer of vibrant rubber to Protect the midsole and improve grip on Varied conditions with 4 mm lugs to Tackle lighter Trails the upper is a Breathable lightweight close-knit Engineered mesh that aims to protect the Feet from off-road obstructions without Being unnecessarily Bulky so the fit me in the hero very Very comfortable I'm a size 8 in the UK
I found this to be nice and roomy in the Forefoot plenty of space um very Comfortable in the midfoot as well um This does come in I think two different Uh extra width sizes so wide and extra Wide so it's a shoe design for everyone And I'll talk about why that is in a Minute uh one thing I would say about The shoe is that I did have a problem With the tongue the tongue's uh not Gusseted so it does move around and the Combination with these laces these laces Are really really hard to get a lock Down fit on the shoe so the combination Of the the tongue and the laces can make It a bit fiddly to get a lock down fit Once you've got it it's quite Comfortable but it is there's a slight Problem with the design of of those Parts of the shoe other than that I Would say stay to your sze in the hero 8 so I've actually done a couple of runs In this shoe so far the first one was a Very very muddy run um up in Cumbria um And what I found about it on that run is That it's not a shoe designed for Extreme conditions so the mud on the run That I was on was really really slippy It I really needed some big lugs um to To tackle that this shoe is not a shoe Designed for extreme ground so if you're Running on Sloppy boggy ground slippy Ground this is not a shoe that is Designed for that this is very much a at
Entry level road to Trail shoe it's very Very much a um a shoe that can be used For road as well it's probably a shoe That is designed for people that maybe Are looking for their first Trail shoe They're not going to be doing really Tough terrain they're not going to be Ring up Mountains they're not going to Be going through really muddy um Horrible Cross country type stuff it's really Just for those sort of gravel paths Those Harden Forest paths things like That where you do want some grip on the Outsole and you do want a bit more Protection but really it's a shoe that Can quite comfortably just go to Road And you you would think it's a road shoe Basically it's essentially the road Equivalent to something like the 1080 uh V14 something like that where it's a Shoe that is meant to be very balanced You can um pick it up quite easily it's Very comfortable to wear all those sorts Of things um the other I did in this Shoe was a uh 10K which was around Hardened Forest paths basically it Wasn't very muddy it was dry um and it Was AB that's the perfect place to use It essentially um there was it was it Was just a little bit um worse than Running on road basically so it was a Little bit softer I didn't need a lot of Traction on the shoe for all that and it
Felt fine it felt very comfortable felt Like a roacho delivered like a roacho And did the job very nicely so what I Would say about this shoe is that uh I Tested the 7 out last year and what I Said about that shoe is that it's it was Quite a clunky shoe it it it doesn't Feel like a particularly versatile shoe Um it felt quite heavy and the midell For me was quite dense and I didn't Really enjoy running in that shoe that Much it was comfortable it was fine you Could use it for running most people People would be very happy with it but The problem for me is it just didn't Really just didn't feel like it gave me A lot it didn't feel like I could pick Up the pace in it um and it just felt a Bit clunky on the feet The um version 8 is a big Improvement Actually the foam that has been used Freshx has been tweaked and it feels a Bit softer feels more comfortable the Shoe actually feels a little bit more Nimble on the feet for me so it's Definitely an improvement on the Previous version of the shoe other Things about the shoe I like the upper I Think it's quite comfortable and Breathable I didn't have any issues with It out on the Run um the outs soole not A big fan of um the outs Sal is fine but As I said not for anything that is Technical or or or muddy or wet or
Anything like that um and I would say That it's not a particularly versatile Shoe either it's more versatile than the Previous version of the shoe but it's Really a shoe that's designed for people That are hitting light Trails basically And some of that is probably on road Probably the best example would be if You are a park Runner and you run on Some Park runs that maybe go Offroad a Little bit maybe on paths that are not Particularly well designed for using Roaches this would be a good option it Gives you a little bit of extra grip on Those surfaces um but really on the road Sections you're going to be feeling like You're running in a 1080 or something Like that it's very much A Accessible Rot to Trail shoe that most people will Get be very comfortable with probably Say that if you are a runner and you've Never run on Trails before and you're Thinking oh maybe I need something for Some light Trails this would be Absolutely fine maybe you've run in the 1080 before or something like that and You want a trail version of it that you Can use that is nice comfortable has a Similar fit to that shoe and does all The things that you expect from that Shoe and you'll probably running a Little bit to the trails as well this is A great shoe for it very comfortable and Um just does the job of a road shoe with
A little bit more Grip okay so my early verdict of the New Balance hero V8 is that it's a solid or Rounder rotor Trail shoe it's not going To amaze anybody who is doing tricky Terrain it's not a design for people who Are maybe season Trail Runners that are Running long distances and want Something that's going to have loads of Grip on it loads of really hard Reinforced sections on the shoe to Protect them from the outdoors and the Debris that can come into the shoe it's Really for those people that are Dabbling in Trails maybe just want Lighter stuff on nice hardened Trails Forest paths um public foot pth things Like that where you're not going to need Any extra assistance from the shoe soon As you start doing that this shoe is Probably going to cap out and you're Going to find it a little bit slippy on Um wet mud or anything like that um and The grip just isn't really good enough For any technical terrain but anything Other than that like those Park runs Where you might be running Offroad at Some points lovely shoe very comfortable Delivers like a road shoe you're not Going to be surprised some trail shoes If you've never run in a trail shoe Before may feel a bit weird um the out SS tend to be a lot harder than the mids Sols um so they can be a little bit hard
To get your head around if you're not Used to running on uh running with trail Shoes this is a great entry level Version of a road shoe that you can get And you go yeah I know how to run in This very comfortable um and it does the Job it does have a vibr mount sole as Well uh the vibr out sole is good at Gripping on wet ground but not wet Slushy ground so if you're running a Long pass or foot pass or anything like That and it's a bit wet it's a nice Level of grip for flat surfaces Basically that are wet but it's it's not Designed for doing anything technical at All that's it from me on this first one Review of the new balanceo V8 thanks lot For watching don't forget to like Subscribe click that little B and if you Going to catch below you can R into our Podcast which comes out a couple of Times each month thanks lot for watching Catch you next time [Music]
