Brooks Addiction Walker Vs New Balance 928 – And The Winner Is …

Let’s be honest, there’s no walking or running shoe that is suitable for every walker and runner.

What’s beautiful is most stores, like Amazon, make it easy for you to test shoes and just ship them back for free if you feel they are not made for your feet.

One of the best walking shoes ever that have hit the shelves are the Brooks Addiction Walker and the New Balance 928. And since you googled “Brooks Addiction Walker vs New Balance 928” I know you know that they are one of the best, if not THE best walking shoes.

Before we carry on, the New Balance 928v3 is one of the top New Balance shoes for Plantar Fasciitis.

Brooks vs New Balance Quick Comparison

Both the Brooks Addiction Walker and the New Balance 928 are great for walking and standing all day. The 928 is lighter than the Addition. The Addiction Walker offers stronger motion control properties than the 928, but the latter offers better ankle support. While the 928 is good for walking and light running, the Addiction Walker is only good for walking.

Related: Brooks Glycerin GTS vs Regular

Brooks Addiction Walker vs New Balance 928 

Let’s talk about what type of person they are for, their features, and what makes them great. After that, I’ll tell what shoes are closer to my heart.

But first, if you’re into running, here’s a recent comparison review of the two best Brooks running shoes: Ghost 10 vs Glycerin 15.

Brooks Addiction Walker Walking Shoes

Available for women and men

The Brooks Addiction Walker is one of the best motion control walking shoes in the market today.

The Brooks Addiction is great for you if:

• you overpronate (your foot rolls inward),
• you are on your feet all day (standing on tile, concrete …)
• you have flat feet, high arches, wide feet,
• you’re committed to making your 10,000 steps a day,
• you have bad knees, arthritis (knees, toes and feet), hips and lower back pain, vein problems,
• you had knee replacement,
• you have Plantar Fasciitis, heel spurs (it’s extremely comfortable and provides instant relief)
• you have Achilles Tendonitis,
• you have bunions and hammertoes (the toe box gives your toes enough space to splay)
• you have Morton’s Neuroma
• you have peripheral neuropathy
• you are a heavy person,
• you are diabetic

What makes the Brooks Addiction Walker one of the best walking shoes

Believe me, you will say “these are the best walking shoes I have ever owned”.

Recommended by most podiatrists, the Brooks Addiction Walker has a stiff outsole with stabilizers on both sides.

This is designed to control overpronation and balance issues and alleviate any discomfort caused by flat feet.

This shoe is extremely comfortable and won’t leave your feet sore, painful, or throbbing at the end of the day.

For all-day comfort for overpronators, this is your go-to-shoe.

Related:

Best Athleisure sneakers

Key features

• Provides the cushioning found in high-end running shoes.
• Gives superb arch support that works beautifully with any type of custom insoles. A lot of customers confirmed this walking shoe saved their feet from hard plastic custom orthotics and helped them enjoy the comfort of a great shoe.
• Has a smooth and supple full-grain leather construction for added protection from the elements.
• Has a padded tongue and collar.
• The inside is very soft and has a removable insole with a nice deep heel cup.
• The midsole is BioMoGo recyclable midsole and features Hydro Flow Technology (enhanced cushioning, better stability of the foot, excellent shock attenuation)
• The outsole is designed to absorb shock and stabilize the foot on uneven terrain.
• It’s very durable and provides excellent slip-resistance on wet surfaces.
• It also has a high-density carbon heel with flex grooves (maximum motion control and flexibility from heel strike through toe-off)

Sizing

The sizing tends to run a bit small. Go for a half size larger, and one size wider.

New Balance 928 Walking Shoes

Available for women and men

The New Balance 928 is great for you if:

• your feet roll inward (overpronation)
• you have Plantar Fasciitis, heel spurs
• you are diabetic
• you have Achilles Tendonitis or Morton’s Neuroma
• you have neuropathy (comfort, protection, and added stability)
• you have arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis
• you have wide and extra wide feet
• you have fallen arches, high arches, high instep
• you have bad knees, knee replacement
• you have bunions and hammertoes (exists in wide widths and allows toes to spread out)
• you have hips, ankle, and lower back pain, lumbar spine issues
• you have leg length discrepancy
• you’re committed to making your 10,000 steps a day,

Also great if you:

• work on concrete floors all day
• stand on your feet all day
• are a heavy person (it holds up pretty well)

What makes the New Balance 928 one of the best walking shoes

The built-in technology makes the New Balance 928 great walking shoes to correct pronation, overpronation issues, the gait cycle, and keep the foot, ankle, knee, and spine lined up so evenly.

Even without orthotics, this walker’s mechanics and motion control technology make sure stress, leg and back fatigue, and shock are eliminated allowing you to stand for extended periods, walk farther and more comfortably.

The 928 has generous cushioning and amazing arch support which promotes a more natural gait.

This is why a lot of customers confirmed their Achilles tendons, back and legs feel wonderful at the end of the day and especially first thing in the morning.

Sizing

The 928 is available in sizes and widths that are so difficult to find.

Features

• Very comfortable out of the box
• Built on an SL-2 last (wide forefoot and narrow heel area)
• Has a rocker sole (makes it easy to transition from heel strike to toe-off)
• Has a surprisingly effective Roll Bar technology (a dual support system that contributes to shock absorption, corrects gait cycle and controls overpronation (rolling inward) and supination (rolling outward)
• Features ABZORB mid-foot cushioning for additional comfort
• Has a deep and generous toe box (great for bunions, hammertoes, and custom orthotics)
• Provides full-length support across the entire foot
• Very supportive and torsionally stiff through the mid-foot
• Has an excellent fit and a comfortable cushioned footbed
• Has a great built-in arch support which provides terrific stability

Cons

• Referred to as “old man shoes”
• Poor traction on ice or snow

So “Brooks Addiction Walker vs New Balance 928” comparison above does confirm that both shoes are great.

No one can say that one shoe is better because people have different feet and different objectives behind purchasing a certain shoe over the other.

I feel you’re going to ask “since you reviewed both of the shoes, which one would you choose personally?”

Well, I would personally go for the New Balance 928 because I’m a runner and New Balance is the only company I trust most besides Asics.

So if you’re interested in the New Balance 928, I’ve recently reviewed the last version, the 928V3, and it’s awesome. Here we go …

New Balance 928V3 Walking Shoes

The New Balance 928V3 started hitting store shelves about 4 months ago. The version 3 is an update to the version 2.

The 928V2 was short-lived because there was a bit of a chokepoint right at the throat of the shoe. But New Balanced has addressed that issue with the 928V3.

Other than that, there are no major changes to the shoe. So they’ve opened up that throat a few more millimeters just to give that extra depth and width to the vamp right at the throat.

Now, as we move through the V3, I want to just run down a couple of features about this shoe.

Insole

New Balance has upgraded to the polyurethane insole. Before, they just ran out their standard EVA under the foot and now they have polyurethane.

What it does is it just gives us a little more compression resistance.

So over duration and time that you’re in this shoe, it’s just not going to break down as fast. It also gives a little bit of a squishier feel to it.

Lining

The 928V3 still has the Phantom Lining on the inside of the shoe. What that is essentially is you have a bootie on the inside underneath the leather that just covers up all the seams and bridges between the different panels in the upper.

It just gives a really smooth transition reducing the risk of shearing, blistering, or even friction pressure from seams.

There’s a number of New Balance shoes that have that technology, but the 928 is kind of the flagship.

Upper

With the upper of this shoe, you’ve still got New Balance’s Full-grain leather upper.

All through the shoe, you’ve got premium leather that just gives a really nice feel, breathes well, and conforms well to the foot when broken in.

SL-2 Last

New Balance has had this last for years and years. But for those that are not aware, this is the SL-2 fit. SL stands for “straight last” and the “2” for extra depth.

What we mean by “straight last” is a nice straight form to the base of the shoe that features New Balance’s Walking Strike Path.

The other really tangible benefit is that you can fit foot orthotics or braces into this shoe with ease as the shoe has 90-degree walls on the side where they meet the board of the shoe.

Other shoes just taper in and when we put devices into them, they flare out the shoe and totally kind of ruin the fit.

The SL-2 also provides a roomier fit for wider or fleshier feet. So with SL-2, you’re getting a deeper toe box, a relatively medium fit in the midfoot but it is tapering back to the heel.

A lot of people need that extra width and depth in the front to accommodate even wider feet.

It’s also great for bunions, hammertoes, or even thicker devices like custom orthotics. However, they don’t necessarily need that width in the heel and that’s where the 928 is really solid.

Heel Counter

The heel counter on the 928V3 is extended medially and laterally and it’s nice and stiff.

So when that heel and ankle sit in there, you have a lot of stability and control for the heel and ankle.

Midsole

As we come down the shoe, we get into the midsole which is still a compression-molded EVA foam (SMEVA).

The CMEVA is awesome because it provides a lot of compression resistance, gives really good ground reaction, and also has decent shock absorption quality to that.

NB added ABZORB from the midfoot to the toe of the shoe to take the cushioning to the next level.

So if you’re absorbing high levels of impact from aggressive walking or even just standing on your feet for long periods of time, ABZORB can just help to decrease rattling and vibration coming up from the ground from impact.

Rocker Forefoot

New Balance’s rocker forefoot is still alive and well with the V3. It really helps to reduce how much dorsiflexion is required to pick that foot up off the ground for that next ride.

So if you have mobility issues in that first toe, mobility Plantar dorsiflexion issues, ankle joint and even metatarsal issues, this shoe can help to offset some of the lack of dorsiflexion.

The rocker bottom also just provides a smoother gait from that heel off to the toe-off phase.

RollBar

As we move to the hindfoot of the shoe, New Balance’s Rollbar, medial and lateral posting are all still alive and well.

One tasteful update they did from the graphite Rollbar frame in the first version is the fiberglass system.

Basically, what the Rollbar is going to do is provide really stable ground contact for the lateral and the medial aspect of the shoe.

If your foot wants to overpronate or even underpronate, the 928v3 is just going to help to resist that by having that firmer reinforced lateral wall.

It also does the same medially and it will control pronation when your foot is in motion.

That’s really effective for people that do a lot of standing throughout the day when they’re maybe not moving a whole ton but the physics of that body-weight just kind of sits on the outside of the of their feet – Rollbar does a really good job of controlling that.

Outsole

New Balance has had the Ndurance outsole for a really long time but definitely called it out on the 928.

It’s a higher compound of rubber that’s specifically designed for high mileage for athletic walking or for just long periods of wear on hard flat surfaces.

That’s a battle-tested outsole that people have been having great results with for years and years.

The outsole is nice and flat, wide at the midfoot, and has full-ground contact so your foot is very stable.

Beveled Heel

One more thing to maybe mention is the outsole is subtle but it’s a tangible benefit.

The way that New Balance rolls or bevels that heel does help to provide just a slower sort of guidance into that foot flat phase of your gait.

A lot of shoes that come to kind of a 90-degree angle at the heel sometimes give a little bit of a slap slap reaction, but with the beveled heel, it just provides a nice smooth transition.

The 928V3 is a legend that comes at a decent price.

Brooks Addiction Walker vs New Balance 928