New Balance Zante V3 Breathe Review

The Shoe

I’m not going to go into a ton of details about the actual specs of this shoe, as you can look that up here on the Amazon listing. But overall the gist of this shoe is that it’s very lightweight, with a mesh top part that it supposed to keep your feet nice and cool in hot weather. Below I’ll go into details about how I felt about it.

The Fit

I ended up buying this shoe from a local running shop, so I told the professional shoe guy about my running habits, my hopes for a new shoe, and then he watched me walk and examined my foot. The whole 9 yards.

My running habits: I usually run about 3-4 miles twice a week at about a 10-12 minute mile pace, just to get some exercise in.

My shoe hopes: My old shoe was an Asics Gel Electro33, which I really enjoyed. I think it was mainly because of how lightweight it was, and it had a mesh top as well which was really breezy and nice in the LA climate I usually run in.

My foot: According to the shoe guy I have a very high arch, so I don’t need a lot of arch support.

Sizing: I’m normally a women’s size 9 in regular (non running) shoes, so in the past I’ve worn a 9.5 in running shoes since you’re supposed to size up.

Based on those three things he brought me 3 different shoes to try on (I unfortunately can’t remember the two I didn’t purchase).

I ended up choosing the New Balance Zante V3 Breathe because it felt like it was molded to my foot, and hardly weighed a thing. As a bonus it was a lovely turquoise color (they also have it in white).

BUT! The crazy part was—in the end I purchased a size 10.5! The running store guy actually wanted me to try on an 11 as he thought it would be better, but I felt comfy in the 10.5 so I stuck with it. It’s crazy because my foot is normally a size 9, and I’ve never worn bigger than a 9.5 in running shoes. I’m not sure if my feet are getting bigger (I’m 30) or if this shoe runs a bit small, or what kind of craziness is going on. But I felt a little bit like godzilla. So as a heads up—you may want to size up a half or full size from your normal running shoe size. 

How it Runs

Now that I’ve taken it for a spin, I can say that this shoe is fantastic (and it feels great in the bigger size I ended up with). For one, it really is incredibly light. Which is nice both for how my legs feel when I’m running (light as a feather!), as well as for when I travel with the shoe. It also bends really nicely, so when you do stretches you can really move your foot around.

The mesh top is super thin—you can actually see your socks through it if you look close. Which might worry some people about wear and tear—and I’ll have to update this post after a few months to see how they hold up. But I will say my previous Asics Gel Electro33 shoes had similar mesh and they lasted me 3 years (which is longer than I probably should have gone without getting new shoes, honestly).

Value

Of the three shoes I tried on in the store, these were actually the cheapest. The other two shoes were $160 and $120. I probably would never pay $160 for a pair of running shoes, but I’ve definitely paid $120 many times before so was expecting to pay the same again this time. So having a high-quality running shoe come in just under $100 was a really fantastic treat.

When it comes down to it, you never want to skimp on your running shoes as it can cause damage to your legs, feet or knees (so I recommend against buying random running shoes at a Ross or Target). But a local running shop will only sell the best styles, and the salesmen there will help you pick what is best for your foot. Expect to pay $100-120 for a good pair of shoes. That being said, the New Balance Zante V3 Breathe are on the cheaper end of the scale. A great deal!