New Balance FuelCell TC Running Shoe Review

Josh reviews the New Balance FuelCell TC running shoes, New Balance’s spin on the popular carbon plate concept to turbo-charge your tempo training, interval runs and race day performance.

A durable outsole creates a protective platform to increase the lifespan of your running shoes and shield the ultra-soft foam from wear. The carbon plate provides an explosive, springy feel that lives up to the speed-driven engineering without compromise to the shock-dampening on impact.

The FuelCell TC offers a touch more depth in the heel counter compared to other competitors in the lightweight racing category for a competition-ready fit. A breathable yet supportive upper provides a secure lockdown to meet the demands of your high-speed training.

Check out the full review with transcript below.

Hi guys, Josh from Sportitude here and today it's shoe review time. We're going to be reviewing the New Balance FuelCell TC. It’s a lightweight carbon plate package for the New Balance family and there's a lot to talk about with this shoe.

If you're looking to throw a new shoe into your running rotation for your tempo runs, interval runs and even race day and you've been considering something with a carbon plate, let's talk all things FuelCell TC. Without further ado lets get stuck in.

With all my shoe reviews we like to talk all things outsole, midsole (which is where the magic happens in this shoe) and upper as well as profile the foot type that should be considering this shoe.

Runner Profile

I'll talk about the foot type that should be considering the FuelCell TC. The multi-directional carbon plate inside the midsole essentially provides a very propulsive feel underfoot in combination with the very soft foam that New Balance are using under the foot.

The horizontal stability is almost thrown out the window. If you're an overpronator, neutral foot type or you’re a supinator you could potentially consider this running shoe. However, with that multi-directional carbon plate execution in this midsole, expect a wider range of movement and a higher velocity of movement.

If you haven't had your foot profiled or know whether this shoe could be OK for you, you've got to be careful buying a shoe that has that speed set-up or engineering. If you're not used to having a wider range of movement and a higher velocity of moment, it may be something you need to potentially get checked out before purchasing a shoe like this.

Outsole

Let's talk about the outsole first. One thing I'd like to touch on is there is a lot of surface area in this shoe from the midsection forward and you can see the blue outsole. It’s a nice hard-wearing outsole and it needs to be hard-wearing because the foam on this shoe is very soft. It has to protect that foam from wear.

If it wasn't blown rubber for example, it’d wear through quite quickly and you wouldn't get that stable feel and purchase with the ground. New Balance have executed a really supportive and protective outsole through that forefoot which is great.

There's a little bit of rubber in the back in the heel to give that heel strike area more protection as well. I'm a midfoot runner and I like that I have an outsole that gives me a really good protection from the ground.

Midsole

Coming through to the midsole. Wow, there is a lot going on! We've got a multi-directional carbon plate from the back of the shoe, right through to the forefoot. New Balance are not the first brand to do it but they have done it very well in this shoe.

I love how it feels underneath the foot. When you're moving inside this shoe, you get that explosive propulsive feel out of your toe-off.

The carbon plate works on a multi-directional platform. Therefore, when you hit the deck and come through from midstance to toe-off you get that really springy feel through the front half of your foot. That's how the carbon plate works inside this shoe.

In conjunction, it’s encapsulated in a very soft foam. I wouldn’t say the actual foam that New Balance has used is likened to the ZoomX from the Nike range, but it's certainly not far off that fit and feel. It’s very soft underneath the foot which is fantastic.

You get that combination of dampening when you're hitting the ground with a lot of force running at speed, but also that spring and propulsion that you want to get out of a race day shoe which is where the carbon plate comes in and does its magic through the front half of the shoe.

Upper

Let’s talk all things upper next because the upper of this shoe is pretty supportive for this concept. The heel counter is a little bit deeper than a couple of the other competitors in this space and it’s also a little bit more supportive.

What I like about this shoe is when I put it on, tie it up and go for a run, I know I've got a little bit more protection around the back of the heel and I think it needs to be there.

A forefoot and midfoot runner can use this shoe and even a heel striker. Because you have that higher velocity of movement through mid to toe-off, you want the back of your heel to be nice and secure. It's locked in well with that construction of heel counter in the back half which is a good thing.

Coming through to the midsection of the shoe itself, you've got a nice support and lockdown through the upper execution. Again it’s the same concept as you go through to the forefoot.

Due to the movement that can potentially occur through this shoe, you need to ensure that the top of your foot is going to sit on the platform, which is the asset of this shoe. If this shoe wasn't supportive up top you'd be moving around, lose form and you wouldn't get the benefits of that multi-directional carbon plate. Where it sits you get that real nice lockdown from heel, midfoot and forefoot which is a great feature of this shoe.

It’s really breathable as well. I've had a sample of this shoe for about six months now prior to actually coming to market which was very lucky, so thank you the team at New Balance Australia.

I found on those hot days it was fantastic with a lot of ventilation and breathability. I could change it up to with thin socks or slightly thicker socks for those longer days and it felt very comfortable.

There you have it guys, the New Balance FuelCell TC. As I touched on, it’s New Balance’s crack at the carbon plate phenomenon that is happening right now. I like it, it's a very comfortable shoe and it could be one that you could consider at home.

If you've any questions or comments on this running shoe or any we've covered recently or would like us to cover something, please contact our Sportitude shoe experts. If you haven’t subscribed to the Sportitude YouTube channel already, please do so. We love to bring all information running shoe related to you at home.

Until next time happy running and we'll see soon.

FEATURES

• Support: Neutral        
  
• Upper: Mesh      
  
• Midsole: New Balance FuelCell    
  

• Width (women): B (standard)         
  
• Width (men): D (standard)