New Balance Visaro - blue

With the world finally realizing that Warrior would be shifting over to its parent company in New Balance, a collective sense of inquiry arose from the boot world.  Would we see any massive changes?  Perhaps a step away from Warrior’s almost graphic boot descriptions and oddly titled tech additions.  Perhaps a move towards a more traditionalist boot as NB has typically leaned towards in other areas of their influence.  Perhaps even a bigger presence in the sport as NB would be able to lend a significantly larger scope of influence.

While we have certainly found NB to have made some massive steps towards garnering a bigger piece of the market than what we saw from Warrior, the other two questions give us the more interesting tidbits of boot info.  NB has not shifted to a more traditional boot, and is only some R-rated tech descriptions away from pushing the envelope as they had with Warrior.  The Furon and Visaro represented the entirety of the change that NB would be looking for, so, naturally, we decided to see what the boots had on offer.

This is where we found that this new charge from New Balance, instead of being a game changer, might actually just be a case of a brand being off-balance.

After spending some quality time in the Visaro, the world seems to have decided that the new boot is the rightful heir to the original Nike HyperVenom.  While anyone that actually spends quality time in the boot will find enough differences to easily dispel the comparison, the quality has been noticed far and wide within the world of boot fans when it comes to the Visaro.  However, the same can not be said for the Furon.

New Balance Furon

The issues start from the second the Furon found its way into the hands of new users.  Stiff, an odd stud configuration, and with a tongue-less set-up that can only be described as strange, the Furon received none of the early hype that the Visaro was experiencing.  While we are yet to post up our own review here on The Instep, the early signs are not fantastic.  Add in that several of the faces for the Furon at the professional level are STILL not wearing the boot during game day, and you have a boot that is not comparing well to the Visaro. 

For a company only fielding two boots into the market, seeing half of your assets lagging behind the other could spell doom for your immediate future.  No matter how successful the Visaro is, the Furon will definitely need a facelift in the near future if New Balance is really hoping to mix it up with the big boys of footy gear.

Is this a deal breaker for the brand’s reemergence into the soccer world?  Or, is the Visaro just THAT good that it can cover up for the Furon? 

 

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