The Nike Zoom KD III was a pretty good performance shoe with a few flaws… very few to be exact. With there being little improvement needed, in my opinion, the KD IV has been a bit of a disappointment thus far.
The features I thought were awesome (on the KD III) have been forgotten and left off of the KD IV completely… astonishing if you ask me.
In the forefront is the KD IV and behind is the KD III. The cuts are a bit different, with the KD III being slightly higher cut. Now, the cut of the shoe being lowered hasn’t effected the shoe one bit, in fact I prefer this cut on a personal level as it gives greater range of motion for your ankles. However, the problem lies within the heel and offers little to no lock-down whatsoever.
The KD III had these wonderful little notches in the heel that cup your Achilles and hold the heel in place… this was one of the features I loved in the KD III. I can’t quite grasp why something so simple and used previously wasn’t implemented once more. If it’s not broken, don’t fix it. Had the KD IV utilized those small little heel notches, I feel the heel lock-down would be great just as it was in the previous model.
This time around they went with a strap system that is called ‘Adaptive Fit’. I can’t say that I dislike the system in place but I haven’t quite grown to like at this point either. The strap does keep the midfoot in place, but so would a basic lacing setup. With the issue I’m having in the heel of the shoe I would have liked the strap to be placed higher up toward the ankle to help promote a bit more lock-down in that particular area as that’s where I seem to be having issues.
Don’t get me wrong, right now there are more features on the KD IV that I like versus dislike… it just so happens to be that the things I’ve had problems with this time around were non issues with the KD III.
That’s all for now, stay tuned for more updates prior to the full review.
How is your 1st impression with playing them?
That was the point of the teaser lol. I cant give too much info out at once otherwise i wouldnt have anything left for a full review.
great reviews, dude. Small request tho. Not sure if others are looking for this but i feel as tho an on foot look would help illustrate some of your points better. Plus, shoes on feet just makes sence ya know? haha.
Thanks! I will try to incorporate an on foot view in future reviews.
yeah bro on foot views of the shoe would be awesome during your performance reviews
Sounds good bro, ill do my best to provide that.
how long did it take you to break these in? theyre so stiff they hurt my feet…looking forward to the full review
It took a while, ran around the house in them every chance i had before games.
hey bro! nice work on the reviews! just wanna know if you’re experiencing any pain or discomfort around the arch/ball of the foot right below the big toe? figured it might be because of shoe’s narrow fitting or the adaptive straps’ mounts inside the shoe?
Not in that area. I have had some pain or discomfort on the opposite side where the pinky toe is… I think its from the midsole, sort of feels like its pressing into my foot during certain movements.
I bought a bunion protector and put it at my pinky toe but it doesn’t solve my problem otherwise it worsen the pain, but how do you clean your KD IV’s? Specially on the upper.
Thats a bummer man. I dont clean my hoop shoes, once in a while i may clean the outsole if its dirty but other than that i dont clean them.
Which is better : KD 4 vs Fly wade 2 😀 Please help me!
Overall, Wades
I definitely preferred the KD III, this is a very stiff shoe and took a while to break in. I would say I was dissapointed with the KD IV.
I like things from both pairs. If they would have blended the components that worked in the KD3 with the IV it would be hard to count them out. But since they didnt it has been quite disappointing thus far.