New Balance FuelCell SuperComp Trainer Review: A Cushioned Cruiser With Real Potential

Introduction

Kicking off a new year of shoe testing with a model that has been on the wishlist since its release: the New Balance FuelCell SuperComp Trainer. This is a big shoe in every sense, with a super compressive midsole and a stack that only just fits on a screen. The question is whether all that foam and plate technology adds up to a shoe worth buying.

This pair was purchased with personal funds and tested in genuinely tough conditions, including 24 mph southerly winds that seemed to be head-on for nearly the entire run. Here is how it performed after the first runs.

Who This Shoe Is For

The SuperComp Trainer is built for cushioned cruising rather than fast turnover. At a steady easy pace, around 8:15 per mile even in nasty blustery conditions, the ride felt almost effortless. When legs are tired and fatigued and you need to knock out slow recovery miles, this shoe fits the brief well.

Foot strike is very forgiving regardless of how you run, so almost anyone could feel some benefit from it. On hills, the plate provides real rigidity on forefoot contact climbing, and on descents it improves initial heel contact, though some runners may find the very lively, compressive ride too much on steep downhills.

Main Strengths

The midsole is the headline. There is a carbon plate sandwiched within two pieces of FuelCell foam, and the cushioning has a very trampoline-like quality, like an amplified version of the original ASICS Novablast. If you are a fan of the Nike Invincible Run, this is essentially a plus version of that shoe.

The plate mainly serves to stabilize the ride. Without it, the huge volume of foam would be a squashy mess. That said, the shoe is more stable than the Adidas Prime X, and the ride is more natural even if it is not as nimble or propulsive.

The outsole is arguably the best part of the shoe. Rubber coverage is genuinely impressive, with pods extending far back toward the rear, and traction was excellent on debris-laden paths even in the most testing wet and windy conditions. The outsole setup resembles the Nike Vaporfly series in some ways, but with a more daily-trainer style ratio of rubber.

Build quality straight out of the box is solid too, with no shoddy glue marks, and the shoe is well constructed. The upper mixes mesh and knit materials that are soft to the touch, and the fit is sock-like around a normal-width foot in the standard D fitting.

Things to Consider Before Buying

The upper is where this shoe stumbles. Getting a reliable lace lockdown was difficult on initial runs. Because the plate sits a little below the top layer of foam under the heel, as the foam compresses the upper creeps up around the ankle, and overtightening causes real pain across the top of the foot. A couple of stops were needed mid-run to adjust tension, and a double-stitched area near the final eyelets caused some irritation.

The laces themselves are too flexible for a shoe with this use case, similar to the issue on the Saucony Endorphin Speed 3. Swapping laces and adjusting sock choice may well sort the problem out.

Sizing runs a touch short: this tester went up a half size from the usual UK 11 to a UK 11.5 and found that was the right idea. The shoe is also a pain to clean, with the toe box discoloring after just a couple of runs.

Spec-wise, the sample in UK 11.5 / US 12 measured approximately 48 mm in the heel and 38 mm in the forefoot, making a slightly amplified drop of around 10 mm, more than the 8 mm New Balance suggests, though manufacturer tolerances across sizes could account for the difference. The widest part of the mid-to-forefoot measures about 12.6 cm with a 10.3 cm heel, a slightly wider landing platform than the Prime X. Weight is 335 grams, roughly 11.8 ounces, around 35 to 37 grams heavier than the Prime X.

Buying Advice

Value depends heavily on price. At the 210 pound list price, the shoe would be a disappointment. At the 129 pounds paid on discount, it is a worthy purchase and easy to be happy with.

This is not a versatile all-rounder. The added weight makes it less capable of faster sessions than the Adidas Prime X, and it is more of an Invincible Run competitor than a Prime X rival. If you want it, wait for the discount. As a cushioned cruiser slotting into a marathon training rotation, it earns its place.

Conclusion

The New Balance FuelCell SuperComp Trainer scores 10.3 out of 12 after initial runs. The midsole is substantial and comfortable, the outsole grip is excellent, and the ride is forgiving and effortless at easy paces. The upper lets it down, with tricky lockdown and an odd double-stitched irritation point, and the plate placement in the heel could be closer to the foot to improve things. At a discount, this is a well-built cushioned cruiser worth adding to a rotation.