New Balance Ellipse Review | Feels Like the Old 1080

New Balance decided there was something missing from the line up and the New Balance Ellipse is here to fill that hole. Does it hit the mark? Who’s going to love it and who isn’t.

New Balance did a great job building on top of the tried and true New Balance Fresh Foam X. It did not come across as eager or showy. It just felt settled, and that ended up being the part I appreciated most.

A lot of daily trainers try to win you over right away. They want to feel extra soft, extra springy, extra fast, or push some obvious hook that makes them memorable in the first mile. After a few runs, I stopped waiting for it to reveal some hidden gear and started appreciating how easy it was to just go run in.

The Ellipse is not trying to reinvent the daily trainer. It is trying to make everyday running feel smoother, easier to wear, and easier to keep on your feet before and after the run too. For a lot of runners, it delivers.

This shoe is best for easy runs, recovery days, and the in-between miles that make up most training weeks. I also found myself grabbing it for longer walks and casual wear when my legs were cooked, which honestly says a lot about the kind of comfort it offers.

Coach Amanda: I agree that my initial impression was this should be a fast shoe and that makes the initial experience disappointing. It’s not built to be a speed workout shoe. Once you get past that and use it for what it’s designed, then you can easily fall in love with what the shoe offers.

New Balance Ellipse Overview

The first run in the New Balance Ellipse v1 felt quieter than I expected.

Not dull, not dead, just quieter.

The Ellipse v1 feels like New Balance taking what they already know about daily trainers and packaging it in a way that feels a little sharper and more wearable with a bigger, more modern heel drop.

On the run, it made the most sense for easy days and recovery runs. That is where the ride felt most natural and where the shoe felt most complete.

It is soft, smooth, and easygoing without drifting into marshmallow territory. I would use it for steady daily mileage too, but I would not choose it on a day when I wanted a lot of energy back or a shoe that pushed the pace for me.

I put just over 100 miles into the Ellipse across easy days, recovery runs, and the kind of tired-leg mileage that usually exposes what a daily trainer really is. It felt especially natural on the kind of miles I do most often in San Francisco.

What stayed with me most was how natural it felt moving through mixed city terrain. Slanted sidewalks, downhill jogs, curb cuts, little changes in footing, brief stops, awkward step patterns.

It handled all of that without getting weird. It never felt mushy, never felt twitchy, and never had that over-rockered sensation where the shoe seemed to want to move faster than I did. It just met the run where it was.

What makes it stand out is not raw performance. It is how easily comfort, control, and style all live in the same shoe without one part overwhelming the others.

It feels believable as something you could wear before the run, after the run, while traveling, or on a day when you want one pair on your feet for hours and do not want to think much about it.

Coach Amanda: Having tested so many NB shoes, I’m always curious about the need and goal of a new shoe. I’ve enjoyed running in this daily trainer once I decided it was really more of an easy day shoe that maxes around 10. But I think where it will probably shine in terms of choice: lower price point and a little more stylish than many other NB shoes.

I’ve seen a number of reviews call it springy and all I can think is you must not have run in any carbon or super trainers. It’s not springy. It’s not hard or uncomfortable, but it’s a daily trainer and a shoe that is going to feel good for all day on your feet.

The shoe looks good. It has a cleaner silhouette than most daily trainers and feels like one of the rare cases where a brand actually put effort into making a running shoe look wearable without watering it down. The best colorways make that easier. This is the kind of shoe where the design adds something real to the experience instead of just supporting a launch story.

New Balance Ellipse Fit

The fit is easy to get along with.

The upper has a soft engineered feel that makes the shoe comfortable right away, but there is still enough structure that it never feels loose on foot.

Through the midfoot, the hold feels secure and even. I never got the sense that this was a shoe that needed much fiddling with the laces to feel right.

The toe box is not cramped and not especially roomy. In the standard fit, I think most runners will find it true to size.

If you like a little more room up front or tend to swell on longer efforts, the 2E option is a real plus and makes this shoe useful to a wider group of runners.

The shoe never felt sloppy when I had to move laterally a bit or adjust around people, but it also never felt stiff or overbuilt. A really nice middle ground for a cushioned daily trainer.

The tongue is padded enough to feel substantial without becoming bulky. It stays put and does its job. The heel feels finished in a good way too. There is enough padding and hold back there that the rearfoot feels secure, but not rigid or overdone.

New Balance Ellipse Feel

The best word for the Ellipse underfoot is steady.

The Fresh Foam X here feels tuned for comfort first. It is soft enough to take the edge off tired-leg running, but it does not cave in.

There is some rebound, but I would not call this a lively shoe. The feeling is more about smooth compression and a controlled release than any kind of noticeable bounce.

That distinction matters. Some daily trainers want to entertain you. This one is more interested in being agreeable. It feels grounded, forgiving, and easy to settle into without asking much from your stride.

I never thought of the Ellipse as light or fast. I thought of it as the kind of shoe that quietly makes an ordinary run feel a little easier to live with.

What I liked most was how little the shoe reacted when the run got a bit messy. On tired legs, especially later in the week, I never felt it fighting my mechanics, forcing me into one stride pattern, or getting awkward when my form slipped.

It just stayed level-headed. That matters more to me in a daily trainer than some big first-step wow factor.

If you run a lot in more energetic daily trainers, the Ellipse will probably feel calmer and a little more muted. That is not a flaw. That is just the shoe’s personality.

New Balance Ellipse vs New Balance 1080

Coach Amanda: As a long time New Balance 1080 lover, I’ve watched as the shoe has gotten softer and changed with each iteration. For those who missed the slightly firmer feel of some past models, the Ellipse steps in to say “I got you”.

The 1080 is always listed in our best cushioned running shoes because they really have that max cushioned feel to cover long miles. The Ellipse is a good shoe, but more is just the regular daily trainer category, but with style. Style was a keep thought component in this launch.

• 1080 now uses Infinion foam which is lighter and boucier
• Ellipse feels like older models of the 1080, plenty of cushion, but not as max stack
• 1080 easier to pick up the pace a little more
• Ellipse has a lower stack height, so less cushion at 38mm
• Ellipse has 8mm heel toe drop to the 1080 6mm drop

Similar Shoes to the New Balance Ellipse

We’ve tested a few great daily trainers that feel similar, but different based on the brand fit:

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• See all our cushioned running shoe reviews

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