New Balance 796 v4 review

In our opinion, the New Balance 796 v4 is worth considering if:

• you are just starting out with racquet sports and don't want to invest a lot of money
• you want a basic tennis shoe with decent performance on all fronts
• you have medium-to-wide feet and need an accommodating toebox
• you play in cooler weather

Even as a budget-friendly shoe, the New Balance 796 v4 has some pretty tough competition in its price range. Thus, we urge you to consider a few more alternatives before going for this NB shoe.

Here are some of them:

• ASICS Gel Dedicate 8 offers better breathability and is an ounce lighter
• NikeCourt Vapour Lite 2 has better breathability, weighs less, and is impressively more durable
• ASICS Gel Challenger 14 is a bit more expensive but offers next-level stability and durability

We are very glad that New Balance added more cushioning to the 4th iteration of the 796 because its predecessor certainly lacked in that department.

Seeing 28.4 mm on the calliper, we can confirm that the 796 v4 has just as much cushioning as the average tennis shoe. And it offers a sufficient amount of impact protection too.

Measuring the shoe's forefoot stack returned a reading of 20.9 mm which is also on par with the average.

Having this much cushioning for the balls of our feet helped us stay on our toes throughout the whole session.

Based on our calliper measurements, the difference in stack heights in this NB shoe is 7.5 mm. This is not too far from what is stated by the brand (8.0 mm).

It is a very balanced offset which, in our opinion, is going to feel at home for the majority of players.

We are pleasantly surprised with the brand's choice to replace REVlite foam with FuelCell for the 4th version of the 796. The latter treated us to a notably softer and livelier ride as we dashed to the net and back.

Pressing a Shore A durometer against the shoe's cut-up midsole, we got a reading of 25.5 HA. This is 18% softer than the REVlite foam of the v3 and is 12% softer than the average tennis shoe midsole.

The cushioning is topped off with a padded insole. Our calliper shows 4.7 mm of thickness in the heel which is standard for a tennis shoe insole.

Our feet were happy with the toebox space that the New Balance 796 v4 provided in a D medium width.

The widest part of the forefoot showed a calliper reading of 101.3 mm which is on par with the average we got in other tennis shoes in a men's US size 9.

The rounded toebox shape also contributes to the in-shoe space of this New Balance shoe.

Our calliper showed a wider-than-average reading of 81.0 mm of toebox width in the area of the big toe. That's a few millimetres wider than average.

We didn't expect a lot of support from a shoe under £100 but the New Balance 796 v4 surprised us in a good way.

Quick cuts and crossover steps felt nice and stable in this NB shoe and its steady base also gave our feet and ankles sufficient push-off power.

But even though we felt a step up in stability over the v3, we can still think of even more stable shoes in the same price range. The TPU Wingwall of the ASICS Gel Challenger 14, for example, offers a lot more side support than the raised foam walls of the 796 v4.

And yet we should give those foam walls some credit for generating enough stability in the 796 v4.

The shoe was almost unyielding in our manual test. And because of how hard it was to twist, we rated its torsional rigidity with a high score of 4 out of 5.

We should also mention the shoe's very sturdy heel counter as it did a great job locking our heels and ankles down in place.

You can see from our manual check how resistant the whole rearfoot is to squeezing and pushing. We readily gave it the highest stiffness score of 5.

Last but not least - platform width. It contributed to the overall stability of the NB 796 v4 quite significantly.

The midsole flares out on the lateral side showing 114.6 mm in the widest area. It is even a few millimetres wider than average.

Checking the widest part of the shoe's heel, we were amazed to see almost 10 mm more compared to v3!

Now the widest part of the heel clocks in at 92.5 mm offering a broad and reliable base to lean on.

Playtesting the 796 v4, we could feel its resistance to bending even though there was no shank inside the midsole! Such stiffness added a touch of snap and stability to the ride of this NB shoe.

When we measured the force it takes to bend it, our gauge indeed showed an above-average reading of 37.5N. That is 20% stiffer than the average tennis shoe.

As a budget-friendly shoe that doesn't carry a tonne of features, the New Balance 796 v4 doesn't weigh so much either.

Our scale recorded 12.2 oz (346g) in a men's US size 9 which is slightly lighter than a typical tennis shoe.

Is this a tennis shoe for winter?

Because we have no idea what else could explain the total absence of breathability in the 796 v4!

Not even a tiny streak of smoke passed through the shoe's toebox in our smoke-pumping test!

We saw no hints of ventilation pores or perforations in the upper transparency test either.

What's more, a closer look at the fabric through our microscope revealed the most tightly woven material we've ever seen on a tennis shoe.

Maybe this New Balance shoe could work for chilly weather but it is otherwise a pretty suffocating experience. Thus, we gave it the lowest breathability score - 1 out of 5.

Most tennis shoes use large overlays made of rubber or TPU to protect the inner side of the forefoot from toe dragging.

However, the NB 796 v4 chose a more targeted approach by placing a rubber patch in the most high-wear area.

That piece resisted our sandpaper test rather well. Even though we applied the Dremel at 10K RPM speed for 22 seconds, it didn't burn through the entire patch. For that, we give the shoe's toe guard durability a high score of 4.

But we are still in doubt that the exposed mesh and foam around this patch can stand up to aggressive sliding.

Our next test shows that the shoe's mesh won't survive regular brushes against outdoor courts.

Our Dremel dug into the fabric quite easily, cutting almost all the way through. But because the material showed some resistance, we bumped up the toebox durability score to 3 out of 5.

The inner lining, on the other hand, is a very frail one. Only 4 seconds of exposure to sandpaper destroyed the shoe's interior mesh completely.

Thus, we couldn't rate the heel padding durability of this NB shoe any higher than 1 out of 5.

Disclaimer: In this review, we are testing the Padel version of the NB 796 v4.

According to specs, the New Balance 796 v4 uses NDurance rubber for the outsole. But the more NB shoes we test, the more we find that this compound can vary from one model to another. Especially when you are comparing a £90 shoe (NB 796) and a £140 shoe (NB 996).

In the case of 796 v4, the hardness measurement showed a fairly standard durometer reading of 84.0 HC. However, its wear resistance doesn't seem to live up to the average...

Drilling the shoe's rubber outsole for 22 seconds at 10K RPM speed, our Dremel burned a 1.2-mm deep dent.

This is deeper than what we normally see in tennis shoes. But let's not forget that the 796 v4 is also cheaper than the average.

The fact that the NB 796 v4 packs an extra millimetre of rubber in the outsole (5.1 mm) gives us hope for its decent durability.

Disclaimer: In this review, we are testing the Padel version of the NB 796 v4.

Even though the shoe's grip wasn't the tackiest, we found it solid for a beginner/recreational player whose playing style is not very aggressive.

We believe that the below-average retail price of the New Balance 796 v4 is fair and the shoe offers great value for money. It is a solid entry-level option that's over 50% cheaper than the average tennis shoe.

The tongue and collar of this New Balance shoe are nicely padded. We recorded 7.0 mm of padding in the tongue which is a common amount of foam for tennis shoes.

The padding gets even more generous in the collar of the shoe.

There are no heel tabs or finger loops but it is easy to get the 796 v4 on as it is.

More affordable tennis shoes rarely gussets on the tongue and the 796 v4 doesn't have one either.

This resulted in some minor tongue shifting during side-to-side movements.

The shoe's insole is easily removable.