Customer Reviews New Balance FuelCell 996v5 Tennis Shoes

Excellent shoes for pickleball. I went from a pair of these to Selkirks and came back to these. Love the combination of stability and light weight. They work great in supporting lateral movement and I have never felt like I am about to roll my ankle in these. Last pair lasted about a year of 4-6h per week of play on HarTru. My only disappointment is that they were out of the black in my size and this yellow is a little strange.

Finally a pickleball shoe that last with daily use on the court

Size was similar to every other NB shoe I have, if anything a little more snug. I don’t like that there is no heel lock for the laces which made it feel a little less secure. The lateral motion it affords is great and a lot better than my more flat NB tennis shoes, which is great for pickleball. The weight is also great and I barely noticed it because it felt so light.

Great for pickleball. Lots of stability without being too heavy. Stylish design that matches either light or dark clothing.

Overall very good. Could be a bit wider, but definitely better than most!

Very nice shoe. It has quality construction and materials. They fit as expected length wise and in the toe box. However, I did not expect it to be so narrow through the middle part of my foot. Although I could have worn them casually without issue, there was a mild squeeze mid-foot which would have been problematic if I had played pickleball in them. They simply were not the right shoe for me, which was disappointing because I really liked everything else about them.

i have wide feet, so thought the EE would work. My toes had good room in front, but pinched from mid foot through the toe box. The arch hit weird....it was there, but not the right spot for me. i didn't even walk around, i knew right away. they looked well made. what's up with this color scheme?

Felt the CT Rally would be a better court shoe for me

I got these to replace an older pair of NB Fuelcell 996v5's that had worn out. I dont know if NB changed the shoes or these were rejects from the factory but there two big issues with this new pair. Firstly they were narrow - typically NB size D (medium width) shoes are wider which is why I buy them but this new pair was narrow. The bigger issue is that there is something about the heel of the shoe that cause my achilles tendon to get sore and hurt while playing in these shoes. The older pair of 996v5 shoes are fine and dont bother my achilles but this new pair causes my achilles to hurt a lot. I've played in the new pair dozens of times hoping they needed to be broken in but that hasn't happened.