Performance Teaser: Under Armour Micro G Charge BB Pt. 2

Two teasers in one day… whoo hoo!

Remember when I said there were some bright spots with the Micro G Charge BB… well Micro G is one of them but more importantly, HeatGear is what makes these cool… literally.

This breathable material wicks away moisture and allows air to flow, all while keeping your foot contained. My only problem with it at this point is that they tried to make it a unibody design which doesn’t quite work out too well for the overall fit. If it was stretchy then it would compress against the foot better but because it doesn’t, it just leaves you with unwanted dead space within the shoe after you have laced them up. They could always make the shape of the shoe based off of a narrower last but then you may have issues getting the shoe on your foot altogether since it is a once piece… making these with an independent tongue would make that a non-issue of course but I’m just going off of what is already in place as far as design.

Also, everyone thinks I hate the design… which I don’t. I love how they look without the calf condom… with it they look ridiculous. If the cuff would have worked better then I wouldn’t dislike as much… but I would still dislike like it based on the fact that you can achieve perfect lockdown and fit without such things on a shoe. It’s nice to try and break barriers in design… but it will only work if people buy into it.

Now, one thing that instantly came to mind after playing in the Spine Bionic is that they should have made these two sneakers into one. Take the mesh away from the Spine – it’s not breathable at all believe it or not – and replace it with HeatGear. You would have been able to sell more units without wasting money coming up with new design templates for manufacturing. Make one really good shoe and focus on that… instead you have this mammoth that costs the consumer more money than needed and you end up getting the best performance from the cheaper model. Add HeatGear to the Spine and charge $130… then throw away the Charge BB… but keep the midsole and outsole… I like how that looks and feels – just needs more traction pods – then make a better midcut or low cut model for next year using the Charge BB base. Makes sense to me… but I’m not the one calling the shots so for all I know this could be a horrible idea.

Well… that pretty much sums it up. Some pros and some cons… maybe a lot of cons but hey… that isn’t my fault. Stay tuned for the full performance review!