text: I thought that I would try a new brand besides my pair of trusty New Balance stalwarts, so after reading the reviews I opted for the ASICS Gel Contend 2 model.<br /><br />Pros:<br /><br />VERY light. No surprise as it is a running shoe but I use it primarily for kicking around and, in particular, I bought it for use at work. Unfortunately, that didn't work out. (See below.)<br /><br />OUTSTANDING heel control. Nice and tight with no slippage which is just the way that I like it.<br /><br />Nicely padded around the top of the shoe and quite breathable.<br /><br />Heel padding is excellent and I am lovin' it.<br /><br />Cons:<br /><br />Too narrow a fit. I bought the 11.5 4E model. Length-wise, it's fine but it is too narrow a fit for me. I wore them around the house and thought that if I took them for a nice walk they would start to break in. Unfortunately after several outings, they're not breaking in whatsoever. Strange. They're not God-awful tight but they are annoying enough that I don't want to wear them for very long. Of course, it's now too late to return them so I'll have to figure out a way to use them for short periods of time and (hopefully) they'll eventually break in. Keep your fingers crossed...<br /><br />Poor padding in the front part of the shoe underneath the foot. Granted, one would expect a running shoe to have extra padding in the heel area (and again, it is superb in the heel) but I expected more in the front part. It is way too thin for my comfort. I will have to seek third party insoles for light duty work which is not what I anticipated having to do.<br /><br />Poor arch support. I don't think that I have any unusually high arches but this is another area of the shoe that bothers me. The arch support is way too shallow for my comfort. Again, I will probably have to seek a third party solution for this.<br /><br />I don't expect a shoe that I buy online to be perfect out of the box but I also think that, at minimum, it should be comfortable enough to wear for extended periods of time. In that respect, these ASICS don't really make the cut. Then again, maybe it just has to do with my fat feet.