New Balance CT 820

With the CT820, New Balance has created an all new shoe for 2004. While most other performance shoes in the New Balance line-up are updated versions of existing performance shoes (think CT1001s, CT801s and the soon to be released CT802s), the CT820 adds a new footprint to the New Balance line.

New Balance calls the CT820 an ultra-light performance shoe for aggressive players. With that type of description we just had to let our playtest team loose on the courts for a three-week playtest. Read on for the results.

Comfort

A lightweight and ventilated mesh upper combines with a compression molded EVA midsole for comfort in the CT820s. Finding a comfortable fit on his first wear was Chris. "Right out of the box these shoes felt light and comfortable. The midsole felt a little firm for about the first hour of wear, after which the cushioning seemed to soften up considerably. From then on I felt the shoes offered plenty of cushion for a player of my size (5'10", 160lbs). The shoe offers a very low to the ground feel, which is something I look for in a performance shoe. The uppers offered excellent ventilation and felt very comfortable during the entire test. The D width also held my narrow foot well, and I never had any rubbing or comfort problems from any part of the shoe." Danny found the comfort of the CT820s to live up to his expectations of New Balance shoes. "With my experience, New Balance shoes offer great comfort. These shoes were comfortable on the court as well as off the court. I never experienced any poking, pinching or rubbing. I do think that there could have been more cushioning in the heel, but that would almost be too critical of the shoe. Overall, it was a very comfortable shoe." After adjusting his size, Don also found a comfortable fit. "I should mention that I selected the EE width and went up 1/2 size in length. The shoes were then comfortable right out of the box. In fact, I could have stayed with my normal size 9 if wearing non-THORLO socks, as the shoes seemed to open up a bit. Otherwise, the CT820s were quite comfortable, if a bit less cushioned than other New Balance shoes. Nicely ventilated, too."

Both Paul and Josh found the CT820s to offer a low to the ground feel. Paul said, "the shoes offered a good level of comfort. The cushioning was minimal, but more than acceptable for a performance shoe." Josh added, "the comfort of these shoes comes more from the weight and breathability than the cushioning. These shoes were padded enough to protect my feet from the constant pounding, but they didn't have as much padding as my CT1000s. Because it is a lower profile shoe, the design benefits those who like the feel of being close to the ground and are light on their feet. The cushioning in the heel is comparable to the adidas ClimaCool Feather. The mesh upper gave my wider feet enough room to move around without any rubbing, and the CT820s felt a bit more snug than my CT1000s. I was able to wear my Thorlo socks comfortably, which is always a good test for pinching. The lacing system was also simple and provided a snug fit."

Casey said, "the cushioning was thin, but still supplied ample protection and comfort. The cushioning also seemed to hold up well. From my experience, the New Balance Abzorb Cushioning always lasts for the life of the shoe. The cushioning felt pretty good in both the forefoot and the heel. I would have liked a bit more cushioning in the heel pocket, but it is a lightweight performance shoe and they are not built to have a ton of cushioning. You can even see the cushioning system by pulling the insole out of the shoe. Granville found himself thinking a bit too much about the fit and feel of the CT820s. "As with most New Balance shoes I've worn, my foot feels every corner, seam, groove and edge. On the one hand it provides good "feedback" on how my feet are doing inside the shoe, but on the down side, I don't want to be thinking about my feet inside a shoe when it's break point."

Arch Support

We found the CT820 to fit with a medium height arch support. Each member of our team found the arch to be a good fit for their feet no matter what the height or their arches. Josh, who has a high arch said, "the arch support in the CT820 felt good. I didn't sense any strain in my arches and the shoes were comfortable enough to wear casually before and after a workout." With his medium height arch, Casey also found a good fit. "The arch was comfortable and non-intrusive. I have a medium arch and it fit my foot perfectly." Chris agreed. He offered, "My arches felt well supported in these shoes. I have strained my foot in this area before, and seem to be becoming increasingly sensitive to arch support. I thought the arch support was a good match for my medium height arches and I never felt any undue strain in this area."

Foot Support and Stability

The CT820s feature New Balance's STABILITY WEB technology, which is designed to offer increased support in the midfoot without adding extra weight. An Internal Support System (I.S.S.) also hugs the waist of the foot for additional support. Our entire team found a supportive fit inside the CT820s. Don said, "I enjoyed a snug yet comfortable fit, and I didn't experience any slippage inside the CT820s. Despite being fairly low-cut, I never rolled over or ever felt in danger of rolling my ankles." Also finding good support was Paul. "My feet felt very locked into these shoes. I found them to be remarkably supportive shoes, and they molded well to the shape of my feet."

Both Chris and Danny said they rely on foot speed as a major part of their game and place a high value on the stability and support offered by a shoe. Chris was very pleased with the performance of the CT820s. "I was amazed at how stable the CT820s felt on the court. I really liked the low to the ground feel, and the uppers held my feet very securely. I always felt very confident moving in these shoes and never felt like I was going to roll an ankle. The support and stability offered was simply excellent." Danny found an equally pleasing performance. "The foot support and stability was great. My foot was held firmly and there was a nice snug feel within the shoe. There was no slipping or sliding within the shoe, which is a good sign that the shoes provide the required support and stability. My ankles did not feel like they were going to roll over. The lower cut design of the CT820s felt great and I never felt like I needed additional support for my ankles."

Granville found the CT820s to firmly support his feet. "As touched on earlier, I can feel the perimeter of the toe box all around my foot. While I do not slide around in the shoes, I do feel the sides and corners of the toe box. Nonetheless, they did hold my feet firmly." Finding a narrow fit compared to other New Balance shoes of the same width was Josh. "Again, the cut of this shoe seemed narrower than my CT1000s, so I definitely felt the support and didn't experience any sliding. The CT820s had enough leather in the heel counter and around the ankle to give me a sense of stability, and the mesh in the forefoot gave the shoe a bit of a contoured feel." Casey said, "I felt these shoes were very stable. They offered good upper support, and the sole seemed to fan out a bit, offering some low to the ground support as well."

Overall Sole Durability

The CT820s feature New Balance's durability guaranteed N-DURANCE outsole, which has been a proven performer on shoes like the CT1001, CT1000 and CT801. As with our past experience with shoes utilizing the N-DURANCE outsole, the CT820s also proved to be very durable. Finding the CT820 durability to live up to their New Balance expectations were Josh and Casey. Josh said, "as with any New Balance Shoe I've worn, the sole durability was great. I had a little wear on the ball of my right shoe, but not much else was noticeable. The N-DURANCE Technology seems to be working well for New Balance." Casey also had hardly any noticeable wear. "The sole seemed very durable. I did not experience much tread wear at all. New Balance always scores high in this category. They were comparable to other New Balance shoes, but did not seem quite as beefy due to the thinner midsole."

Danny, Don, Paul and Granville all found the CT820s to be very durable. Paul said, "the durability was very good. I had some slight wear starting to show on the inner edge of the outosle near the pivot point, but that was all." Granville added, "I did not notice excessive wear in any one area. The shoe seems very duraable, or at least competitive with any other shoe out there." Chris was surprised at how durable the CT820s were. "I'm not sure how New Balance can make such a light shoe so durable. The outsoles are very tough, and I only have a few very small areas that have worn smooth after more than 40 hours of court time."

Toe Durability

To protect the mesh uppers from contact with the court, the CT820s feature a reinforced toe cap. Our toe-draggers found the toes of the CT820s to hold up fairly well. Paul said, "the shoe is equipped with a toe drag protection piece. It is not the thickest protection I've seen, but like the rest of the shoe, it held up well." Chris also found the toe area to hold up well. "I have plenty of scuff marks on the toes of these, but have yet to break through the toe drag guard. Although the shoes will show signs of wear - especially in the white color I wore during the test - the toes seemed built pretty tough to me." Josh agreed, as he also noticed some wear marks on the shoe, but found the toe areas to hold up. "The amount of toe-dragging I do was very noticeable on these shoes. I had a scuff mark approximately one inch wide on my left shoe and another about a half-inch on my right. The toes held up nicely despite the constant dragging. Players who drag their toes but don't want people to see the marks may want to consider grabbing a pair in black rather than white."

Danny said, "New Balance generally makes a durable shoe. I first saw signs of wear at the toe cap of the CT820s. It's a fairly soft toe cap. If you are one who drags the toe area often, then you quickly see marks on the toe area of this shoe. I never wore a hole through the toe cap, but it was something that I noticed." Finding the most wear was Casey. "There was not much toe protection. This is where I saw the most wear on the shoe. The tip of the toe was starting to wear. Also, on the inner side of my right foot (drag foot) I had begun to rip the mesh and the stitching since there was no toe protection in this area."

Traction

The CT820s scored very high with almost our entire team when it came to traction. Moving with confidence was Don. "I covered the court without any sliding or slipping. The CT820s seemed to hug the court and gave me confidence to run for shots I might let go with shoes that aren't as sure-footed." Casey was also impressed by the traction offered in the CT820s. "The traction was great. I experienced little to no slipping, and the traction stayed consistent on all areas of the sole. I had no problems on the outer edges of the shoe, which is where I typically see some problems on other shoes. With this shoe, the tread pattern stretched all the way to the edges of the outsole."

Both Chris and Granville experienced no slippage while wearing the CT820s. Chris said, "I was very impressed with the traction I found wearing these. The herringbone outsole pattern offered plenty of grip on both hard courts and clay courts. Both forward and lateral traction was excellent. I can't remember one instance in this shoe when I was struggling for grip. The excellent traction and stability has made this one of my favorite match day shoes, along with the Nike Air Max Breathe Free IIs." Granville offered, "good traction with a soft outsole material makes for a very competitive product. I do not recall slipping or skidding once in these shoes, and that is unusual. I could dig myself out of trouble without losing traction."

Our only tester seeking more traction from the CT820s was Danny. "I found the herringbone tread to be a little faulty when stopping my movement. Starting movement was fine, but when I had to change directions from top speed, I tended to slide on the court."

Weight

At only 13.4 ounces (size 10.5), the CT820 is a very light performance shoe. Our team found the lack of weight to be beneficial to their on court movement. Casey found the CT820s to feel more like running shoes when it came to weight. "These shoes were very light. They felt like running shoes and I have even been using them on the tread mill for that reason." Chris was very pleased with the weight of the CT820s. "These shoes felt very light, and I love that in a tennis shoe. I really felt like I could fly around the court in these. The shoes felt well balanced and the light weight made them easy to forget about and just concentrate on the game. I couldn't ask for more than that."

Josh thought the weight of the CT820s was close to perfection. "The weight of the CT820s was almost perfect. I felt a bit faster in these shoes and still felt confident that the support would be there on a quick turn or change of direction." Comparing the shoes to other light-weights, was Don. "Similar to the Nike Vapor and adidas ClimaCool Feather, the CT820s are very lightweight. This seemed to provide me with improved mobility around the court."

Finding good foot speed about the court in the CT820s was Danny. "The light weight of this shoe was amazing. My movement with this shoe was great. The distribution of weight was great. I never experienced any type of clunky movement, which I often feel if the weight is unevenly distributed."

Overall

With the CT820, New Balance has produced a lightweight performance shoe that goes toe to toe with the best of 2004. Better yet, all this performance comes at a price that blows most competitors off the court. New Balance continues its trend of using a mesh upper on its more aggressive performance shoes. We found the uppers of the CT820s to keep everything light and breathable, while still offering plenty of stability and support. All in all, the CT820 makes a great match day shoe that's also got the durability to withstand long practice sessions.

Playtesters' Foot Types: Chris - narrow width/medium arch, Danny - medium width/medium arch, Josh - wide width/medium-high arch, Casey - wide width/medium arch, Paul - Medium width/Medium arch, Don - wide width/medium arch, Granville - narrow width/low arch.

Review date: September, 2004. If you found this review interesting or have further questions or comments please contact us.

All content copyright 2004 Tennis Warehouse.