With its soft cushioning and a comfortable mesh upper, the New Balance FuelCell Prism is a lightweight, cushioned up-tempo running shoe which offers stability support at the same time. 

This shoe is inspired by the popular FuelCell Rebel.

I recently got my hands on the FuelCell Prism, and my first impression of the shoe is that it looks fast, sleek and elegant. Made using a sleek engineered mesh, the upper is breathable, good for keeping my feet dry in Singapore’s muggy and humid weather.

But I quickly realised that that the FuelCell Prism have a wide cutting, when I tried them on. The FuelCell Prism is roomy and there is space for my feet to wriggle and expand during my runs. But for those who have narrow feet, you might prefer to try out half a size smaller.

These shoes have a low stack height, with a 6mm heel-to-toe drop and are light, weighing in at 190 grams for the Women’s US 7.

I have been using the FuelCell Prism on a variety of running sessions, including a tempo session with my running club, Coached, a 21km long run, as well as a bunch of moderate to easy runs. This was to get a good gauge of the shoe in different types of settings to see how it performs.

During my runs with the shoe, the feeling I get from the FuelCell Prism is that it appears to be a cross between a daily trainer and a tempo shoe.

I felt that the FuelCell Prism is more firm than most cushioned shoes out in the market these days.

At the same time, it is just about lightweight enough for me to power through my tempo sessions at a moderately hard pace, and being just responsive and bouncy enough to push me forward at the same time. 

That said though, I would not use the FuelCell Prism for anything faster than tempo pace; they seemed to lack the ‘pop’ when I tried them out for interval training, and that made them feel a tad flat on my feet.

On the other end of the spectrum, the FuelCell Prism retain just enough cushioning to protect my feet from the repetitive pavement pounding on my longer runs. 

By the end of my 21km run with the FuelCell Prism, my legs and feet had the normal aches and stiffness, but I didn’t feel horribly knackered, and in fact, I had recovered enough to run again within 24 hours.

Being a stability shoe, the FuelCell Prism is supposed to have a firmer wedge of FuelCell under the inside of the ankle that is meant to prevent your ankle from collapsing inward when landing in your stride.

For me, I don’t require stability shoes during my runs, but the wedge of FuelCell is something that I didn’t really notice when testing out the FuelCell Prism, unlike some other stability shoes where their stability features are more obvious. And this is a good thing.

I would recommend the FuelCell Prism to runners who are looking for a lightweight yet cushioned shoe with a touch of stability features, for their tempo sessions and long runs.

Depending on what your running needs are, it is not a shoe that suits every runner, but if your needs align with the FuelCell Prism has to offer, then it definitely has the potential to be a fantastic shoe for you.

The FuelCell Prism is available in Singapore at New Balance stores islandwide as well as online and is retailing for S$189.