Here we go again…
Traction – I’ll admit I was disappointed with the traction at first. It just wasn’t as awesome as I remembered it being with the Original and first round Retro releases. However, if you stick with it… the traction will break-in and give you plenty of coverage on the court. Lateral movements and front to back coverage are plentiful yet offer little restriction with movements – thanks to the much lower profile as opposed to the Air Jordan XII.
After nearly a week’s worth of playing, the traction was just as I remembered it being back in the day.
Cushion – Heel and forefoot Zoom Air cushion. It’s responsive, resilient and comfortable. No, it’s not quite as springy as the Air Jordan XII but as I mentioned above, you have much better court feel with the lower profile so you can pretty much have whatever ride you see fit – between the AJ XII and XIII.
On a personal level, I liked the feeling of the XII more but the lower profile ride of the XIII… I can’t have everything.
Material – The materials aren’t too great but they could be worse. At least the PU coated leather breaks in nicely – more than I can say for other models like the recent White/ Cement AJ4. My main gripe with PU coated leather is that the coat can be unpredictable. At times its durable as hell while other times it peels away from the leather as its bond to the glue is much stronger than the bond to the split grain leather.
The overall durability is still there it’s just that you will have sections that look like sole separation – which this isn’t… trust me, I know the difference. You can play in these like this just fine as I have been but it’s disappointing to see more than anything. If you choose to play in the most recent releases then this shouldn’t happen as those have slightly better quality.
Fit – These fit true to size while the most recent feel like they have a lot of dead space in the toe. Anything released from 2012 to the present time I would go ½ size down for a snug fit. If you wish to remain with your regular size and you feel that there is too much space, just put an additional insole in the shoe and you should be fine.
Lockdown is awesome, plain and simple. After a short break-in period the leather will soften up a bit. Once you readjust your laces then your foot won’t be going anywhere.
Ventilation – There isn’t any… I actually had sweat bleeding through to the red suede some nights. Doesn’t bother me at all but those who require well ventilated shoes… you won’t find it here.
Support – Overall support is great. The Carbon Fiber adds torsional support and minor arch support – those with high arches usually will require the use of orthotic inserts.
The fit its great and provides plenty of support and the base is nice and wide which does take some getting used to but once you adjust, you’ll be busting moves with more confidence than before.
Overall – 15 years later and these are just as fierce on the court as they were before. The Air Jordan XII and XIII are forces to be reckoned with on-court. There are some minor setbacks in terms of material quality but for the most part I think these still performed just as good as some of today’s sneakers.
The Way of Wade played pretty similar when I think about it… and I really liked those.
First!
Zero on ventilation is awesome!!
I told you. Probably the worst ventilated shoe of all time! 🙂 my can’t remember my feet actually giving off that much sweat. the traction as well took time to break in. my OG s or as you can guess we’re already broken in. I guess since 1997 they were ready. The glue is a major problem where it meets the rubber or the rubber meets the road 🙂 I don’t know I use crazy glue it was perfect. I don’t think they recommend that. Didn’t have a problem for a month. My last game with the XX3s was last night. Wow they make me feel fast. I feel pretty light and I don’t think it was a placebo but that carbon fiber is great. Traction was damn good… It was okay in lateral movement… The only issue I had was the heel lockdown. it’s pretty thin and there’s a lot of space back there. Only after tieing them extremely tight there was absolutely no movement in the heel. the cushion was well above average but, not a 10. you really get comments when you wear the Allstars on court. old schooler aren’t the biggest fans…but all the young guys asked me about them to the point of boredom over the probably 45 hours on court. No other shoe made me feel that fast ever! 150 + shoes on court. I’m really looking forward to your review on these..eventually. Also my underdog favorite, for their looks, the chainmail 19s!!! The 14s are ok. I’ll get back to you shortly about what to do with the copyright issue as well. Another great review by you!
hi, you should really do a performance review on the adidas crazy fast. They look like a great shoe!
Another great review! \m/
Awesome… too bad about the material quality by the toe. Hope it is a rare occurance.
It is not
On mines it hurted my feet
I just love XIII’s. Great cushion and traction. My favourite Aj model. Thx for the review I was waiting very long for it. Great job.
Hello, I’ve just watched your performance review of the Air Jordan 2011 Q Flight and I have a question: are they durable and suitable for mainly outdoor plays? How would you compare it to the adidas Adizero Shadow? Looking forward to hearing from you soon. Thank you! Sorry for my english, I’m Vietnamese.
Hello, I’ve just watched your performance review of the Air Jordan 2011 Q Flight and I have a question: Are they durable and suitable for mainly outdoor plays? How would you compare it to the adidas Adizero Shadow? Looking forward to hearing from you soon. Thanks! And sorry for my bad English, I’m Vietnamese.
@Nightwing2303 when you finish the Jordan project will you have a list of the best Jordans to play in to the worst? or is it you just playing in the shoes?
Please i really want these for school and my size plzzz
I know there are shoes with better tech. I know there are shoes that perform better. I know there are shoes that look better. But this shoe is probably my favorite shoe to ball in of all time. I still have my OG pair that I wore to death back in the day. They still look decent and actually felt pretty good when i tried them on again for the first time in about 8 years. If I wasn’t worried about the glue failing I would probably ball in them. Hopefully I can get my hands on a fresh pair (or two) of these someday. Awesome combination of comfort+quality and offered everything I wanted in a basketball shoe (I didn’t care about ventilation obviously). Now if only I could find them somewhere other than Ebay or other places that want $300.
I wear size 10 and I dont know what is the best fit for me 11 or 10.5
Just wanted to say these were the first shoes I could afford to buy having saved my lunch money for months. That was back like 20yrs ago ish and I used them for around 5yrs on grass/rock/cement, you name it (actually I didnt have access to court).
I was a kid that finally got nice shoes and to make it worse I likely used them for 85% football (or soccer as you call it) and 10% basketball (on cement) and maybe badminton (yeah couldn’t afford a different pair for each sport)
The material never gave away. In fact I gave it to a cousin afterward who used it until finally the sole was no more then had someone fix another cheap sole to it and he used it likely another year..
SO yeah it LASTED a LONG time. Good memories