New Balance Women's WW665 Walking Shoe

First the disclaimers - two pregnancies caused my feet to go up 3 sizes to a size 12, which is hard to find in shoes. I wear New Balance because they come in my size and they run true to size in most cases. Specifics about my feet: I oversupinate, meaning my feet roll to the outside when I walk, I strike first with my heel, push off with my toes and have a high arch. Now onto the shoe. Look wise I find it striking. Grey mesh with silver accents and pink detailing as you can see in the picture. Very subtle and nice. I don't particularly care for the white laces and will likely switch them out for grey. New Balance calls this shoe "cushioning" and it does have a thicker liner than other pairs I have gotten but it also feels like it has fairly good support. At first glance I thought it didn't have any arch support but when I removed the insole I found it actually does, it's just low and long. Many New Balance shoes as they get larger in size seem to misplace the arch -- it actually gets smaller and further back toward the heel to where I can't wear the shoe because the arch is hitting my heel. That is not a problem in this shoe -- the arch is actually situated correctly. I am not sure if the size increase or if the widening of the arch is by design, but it means when I wear it, the arch does not hit my arch at all. I will remedy this with inserts and I don't know smaller sizes would have this same problem. It has breathable mesh sides, to the point that you can see light through them when held up to the light. This would make them great for summer and indoor workouts but chilly in the winter. I also think this will impact durability in a negative way, but that is just my assumption. They are a walking shoe with a flat bottom, no sculpted tread here which makes them feel more stable to me. On their website New Balance describes this shoe as having "Walking Strike Path technology" which "combines with the full ground contact sole unit specifically to help stabilize and guide the foot through the walking gait cycle." I can say, it has impacted my stride, which should reduce foot pain long term. When I walk in these shoes, my entire foot seems to hit the ground in tandem, instead of just heel or ball of the foot. I have normal width feet and these fit me perfectly in width and the toebox. There is a slight amount of slippage in the heel but enough to cause blisters, and the back of the shoe hits my heel just slightly in the back, again, not bad enough for blisters or pain but enough that I know it's happening. Once huge thing for me is a pet peeve of mine. Many of the New Balance models have started a silly thing where they only stitch the middle of the base of the tongue to the shoe, meaning when you put the shoe on the tongue will fold in half and you have to take the shoe off, reposition the tongue and try again. No one has been able to explain why they do that. I am happy to say that in this model they do stitch the entire base of the tongue across so no hassles with tongue placement here. All in all, I am thrilled to have found this shoe and excited to get back into my walking routine!

This was my third pair of this style of New Balance walking shoes. The second pair was purchased at Amazon.com but after relatively light wear for a few months I noticed that my big toe was beginning to wear through the mesh fabric in the toe area. This did not happen with the first pair. After communicating with New Balance who recommended I seek to resolve this with Amazon.com, I took their advice and did as suggested. Amazon.com was great about it - offered to replace these shoes even though it was beyond the timeframe where returns would be honored. I was anxious to get this resolved and get a new pair as I was leaving the country for a vacation and knew that a good pair of walking shoes would be absolutely essential for the amount of walking I would be doing. The replacement pair arrived and unfortunately, two of the "rivets" (whatever you might call the small metal rings that are around the lacing holes) were loose and not securely fastened to the lacing hole. So far this has not been a problem, but I am thinking that New Balance should upgrade their quality control to make certain that this type of error does not get through to the customer. I have a hard time getting fit properly in shoes and tend to stick with the "tried and true" but may need to consider a different model or brand next time I need walking shoes.

My favorite New Balance style is no longer available WT461RP. These look similar with mesh fabric where the bunions press. If I do not add an insert, the shoe would be too high on my ankles. I tried a full insert (Miracle Foot) like I used in my old shoes, but it crowded my toes. I had to switch to a 3/4 insert (Triad by Profoot) to get toe room. My left bunion has a little rubbing because the right and left shoes are not quite sewn the same. The left shoe is a bit narrower across the toe. My old NB's had a narrow heel, while this model has a wide loose heel, which is surprising. The heel flops a bit. I agree with reviewers who say you need to add arch support. That said, the shoe has the wonderful NB foot bed that bounces back making walking easier. And there aren't many shoes good for bunions. I feel the quality has dropped since my last pair and the fit is sloppy. The shoe looks nice except for the wide heel in back and the pink is for a good cause. Definitely not 5 star, but bunions come first

Maybe I'm getting old- ok I'm definitely getting old. But I'm at that point in my life where I've found a brand of shoes I like and I don't even look at any others. New Balance is my brand. They've never let me down, and these shoes are no exception. These shoes are perfect. Most shoes give me blisters for the first few wears. No blisters ever with New Balance shoes.The uppers are mesh and breathe easily. It's almost like having air conditioning for my feet. They're very light and comfortable for a long walk, the gym, or just a general go-to sneaker. The mesh sides do not block water or mud from coming in. They're definitely not good for the winter or rainy days.I love the sturdy but flexible sole on this shoe. I have kind of a funny stride. I usually crack the soles after about 6 months, but have not had a problem with these shoes. They're not a non-skid sole, but as mentioned above, you don't want to wear these shoes in rain or ice.I like the look overall. They're a nice shade of grey. The accents are a very shiny silver. They're light reflective, but perhaps a little ostentatious.