CrazyLight Boost
Crazylight Boost Performance Review:
<< CUSHIONING >> 6.5 / 10
It is Adidas's first putting boost foam on a basketball shoe as cushioning! Then the cushioning on the CrazyLight Boost must feels amazing? Unfortunately, the quick answer here is, no. =(
Yes, the boost foam is undoubtedly an amazing cushioning material and it is not something brand new; Adidas has put the boost foam on to many of their running shoes line and it has proven the boost foam is a top of the line cushioning material.
However, the cushioning setup on the CrazyLight Boost is not done properly. At the heel area you do have a decent amount of boost foam (encased between the mid-sole pylon and bottom rubber) which provide great heel cushioning protections. But the boost foam does not go all the way to the forefoot area. At the forefoot you only have a very thin layer of standard EVA rubber on the shoe and the removable insole is paper thin, together it provides nearly no impact protection (guess the only thing you can improve the cushioning is too replace the insole with some decent third party insoles.
I can see Adidas wants to make this shoe to give lots of court feel, as they have this shoe targeting for guards in mind, which such position would have lots of running and turning. But basketball is also a game with lots of jumping and landing; every time when you land on these, it feels like you are landing on to the hardwood with barefoot, just painful.
In my experience of playing in these indoor (pick up games where people normally play non-stop, unlike a regular game, you have time out, etc.), my feet was hurting so much after the game, that I would never want to play in these again. This pair has become my daily casual and gym shoe now.
It is somewhat disappointed to rate the cushioning of this shoe low because it is the first pair of basketball shoes that have Boost foam on it. But unfortunately, Adidas didn't make good use of their boost technology on these.
<< TRACTION >> 6 / 10
The traction pattern is made of this wavy grooves with some criss-crossing cuts throughout. The grooves are very tightly packed together, a bad sign right the way for traction performance - dust will definitely caught up easily inside the grooves. With my time playing in these on a slightly dusty court, it proofed my educational guess was correct. It stuck to the floor most of the time but it slipped under some situations.
The rubber compound of the out-sole is decent, the traction patterns is just picking too much dust (even on a just mildly dusty court) to allow a consistence and satisfying traction experience. But on a clean court I think the traction should be decent.
And I don't recommend playing these out door, the out-sole rubber is on the soft side, it will wear down pretty fast.
<< FIT & SUPPORT >> 7.5 / 10
It is a snug fit on these. The fore foot area of the shoe is somewhat on the narrow side, so, if you have wide feet, I suggest you get half a size up.
I normally wear true to size for most shoes and I did the same on this pair, everything fit well, except my toes keep slamming into the front of the shoe on the inside, whenever I do a sharp cut or do a sudden stop on a dime. It took a few games to have the fabric stretched out a little more however I can still feel my toes hitting into the front, just that the impact felt much less.
The Stableframe that wraps around the mid-sole area provides the support you need for stabilizing your feet in the shoe without causing any pain like the Sprintframe which Adidas been using on a lot of their basketball shoe lineup in the recent past.
The woven fabric of the upper and the Techfit material on the tongue, provides lots of flexibility and comforts. I have don't feel part of the materials cutting into me whatsoever and the shoe needs zero break in time and that is just fantastic.
<< MATERIALS >> 8 / 10
The materials on this colorway feels premium. The upper of the show is made of flexible woven fabric material, the tongue is made of Techfit material. The fabric is soft and flexible in such a way where the shoe doesn't lose its structural integrity. The Techfit material at the tongue and the woven fabric upper provide really good breath-ability and ventilation.
Standard TPU heel counter with a very flexible plastic frame wrapping on the outside of the heel area. Works well, no complaint.
All in all, the shoe feels like a very well made product, Adidas did a great job here.
<< DURABILITY >> 8 / 10
I got stepped on a few times during games while playing in these but I can't find any scratch marks on the shoes and the shape of the shoes seem to holdup, so I guess that tell you how durability these shoes are.
The woven fabric materials feels durable and the construct of the overall shoe is also very well made. I would give a good score on the durability category.
<< AESTHETICS >> 8 / 10
There are many colorway that came out for the CrazyLight Boost. There are a lot of the colorways that I do not like but I this is one of those that I like.
They put on this black electrical wave patterns from toe to heel on both side of the shoe; which overlaying on top of this grey diamond mesh pattern, to give this electrifying effect.
And they finished off with the Adidas strips on the outside near the forefoot area, it just makes the look of the shoes feel more dynamic.
The black out-sole with white speckles just adding so much more character to the styling.
This is one good looking shoe.
<< VENTILATION >> 8.5 / 10
The ventilation is great on these shoes.
Even there are no perforation holes to be seen anywhere on the shoe but as mentioned before the fabric and the TechFit material are by themselves very breathable.
My feet stay cool all game long while playing in these.
OVERALL SCORE: 7.5 / 10