what's up guys and good afternoon. We have a beautiful day, as you can see here in sunny Florida. And today, I wanted to dive into a much-requested comparison. I think this is the last of the four versus four comparisons. Maybe we got to do the Speed 4 versus the NOA Blast 4. But today, poolside Edition, we are going to do the New Balance Rebel V4 here. This is one of my favorite daily trainers of the year. I think the Brooks Go 16 might be coming for the crown though. I know you guys are going to sleep on that shoe, but that's a really awesome shoe. Anyway, in the much-hyped daily trainer segment, we got the New Balance Rebel V4. The design language on this thing is sick. It's muscular. It's got the sculpting. It's got a wide base. It's got some good rubber coverage, nice soft foam once it breaks in. Overall, another solid shoe from New Balance, who has been absolutely on fire over the past, I want to say, year, year and a half, ever since that SC.

Trainer V2 dropped. They have just been or the SC Trainer V1. They've just been on a tear. I didn't love that shoe, but I know a lot of you guys that shoe. Now on the other side, here we got the A6 Nova blast and take a look at this thing. This is pioneering the super max stack daily trainer Vibe into 2024. It's got 42 mm of Stack back here. And not just that, this thing is chunky, right? It's got the wide base. And while the New Balance had good width, this thing has massive width. It's like a monster truck. This is like a Ford Raptor, you know? This is like the Ram TRX with the amount of width that it has with the trampoline pod out here and with the stack you're getting out here on the back. This thing is an absolute tank. It is great for just cruising and crushing through some miles. So much requested comparison but two different takes on The Daily trainer segment in 2024. What's up dude? All right, hold

on Open Door. All right, as I was saying, two completely different takes on The Daily training segment. Lightweight, built up, streamlined Overkill, soft and firm. So, this is a really interesting matchup, guys. Let us dive into [Music]. So, first up, I want to dive into the midsole technology. And specifically with this comparison, it's actually not just the technology, it is everything about the midsole from how it's shaped to how much foam we're getting. And this is something that you don't see in the numbers a lot of the times, but if you look at these two shoes, it's not just the stack that's different, but we can start there, right? New Balance, this guy has 30 mm in the heel, 24 mm in the forefoot, 46 mm drop. The Nova blast 4 here, this is 42 in the heel and 34 in the forefoot for an 8 mm drop. So, 6 mm drop, 8 mm drop. Both of these are pretty friendly for a variety of foot strikes. I love that 6

to8 monor drop range. But the biggest thing here is how much foam we are getting. And if you could measure the cubed, or yeah, what is it, a cubic inch volume of foam here, the NOA blast might have twice the amount of foam just holding in my hand. It is so much wider. I can barely grip my hand around this thing. I feel like I'm palming a basketball when I hold it like this versus The Rebel here. It is wide, but it's not as wide. So you're getting a little bit less foam here in the rebel. And if you look at the width here, both of these are wide shoes, but the Nova blast is just so much wider. It is pretty wild how much w you're getting here on the Nova blast. So with that, both of these are going to be pretty stable shoes. That's what I loved about the rebel is it's a little bit of a lower stack daily training option in 2024. Most of the daily trainers that we see that

are moderately cushioned. For example, the Pegasus, the 880, even the Vomero, they're up at 35 mm and above. This guy is still sitting at 30, which is nice, whereas the Nova Blast, with that 42, you're getting a lot more protection and with this width, good stability here as well. So, both. These are nice stable daily trainers. The quantity of foam is going to be a little bit less and the rebel a little bit easier to turn over the legs here because of that. Now, to the foam compounds themselves here in the rebel and guys, both of these brands are doing something that I don't like, but they're doing the named foam. So, this is the fuel cell foam in this shoe. It is 80% Eva, 20% Pea. In the SC V4, it is 100% Pea. So, I'm not even kidding. I might start a petition and send it to Elizabeth Warren that brands have to stop doing this because I think it's bad for consumers. And if there's one thing I don't like.

it's things that are bad for consumers. So, if you're going to have different foam compounds, you got to call them different names. So, this is the fuel cell Eva. I might take a sharpie and right 80% Eva right here because that's what it is, and it's a nice compound. It takes about 30 miles to break in to soften up. We got a decent amount of should have put the trigger warning there, but we got a decent amount of flexibility. I apologize for bending it, but I can assure you guys my metat tar souls are doing fine. And once, yeah, once you get that 50-50 mile mark, it softens up. This guy here is also an Eva blend. A6 is even less transparent than new bons. At least they told us what goes into the foam. So, in the New Balance, you got the Eva peba. With this guy, we know that it is likely an Eva blend. We don't know what other polymers are in there. I can tell you so they're calling it The FF blast plus. It's kind of hard.

to see up there, I can tell you it's different than the Nimbus FF blast. Plus, this is a firmer ride, a little bit firmer than what we get in the rebel here, but it does a nice job at providing some impact absorption. And with this massive stack here, there is absolutely no ground feel. So, a little bit of a firmer ride, but paired with this wider base, this midsole gives a lot of support. This is probably the best, hands down the best neutral shoe I've ever run in for stability. Might even be a little bit better than the S endorphin shift 3, even though that shoe has a plastic heel clip out in the back. But both of these shoes are very stable. Now, another thing that these two shoes share, what they have in common with the contouring of the midsole foam, is the Caboose. And this is a feature that I've been loving recently in these shoes. It adds a little bit more stability, again for heel landing, and it also adds some impact absorption. So, the

Caboose is where you see the foam jet out extend off the back. You can see the Nova blast extends here probably about an inch. Rebel it might be in half an inch. And what that's going to do if you land on your heel, it means you still get some foam even if you're mashing down here. It's also good for going downhill, even if you're more of a midfoot to 4ot Landing Runner. And both of these have that feature. It was pioneered by Hoka, and what's interesting is in the mock 6 Hoka actually did away with that and smoothed out the back of the shoe. But both of these guys have the Caboose, which is a nice feature. And now I showed you the flexibility of the Rebel. If we take a look at the midsole here in the Nova blast 4, you're going to get a little bit of flexibility up in the forfoot, but overall it is a more rigid structured platform. This thing is designed to not give you any sort of GRA

feel not give you any sort of natural feeling ride. This is a shoe that is super built up designed to serve as a layer in between your legs and that harsh asphalt so that you don't have to be connected to sometimes that jarring impact of the payment. So that's going to be a key difference here in how these two shoes approach the midsole. This is firmer, more built up, designed for protection. This guy has some less volume, a little bit of a softer feel. You get some more ground feel in there and you get a little bit more bounce from that peba content in the Eva. And now heading up to the upper, let's start with the rebel V4 'cause I'm holding it in my hands. This guy has a nice engineered mesh upper. It's very lightweight. I'll get both of these on my feet in a minute and do a fit and feel comparison, but what I can tell you is you got a decent amount of width, very breathable shoe. I was using this for a walk with the family.

earlier today, and it was great out here in the Florida heat, so no complaints. Difference is here on the Nova blast cannot see the same. This is almost a t-shirt type of material. It almost feels like a cotton. It is kind of hot and combined with the amount of padding that you get back here, this is not going to be the best summer shoe. This upper is extremely comfortable, one of the most comfortable uppers. The rebel V4 is not. I can't rant and rave about the upper. It's almost like nothing is there. It's not comfortable. It's not uncomfortable. But what you're getting in the Nova boss tier, this is a super comfortable fit. It's just a lot of material, and it's going to be pretty hot upper for any warmer days. And especially if we compare the padding out here in the back, you can see, and hopefully we can see the rebel here. Yeah, you can see on the rebel, it is pretty thin, not a ton of padding. Nova blast is again chunky. Man, this is just a

chunky shoe, and in the back let's see very structured heel counter here. In the rebel, you got a little bit more flexibility. I had a good heel lock down in both of these shoes, but I tend to not get bothered by that sort of thing. I know some of you guys out there are more sensitive, so if you do want a more flexible heel counter, that's going to be the rebel. Nova blast completely locks you into place, and again, that's a key difference between these shoes. Nova blast here is going to be much more built up, much more rigid both in the middle and also in the upper, and the rebel is going to be a lot airier, a lot lighter feeling, a lot less structured feeling in the upper, although having the wide base in the rebel, which is almost as wide as the Nova blast here, that's still going to provide some good support as you are running along here in the rebel. And then one last thing, guys, laces. The Nova blast laces are very soft new B.

laces are more standard. I don't mind the soft, stretchy laces. I know it bothers some people though, so that is something that's important to note. And now I want to do a little bit of a fit and feel comparison and get these on foot. All right, guys. So lacing up the Nova blast and the rebel here, and both of these are 10.5 US men's. And I believe for weight, the Nova blast 4 came in around 290 G. Rebel came in, I believe, around 220 G. And because both of these have about 100 Mil on them, this is a really good comparison because, oh, and I'm not even in the frame. And because both of these have about 100 miles on them, this is a really good comparison in terms of the feel 'cause they're both broken in the same amount and are conformed to my foot. So first thing, man, this Nova blast is an extremely comfortable shoe. It's not necessarily built as has that they hype up the trampoline pod they hype up, or I

hype up how much width you get from the foam, which is one of the key features. Look at this from the top. It flares out a ton, but this is a super comfortable shoe. On step in, and it's a shoe that I could have on my foot for 4 hours, 5 hours, and I think if I were to choose a non-plated shoe to do a 4-hour long run, if I were training for an ultra, and I were doing a ton of aerobic-paced miles and out there for a long time, I would definitely have the NOA blast in my rotation. It's stable enough for at the end of those runs when you're feeling super beat up. It's also light enough so you don't feel like you're slogging through a ton of miles. The material of the upper on the Nova blast here is a lot more comfortable, whereas the fit on the rebel gives you a little bit more room in the toe box. Now, neither of these are super narrow shoes, but if you have a

wider foot. The Rebel here is going to be a better choice. However, I wouldn't be making my decision on these guys based on how wide the toe boxes are because they are such different shoes, with the NOA Bloss being a more built-up shoe, the Rebel here being a more lightweight, fast shoe. So I would be making my decision based on those. And in terms of how they feel underfoot, I've actually really enjoyed getting some walking miles in the Rebel V4 here. I went for a 90-minute walk this morning, and this guy, it felt great. The foam has just enough little bounce to make the walk fun, but it's not too much to feel like you're fighting against the foam or it's an awkward geometry that is not the same thing that we're getting in the NOA last year. This is a very awkward shoe to have on your foot for walking. It is a lot of foam. You do get a lot of protection, but not my favorite to have on my foot other than for running activities. So I would get

this guy solely for running, and another shoe for gym and walking, and then lock down on both of these guys is great. I haven't had any issues, and they both passed with flying colors in the three-hour long run. I think I took both of these guys up to 23 miles, and the lock down was absolutely fantastic on both of them. Only knock again on the Nova blast is this horrible rubber here in the wet weather, and you can see out here in the back. Nova Blast has got a lot more padding here, the rebel is way more minimal, and I can just feel this. This is super flexible with the heel counter, and Nova blast is a little bit more rigid, a little bit more built up and padded. And then underfoot, you can feel the difference in foam. The rebel feels half an inch lower to me, whereas Nova blast it almost feels like I'm wearing a pillow strapped to my foot or something. So if you want something nice and built up with some prescriptive comfort, so built-in comfort for your foot.

that's going to be the Nova bust. And if you want something a little bit more connected, lighter weight, simpler fit, that's the rebel V4 guys. Now heading down to the outsole of these puppies, let's take a look at the rebel. First, you got lots of rubber coverage. And so with the rebel here, I have this at about 110-120 mil. You can see we've worn down this back rubber here a little bit, it's almost flat, and we're not wearing into the foam too much, but there is a little bit of damage on the foam here. You can see we've completely smoothed it out right here, so that's more of my heel landing style. But even up in the forefoot and midfoot section, you can see we are getting some wear. So you have a decent amount of exposed foam, it's not in the highest contact areas, and you do get some good coverage, but that is something to note. You are going to see some degradation of the foam within 150-200 miles, so might not be the most durable.

shoe here, but we're going to keep piling on the miles of this guy. Hopefully get it to 200 soon so we can do a full update with some more mileage on the shoe. Now, Nova blast, this is a durable shoe, about the same mileage as the rebel. I think 107, 105 is the official account, something around there, and there's almost nowhere on the rubber. This is going to be an extremely durable shoe. However, the issue with this is the wet weather performance is horrible. The this is the worst shoe, hands down, the worst shoe I've ever used in wet weather. That's not an exaggeration. If you guys watch the comparison I did with the mock 6, and if you didn't go check that out and just go in the description and click the wet weather test for the Nova blast, and this thing is just slipping and sliding everywhere. You can even see here a little comparison versus The Rebel. Yeah, look how much. Look at that, no grip. Little bit better grip here in the rebel. I can feel

the rubber on the rebel gripping a little bit more. This is just, this is a horrible grip. So if you are going to get this shoe, you're going to need a backup for wet weather. The rebel is a pretty solid shoe. I took this out in the rain. I put it, I think I did a wet weather tier in my socer endorphin Pro 4 marathon time trial review. I think I put this in tier two or yeah, I think I put this in tier two right up there with the sakon. This is a pretty decent rubber. It's much improved from the rebel V3, which was also a bad rubber, not as bad as this guy here, but the rebel V4 is a really solid amount of rubber and pretty good for rainy running, which we have plenty of in North Carolina. It's been completely dry and gorgeous other than the pool water here in Florida since we got here. So have not had a chance to test the rubber, but if it does rain again, maybe I'll take these puppies out for a little.

another wet weather test. So in terms of durability, I think we're going to see a little bit more durability out of the Nova blast here, but the rubber performance is going to be better on the rebel. I also tend to get a little bit better durability out of firmer foams, which is what we're getting in the Nova blast here. If you look at this little push test, you can see this foam is a little bit more solid than what we see in the rebel V4. I can get my thumb pretty deep into the rebel V4. So diving into the ride here, that's what's going to characterize the ride of the Rebel. It is a much softer experience. You got a nice little bounce, there's a little bit of a rocker, and it's not super noticeable, but watch this. If I drop the rebel here, you can see it rolling back and forth, and that's a good way to test a rocker. If I drop the Nova blast, it just sits like a brick. So we got a little bit of a rocker here in the

rebel. It is not super noticeable, and the reason for that is because this is a thinner stack. What characterizes the ride is how much compression you get from this foam, so you get a lot of ground feel even though it is 24 mm up here, which, that's not nothing, that's a good amount of protection it should be, but because of how soft this foam gets after it's broken in, it doesn't feel like that much stack. So, a lot of ground feel on this guy, a nice soft riding foam, and a little bit of bounce and pep from this toe spring, this little rocker, and the pea content in the foam. And as I said, this is going to take about probably 30 mil to break in to soften up, but once it does, this is a shoe that completely conforms to your foot. And you can see we got some nice creasing in the midsole here. And when I did my 100-mile week test with this shoe, I completely fell in love with it after 3 or 4 days.

of running in it straight because it felt like an extend of my foot, and so that if that's what you're looking for in a daily trainer in a speed shoe, you want something that you can feel comfortable lacing up for any type of run. You don't want a ton of protection, you want to feel the ground a little bit more, but you want that lightweight feeling where it's super easy to turn over the legs. That's going to be what you're getting out of the Rebel. It is a really comfortable shoe that keeps you connected to the ground, that gives you control over the shoe. The shoe doesn't feel like it's doing the work of running for you. That is completely opposite to what we get out of the Nova blast. I compared this in my 100m review to a Xanax for your foot. This numbs the pain, this numbs any sort of ground feel, and that's because you're getting more stack here in the forefoot of the Nova blast than we even have in the heel of the

Rebel right 32 mm here versus 30 mm here. So, this is a much more protective shoe. If you're thinking about getting a daily trainer that leans more towards relaxed running recovery runs, that would be the Nova blast. If you want a daily trainer that leans more towards faster runs, that would be the rebel. That's how you can think about this in a simple way. If you want something that's more for slow runs and long runs, that would likely be the Nova blast. And if you want something that's more for short and fast runs, that would be the rebel. Here, now I did also take the rebel here up for a 23m long run. I did tons of 90-minute runs in it, and it performed decently well for those types of efforts. And if you want one shoe that does everything and you're only going up to 90 minutes, this could do that. But I think most of us runners out there would prefer a little bit more comfort, a little bit more protection for those longer miles, especially if you're

hitting 20 miles consistently. I would likely pair this with a plated training shoe, something like SC Trainer V2 or Boston 12. This is a nice shoe. It's great for everyday running, but with how many competitive options we have on the market today for longer runs, for marathon Race Pace runs that are going to last 2 hours, 2 and 1/2 hours, this would not be my first choice. Because I look at both of these shoes like tools. And this on on the left side here, the rebel V4, this is a great tool for building strength, for having a lightweight shoe where it's easy to run fast, turn over the legs. And a shoe like the Nova bus 4 is a good tool for being protected, feeling comfortable when we're feeling beat up and need a little bit more impact absorption for our joints to help us continue to hit higher mileage and reach higher for more goals and running higher mileage. I've identified as the number one best thing that we can do for our training. And that's really

where the Nova blast 4 comes into play. The ride of this being so protective and so comfortable means it's a shoe that I can reach for, no matter how I'm feeling, especially if I'm just going to cruise for an hour, hour and a half, hour 45 minutes on the treadmill. This is a Workhorse for that style of running. It doesn't make me feel like I need to run faster than necessary, and that's one of the key differences with this shoe and the super blast, which is another shoe that I've been putting a lot of miles in recently. Every time I lace up the super blast, that feels like I need to run 15 seconds to 45 seconds per mile faster in order to get the most benefit out of it. This guy, I can go whatever pace and it feels great. I've taken this down to my steady Zone, which is probably about 7:20 to 6:50 pace, and that's the max where I really enjoy it. I don't want to go faster than that all the time in this.

shoe again because this is a tool for feeling comfortable and protected, but if you are a bigger Runner, if you prefer a more structured shoe for those types of runs, then that's what this could do for you. Now for long runs without race p B, this is also a great shoe. I had this on my foot for a 3-hour long run, and because of all this heel stack you get out here, it was an amazing shoe for that. So great long run Choice, great daily trainer for more relaxed runs, and overall an awesome shoe if you want something to keep you feeling protected in a period of high mileage training. So in terms of who these are best for, I would choose the rebel if you want something light and fast. I would choose the Nova blast if you want something protective for long runs. And if we're thinking about price, both of these guys are coming in at $140. And so if you want a rotation of shoes, these would actually be two pretty good choices to pair together where you can use the rebel here for short

workouts. Even gym. Then for any longer runs, that's where the Nova blast comes into play. So, both of these are awesome shoes. It's just going to come down to, do you want something a little bit faster, or do you want something a little bit more protective. As always, I appreciate you guys watching. Drop all your questions about these two in the comment section below, and I'll be back tomorrow with another video. All right, guys. I'm lacing up the rebel here 'cause I'm about to go out. And one last thing I forgot to mention was that some people have reported an issue with the midfoot arch in the rebel. I haven't had that happen to me, but some folks have reported a little bump there. But there's also been a solution that somebody surfaced where if you switch out the insole here, and if you have another new volun, you could do it. But if you switch out the insole with a removable one like what we got in the Nova BL here, you could flip that into the rebel, and that should take care of.

the midfoot arch. So if you have the shoe and that's an issue, or if you're worried about having a flat foot and getting the rebel, you can switch it out and you should be good to go. I don't feel that same bump here in the Nova blast. I can feel it a little bit now that people have mentioned it in the rebel, but it's not too bad for me. I don't think I have flat feet, but just wanted to let you all know that there is a solution there. All right, messing around.

New Balance Rebel v4 vs Asics Novablast 4

New Balance Rebel v4 vs Asics Novablast 4