Daily trainer · Neutral · Road · 7.5 oz · 6mm drop · 29/23mm stack
Discontinued — we no longer see this shoe in stock. The New Balance Fresh Foam Beacon v2 replaced it
How it ranks
The New Balance Fresh Foam Beacon is one of the strongest daily trainers in our data. Comfort and cushioning are its strongest sub-ratings. Durability scores well below its other sub-ratings. The rating rests on 32 runner reviews and 2 other rated shoes in the Fresh Foam Beacon product line.
Confidence
How settled the rating is against every other rated shoe. A shoe can rate high on confidence with relatively few reviews of its own when its product line has a long record and external ratings from retailer sites agree. Confidence will score low when we have few ratings or when runners disagree.
Confidence
97/100
“This shoe is extremely durable. I've put over 50 miles between dirt, roads, and trail in this shoe, and the only true wear on it is the dirt it has accumulated.”
“My legs are surprisingly not destroyed, as they have been in my other trainers (NB 880 v9, Brooks Ghost 11, Saucony Kinvara 9) after slightly shorter runs.”
“Light enough for speed work and repeats, durable enough to last a reasonable workload of daily wear, and comfortable enough to wear during long runs.”
“It is responsive when you need it, but cushioned when you want it.”
“I love that it's a super light weight shoe and provides plenty of cushion without having to go for a clunky heavy shoe.”
“The cushioning is ample but not intense/overwhelming. It's also not as soft as I expected but that's not a bad thing, it means the shoe feels a bit more responsive.”
“Beacon is cushioned, but somehow still has good road feel and feels responsive.”
“Excellent blend of cushioning (particularly in the forefoot), flexibility, and bounce.”
“I've tried for years to find a shoe that I can put on, go for a run, and not think about my feet. These accomplish that.”
“They are super comfortable at slower paces and have amazing energy return, making them good at faster paces/harder efforts.”
53% 20/38
No offers available
Affiliate links included. They never affect our ratings.
Prices updated daily. Last checked Sep 14.
Rating & Confidence vs. other shoes for sale
Each dot is one rated shoe for sale, placed by its rating and by how much evidence sits behind it. Shoes toward the top right are both well rated and well established.
50
60
70
80
90
100
25
50
75
100
Better Shoes Rating
Each dot is one version of the Fresh Foam Beacon, placed by its rating and release year. The gold dot is this shoe.
Release year
2020 · 2 reviews
93 Excellent
62 Confidence
2019 · 14 reviews
99 Exceptional
97 Confidence
Fresh Foam Beacon This shoe
2018 · 32 reviews
98 Exceptional
97 Confidence
Sizing and ride details at a glance.
5/5
Overall
Anonymous runner · Jul 11, 2019
35 mpw training for a half marathon
5/5
Overall
Anonymous runner · Jul 10, 2019
50 mpw training for a marathon came from the New Balance Fresh Foam Zante v4
4/5
Overall
Anonymous runner · Jul 7, 2019
40 mpw training for a half marathon came from the Nike Air Zoom Pegasus 35
4/5
Overall
Anonymous runner · Jul 5, 2019
30 mpw training for a half marathon came from the New Balance Fresh Foam Zante v3
5/5
Overall
Anonymous runner · Jul 3, 2019
65 mpw training for a half marathon came from the New Balance Fresh Foam Zante v4
Other shoes worth considering.
See how this shoe compares to others like it.
