New Balance FuelCell Rebel v4 Review

The Rebel has been many runners' favorite shoe for years, and this version keeps the same ethos while adding a bit more bounce and versatility. We love this shoe for faster long efforts, and think many runners will find it thrives as an uptempo option they can use most days.

Performance Comparison

Landing Comfort

The star of the Rebel v4 shoe is the FuelCell foam. New Balance's PEBA/EVA blend provides lots of bounce and comfort. Underfoot, the foam feels softer than average, closer to pillowy than firm. In our lab testing, we measured 30 mm of foam in the heel and 23 mm in the heel. The Rebel has an average daily trainer heel-toe drop of 7 mm — and feels like it.

Landings are well-damped, and on firmer surfaces, the PEBA content of the foam is very noticeable. The Rebel v4 has a lot of bounce. We never experienced any bottoming out of the cushioning, something some users reported having issues with in the previous version. In fact, the Rebel v4 quickly became our choice for 90+ minute runs that had faster sections, thanks to the plush feeling underfoot and low weight.

Like many of New Balance's offerings, this shoe has a pretty wide platform; it's actually one of the widest shoes in our whole lineup, measuring 4.9 inches at the widest point in a US men's size 10.5. That wide base helps to stabilize the soft foam and provides confidence on landings. The Rebel is rockered but feels much more natural than some of its competitors. We think the Rebel is a great option for runners who want a natural-feeling, energetic ride with lots of cushion.

Responsiveness

We've already mentioned how bouncy the FuelCell foam feels. At slower paces, it makes for an enjoyable and insulated ride. At faster paces, we found that the resilient foam helps the shoe turn over. When combined with the low overall weight, the Rebel can handle uptempo running easily. While it isn't as responsive as some other shoes with plates, it can hold its own.

For runners who don't do well with plated options — or prefer to log their miles without a plate — this is a fantastic option. We think you could race in it as well, but it wouldn't be our first choice. We'd go for something a little snappier.

We think this trainer works best between threshold effort and easy effort. While it can turn it over faster, the overall softness of the shoe starts to get counterproductive. During our testing, we ran a workout that started at 10K pace and worked down to 3K pace. The Rebel feels fine at 10K pace, but once we started pushing harder, we felt as though we were losing energy to the compression of the shoe. It also felt like the bounce of the foam was just a little too slow for those paces. However, the Rebel has become our shoe of choice for long runs that include faster segments of roughly threshold effort. The takeaway? If you're a runner who prefers a little firmness underfoot at fast paces, and hit those efforts regularly, you may not love the Rebel. Otherwise, we think it's an excellent choice.

Stability

We'd classify the Rebel v4 as a neutral daily trainer, but it does lean towards being unstable. The wider platform does a great job of adding lateral stability. Similarly, the shoe has significant sidewalls that help provide some support. However, there is still a high stack of very soft, compliant foam. Runners who need or value lateral support or guidance will likely find that this shoe can be pretty wobbly.

We also noticed slightly more calf/lower leg soreness after fast efforts in this shoe than in some other options. We chalk that up to two factors — first, the shoe is bouncy, but it's also soft. It requires a little more effort from the lower leg than stiffer, plated options that transfer the load higher up the legs. Second, we do a lot of running on broken asphalt or dirt roads where the surface isn't perfectly smooth. On that type of surface, the Rebel requires a little more energy to control, thanks to the softness and stack height. It's a relatively minor complaint, though. We still love the shoe, and even after testing, we're still reaching for it on a variety of runs and surfaces.

Upper Comfort

The upper is lightweight, comfortable, and breathable. Made of synthetic mesh, it's not quite as pared back as a race shoe, but it's close. The tongue is well-padded and gusseted. Even with having to snug up the lacing on the midfoot, we didn't experience any issues with hotspots during long miles.

We mentioned earlier that the midsole of the Rebel is wide. That trend continues to the toe box, with plenty of room for runners with high-volume feet. We don't think runners with narrower feet will have issues here either — even if you have to snug up the laces significantly, the upper is still comfortable and provides excellent lockdown.

The material around the heel cup is firmer, and while we didn't experience any rubbing during our testing, we think it's worth noting. Also, the shoe definitely runs a touch short in the toe box. We experienced some slight pressure on our big toe, and other users have noted the same thing. Runners whose feet are on the longer side of their shoe size might benefit from going up a half-size.

Weight

The Rebel v4 weighed in at 7.98 ounces per shoe, in a US men's 10.5. That's among the lightest in our lineup, and on par with dedicated racers.

We don't have any complaints about how light this shoe is — it doesn't feel like New Balance skimped on comfort, and we love the performance benefit. There are plusher performance-oriented shoes, but they sacrifice weight for a pretty minimal gain in comfort.

Traction

Thanks to decent outsole coverage, the Rebel v4 has solid traction on pavement. The grip is excellent on pavement and decent on dirt. It does struggle a bit on looser surfaces. The outsole compound bites well in a range of temperatures, and we didn't have any issues on wet surfaces. The outsole also held up well, although we did observe some minor wear on the exposed portion of the midsole.

Should You Buy the New Balance FuelCell Rebel v4?

We think the Rebel v4 is one of the more versatile shoes in our lineup. It's intended as an uptempo trainer, but it's comfortable enough for long runs. We think this is the perfect shoe for runners who are chasing their next PR but are hesitant to train in a plated shoe. Similarly, this shoe would work well as the only option for runners who value speed over comfort. In fact, the only runners we wouldn't recommend the Rebel v4 to are those who need stability and guidance.

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