Having committed to the New Balance 890 for over two years, it broke my heart to discover my favorite running shoe was no longer available. After reading dozens of sensational reviews about this being the best cushioning shoe for a neutral gait runner, I had to try it out for myself. Out of the box, the shoe felt like a dream - support in all the right places, comfortable spacing in the toe box and decent arch support (I run with inserts anyway due to fallen arches).

Unfortunately, I took these babies for a spin and wound up with outer knee pain from hell. I average about 30 miles per week in my New Balance shoes with absolutely no knee pain or quad tension. 5 miles in the Asic Gel Nimbus left my knee screaming and my quads miserably knotted. The Gel Nimbus seemed to cause my foot to overpronate dramatically and ruined my natural running stride. The shoe also runs about a half size small. I normally run in an 8, but these shoes were uncomfortably snug.

My take: Not for use with inserts, and definitely not for anyone that has a tendency to overpronate. I replaced them with the Mizuno Enigma Wave (also a neutral cushioning shoe) and seem to be having pretty good luck.