New Balance minimus cheapies? MT330?

Grizzly16

Barefooters
Aug 21, 2012
54
109
33
We stopped by Shoe Carnival the other day and I noticed they have some new balance shoes that look like the minimus line (they have the <=> logo), little heel to toe rise and are on sale for under $40 bucks. But I can't find any good reviews or information about them. They also have a minimus looking road shoe but I forget the model number. Neither of them show up on NB's web site. It is almost like they made a super cheap line for shoe carnival but refuse to admit to the rest of the world that they exist.

Anyone have any info on these shoes? I need a cheap/throw away pair of shoes for a tough mudder coming up (my tootsies aren't man enough to barefoot it yet) and these look like they could fit the bill well enough for the money.
 
I don't know about the 330, but I have seen the MT310(301?) for about 40 bucks. It is basically a mass market version of the highly regarded mt101 trail shoe which was the forerunner of the minimal trail offerings from NB. I've seen a nb630 with the <=> logo on it for about 50 at my local Fred Meyer dept. store, it strikes me as a transitional minimal shoe. The trail shoe would be a great disposable mud run shoe.
 
I have an old pair of minimus that are somewhere on the thin spectrum but not as thin as it gets.
They don't offend me, and they do ok on rough trails, which is the nicest thing i can say about a pair of toe covering shoes lately.
See if they fit your feet. Mine are wide enough at the toe and have narrowish ankles like my feet, so it works.
If you're gonna be in a tough mudder, why not just get a pair to beat up?
 
NB has several "minimalist" shoes that they make for the "redheadedstepchild" stores, "non-running" specialty stores. I know the NB 730 is one of these cheaper minimus type models. I found a pair here locally last week but unfortunately they did not carry my size.
 
Well a quick report. I think today is the last day they are $39 at shoe carnival. I got two pair for the buy one get one half off deal so $60 for two pairs. Worst case scenario I figured they'd be yard work shoes :).

Ran about 4.5 miles to test them out on a mix of pavement, gravel and less technical trail type stuff yesterday. They are definitely not as minimal as the minimus zeros, probably close to the mt10s. Much less cushy than my brooks pure flows so that is nice. The knobby sole on them is not so nice on pavement you can really feel the tread pods. Once I was in grass, mud, gravel that went away. Traction was nice on everything but sandy gravel. But that is the nature of that surface. Sadly no water to test how they drain out yet. Maybe this weekend :)

Over all I'd say they are worth the $30 price as they are relatively light and thin soled. It is nice to have a minimal-ish shoe with a minimal-ish price instead of $100. And they are more tolerable by my better half than my toe shoes. However if I had to pay more than 30 or maybe 40 I'd skip em. Now if I go slog through mud and they drain out great I may revise that now. But I feel like it was a fair price not the amazing deal I'd hoped it to be.
 

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