If you play on dusty floors, you’ll feel like you’re riverwalkn’…
Traction – Herringbone isn’t all you need to get great traction out of your shoes. You’ll need the proper rubber and the proper placement. While the CP3.VIII’s traction placement wasn’t 100% off, it was off to the point where if dust was anywhere around… you’d need to wipe your soles to avoid slippage. Of course, if you play on well maintained court then you’ll have no major problems. But I did prefer the traction on the 6 and 7 a bit more than these. Outdoors they didn’t grip at all, just a lot of sliding around.
Cushion – They’re incredibly comfortable. I think these might be the most comfortable CP3’s from a cushion standpoint. The heel features a targeted Lunarlon section that is used with a pod. This helps achieve an even bouncier feeling in the rear of the shoe and also helps provide you with a very smooth transition. In the forefoot we have a normal sizes Zoom Air unit – not a Hex unit or thin rectangle. There are pods on the outsole directly under high pressure areas, and those pods help you feel the Zoom a lot more than you would if they weren’t in place. CP3’s tend to be more on the minimal side when it comes to cushion, and these balance out court feel with cushion very nicely.
Materials – I’m not personally a fan of the materials here, but there are people that really enjoy the stiff and restrictive feeling that certain types of Fuse brings… if thats you then you’ll love these. While the materials do start off quite stiff, they break-in rather nicely so I did enjoy that. Raw materials and woven uppers just fit and flex more naturally with my foot so that is my preference when it comes to materials usage. Again, with break-in time these moved better than they start off, so if you’re just getting your first wear out of them… they will get a little better in time. On a positive note, the materials are very durable and they’ll continue to be supportive throughout the season.
Fit – I’d say go true to size, wide footers may want to go up 1/2 size. Initially, I thought these ran small due to how tight they were, and the fact that I was sent a 9.5 instead of a 9, but those more time I spent playing in them the more I wished they were a 9. Their lockdown, even when 1/2 big, was pretty darn good. Usually when you get a shoe a little too big you have a super sloppy fit, but the Flight Web system actually did what its designed to do, which is keep your foot onto the footbed, so I can only imagine how awesome they’d have been had they been my usual size. They exceeded my expectations at the heel as well. Again, even with 1/s size larger than normal, they still kept my foot very secure and the TPU heel counter kept my foot from shifting beautifully.
Ventilation – Definitely their weakest attribute as you get little to no air flow within the upper.
Support – Support was solid. The Fuse does its job, as does the Flight Web lacing. I thought the rubber/ TPU midsole piece was going to cause a stiff and uncomfortable ride while in motion, but you never noticed it was there and you still retained mobility. A TPU internal shank is also in place for some added torsional support, so overall there are no real complaints.
Overall – Cushion, transition and durability… those are their greatest points. Traction, unfortunately was a weak spot, and that was a little disheartening since the CP3 line usually gives you substantial on-court traction. On a personal level, I would rather wait until an AE version pops up in hopes that they use some nicer materials. And if you can only play on outdoor courts then skip these all together and look at something like the Super.Fly 3 if you’re trying to stay within the Jordan Brand family.
They weren’t bad, but they weren’t quite as good as the past two models overall.
Probably a cop this year, but the traction sets me off
where are the melo 11s? its weird that there aren’t any leaked pics or anything
But there are… just Google Melo M11, man.
Great review… you got me into foam cushioning with the CP3.VI ae; I LOVE those shoes as the traction, cushion and comfort are second to none, imo. The CP3.VII was just OK for me as the met zoom bag really hurt the first several wears. I feel like the CP3 line has fallen off since the VI; I had high expectations for the VIII as I like the way they look… sleek as opposed to the clunky looking VII. I will wait for the VIII ae, but they can’t change the traction much, can they?
I mean, they could change the traction if they wanted to. The past 2 models retained the same traction from the normal to AE, so it wouldn’t be surprising if they didn’t change that aspect. I’m also sad the traction on these has issues. I like the look and the cushion setup seems nice, but that traction worries me.
bad traction on a CP3 shoe? that ain’t right…..
Seriously…
I’m really just prayinf that they upgrade the traction in the postseason version..
14oz for a lowtop?
Maybe Jordan should just release 1 raw-material version of the CP3(like they did with the Melo m10) because the raw-material versions tend to be 10 times better.
The lunar is a deal-breaker for me, even in it’s most firm, durable version, it still bottoms out very, very quickly on me(I’m huge though).
Here’s hoping the Melo m11 will still have Zoom, or Air as a cushioning setup.
Bummer on the traction and being heavy. We had this a bit earlier here in the Philippines and I was extremely dissappointed coz of the materials and traction, not enough pattern outside the the pods on the forefoot to help out traction. I was looking forward to JB going head to head with Nike lower cut shoes with this model but cmon JB why’d you mess this up!
A cool guard shoe for asics that just came out is called “naked ego 2”. Would love to see a review on those.
Correction the model name is naked eg 02.
They look awesome. I would love to get a pair of the Naked EG02s. Unfortunately, I can’t find anywhere to buy them from. I bought all my other pairs from Rakuten, but I can’t seem to find the Naked EG01 or EG02s for sale there.
Do you know if they are widely available in Japan?
I wish I knew where to get a pair. I see them on the asics Japan website for sale but it’s all in Japanese and I have no idea if the ship worldwide.
Thanks for another great insightful review, Nightwing . I do have to agree with the fact that the 8s is not as good as the 7s. The 7s had the great traction, super court feel, responsiveness, and the light weight. The 8s, despite the relatively mushy cushioning and good intentions, felt a millisecond slow on cuts and responsiveness, as i found myself sink into the Zoom unit initially…. I also found the stability a little different since the TPU provides more of the torsional rigidity and ankle stabilization instead of a usual carbon fiber or composite underneath the midfoot ( I did a bit of checking by trying to fold the shoe in half and found no resistance that would indicate a stabilizing shank of some sort.) I might be a bit nitpicking on these things but the 7’s features were amazing. The emergence of the 8s features after playing a couple of hours on the court were relative different and a slight step down from it’s predecessor.
nice shoe in my opinion. I really like the cushion set up! These are super comfortable! The fit is really tight imo so I’d suggest you go up half a size if you have wide feet.
I tried these on and I can already see and feel why these are worse than the 6 and 7, the pattern is much tighter and shallower, and the rubber is softer. Not the best combination for an all around shoe like the past 2 were. The cushioning was excellent though on these though.
I have an issue with slipping inside the shoe. I started to have nasty blisters on the FIRST wear and it hurts like hell. Could it be due to the hyperelite socks I was wearing?
thank you for the wonderful review as always. i am glad that your review had confirmed that this shoe is super comfortable. i’m more into comfort and support because i’m not in college anymore so i don’t run as hard and i don’t “slash” on court. i’ll be looking forward to using these shoes starting the end of this month 🙂
oh shoot, now i know why my shoes were only $55, this shoe was out a while ago…oh my gosh, i feel retarded.
I got these and love ’em!