The Mids were my favorite signature of this past season. Will the Lows live up to the same presence, or will they take a step backward??
I hope you are all doing well! AirJayP is back with another performance review and have we got potential for basketball shoe of the year??? We will have to dive in and see how these played out for me on court!
You will probably hear me say more than once, "If you played in the mids," and the reason for that is I had many similarities to the mids with these lows. Obviously, the cut of the shoe height is different, but the performance was much of the same. There were some noticeable differences for me and we will get into that. This isn't a comparison review, but I will go ahead and say if you liked or loved the mids, and You enjoy low-tops, you will love these as well! Now let's talk about it!
Traction: 5
We have a solid rubber outsole featuring a herringbone pattern which basically mimics the mid-top pair. I had the same results really with these as I did with the mids. Great! The sneaker offered me no issues laterally or vertically. Starting, stopping, cutting, getting to where I wanted to go was absolutely no issue or concern with these. They do perform their best on a clean floor. On a dusty court, you will pick up a little dust, but nothing to bring as a negative. I didn't have any sliding on any surface, even a dusty court I was good to go. You know by now I love a good traction setup on my basketball sneakers and this is one I could go-to again and again. They worked great, and near perfect for my liking!
Fit: 5
No problems for me at all from a fit standpoint. If you know your Adidas sizing you will be good to go. Remember Adidas almost all times does fit "longer" than say a Nike model. I can't recall a time that I needed to size up on an Adidas sneaker. It has almost always been half down. I would recommend that here as well. I went down half with these, and I had the fit I was looking for. If you played in the mids, I also went down half on those as well. The fit worked out the same for me on foot with both sneakers. I will say though the lows are much easier to get onto your foot than the mids. The worst part about the mids overall for me was just getting them on. There is no issue whatsoever here with the lows from that standpoint. To sum up the fit, I am recommending down half, or your normal Adidas sizing.
Materials: 4
Once again, not trying to compare here, but most have either tried the AE1 by now or if not they have at least seen them enough to understand all I am going to say here. Much of the same. If it isn't broken, why fix it? Looking at both models I really am noticing no difference from a material "look" standpoint than the toe cap area. There is a more premium type of suede on my mid-pair compared to just a synthetic type material overlay on my lows. You still have the ventilated "shell" looking type upper. I felt on the mids it was maybe a little stiffer initially than the lows, but on foot, it still feels nice and the interior/liner is comfortable on foot as well. The lone issue I had with the materials was the tongue. When I get the sneaker on my foot and laced up the tongue wants to stick up at the top, and not lay down onto my foot. At times it will also sort of fold up and not lay across the lace bed on my foot. What I have figured to fix this problem is to adjust the laces to get the sneaker very loose before putting it on. After getting in on foot, I will make sure the tongue is laid down across the top of my foot before tightening back up. This adjustment did help me a lot, but if my shoe comes untied in the game or I just tie up quickly it does at times happen again. I did not have this problem at all with the mids. It is something I can deal with and it didn't make me not want to play in the shoe or anything or that effect, but it was something that was a nuisance, and I did notice a difference from the mids.
Cushion: 4
Once again here we have much of the same from the actual setup, but I will say the feel was somewhat different for me. You are getting a Boost midsole with Lightstrike cushioning which is the same setup as the mids. When we are talking about performance or how it felt on court. I will say that I got a little more court feel here with the lows than I did with the mids. Neither one to me is SUPER plush, but the mids did offer a little more plush feel than I got out of the lows. Remember though, usually I am going to prefer more court feel in the first place! I liked how these felt on court, but I do have to go ahead and say the setup on the mids did feel better over the long haul for me. I do not have the measurements if the same height/stack of foam or material was used within the setup, but it could be something as simple as that. Once again I did like this setup. If you have cushion preferences such as I have explained in my past reviews that I like then you will like these as well. Here we go again... If you liked the mids, well you will like these also! In my opinion, though the mids do give me a little more actual cushion if that is what you are straight-up looking for.
Lockdown: 5
I have mentioned several times, In my past with basketball sneakers in general I was just never really looking for a low-top. I always preferred a mid or high. Taking the leap to play in more lows several years ago is something I am glad I did, but at times lockdown aspects are what always scared me to begin with and still can be worrisome for me each time out in a low. From the actual build or setup with the lows here, I didn't notice anything different except for creating the same aspects within the lows as the mid. With that, we are cutting the setup down to get to that low-top cut. On court, I had no issues with the lockdown. Once inside and laced up to my liking I felt completely locked in from heel to toe, and no issues with movement with the ankle/collar/or heel area. Now, had I gotten the wrong size within the sneaker, just like with any sneaker it may have hindered the positive performance I had with these. Sizing, first and foremost can hinder your lockdown performance if the size is wrong. My point to be made here is, make sure you get the right size in these, and I believe you will have a very positive experience.
Overall: 4
I can't give these a perfect score, but I can say it is a really good, fun sneaker to play in. I could have these as my go-to's, but to be honest I prefer the mids as I just absolutely love that shoe! Had these been the only ones created it would most likely be these. There were basically all positives here from me with the lows, but the only real problem for me was that tongue issue when lacing the shoe up. Is it something that would keep me from playing in them, no, but it was something to note for me. The traction, materials, and so on are so comparable to the mids on court that I just can not, not love these, and they are top 3 on my list of hoop shoes right now. They didn't knock off the mids, but they are right there with them. Adidas basketball keep doing your thing! I am loving it!!
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