Tag: Adidas Harden Vol. 4

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Adidas Harden Vol. 4 Performance Review

Time flies, now the Harden series comes to VOL.4. This time Harden Vol. 4 has new design and new technology.  It’s the first pair of Harden series shoes which don’t use the BOOST insole. And the price is reduced.

Today, let’s have a look at Adidas Harden Vol. 4 Pink Lemonade. We’ll also compare it with Harden Vol. 3.

Many people think that Adidas Harden Vol. 4 doesn’t look like a pair of basketball shoes, but likes a pair of fashion shoes. The streetwear designer Patrick also participate in the design of Harden Vol. 4.

Harden Vol. 4 is still low type model which has good flexibility.

The elastic cord design is hidden on the middle of vamp. It’s very useful.

The chamois leather on the shoe head is double layer. The shoe tree is normal size, with the elastic cord, the foot won’t be easy to slide in the shoes.

The stabilizing plate from shoe heel to insole is useful for improving the flexibility and stabilization, so the feedback will be faster.

The separated outsole design improves the turning feedback. Comparing with Harden Vol. 3, the advantage is more obvious.

As the first pair of Harden series shoes without Boost insole, the biggest advantage of LightStrike material is lighter and faster feedback. Maybe it relates with the shape, thickness and design of insole, but the reactiveness is great.

The stabilizing plate from shoe heel to insole is also the first pair of Harden series shoes which uses stabilizing plate to connect with insole. Some of Kobe and T-mac shoes also have such design before, the stability is great.

The fixed plate of shoelaces holes also improve the fixation of ankle part and the stability of vamp. It can fix the ankle and also can be adjusted.

The elastic cord is also added with some stitches to increase the effect of stabilization.

The Harden logo is on the shoe heel. Except the Adidas logo on shoe tongue, it doesn’t have other Adidas logo on the vamp.

The outsole is carved with password. There is a groove on the sole. The traction performance of Harden Vol. 4 on the indoor court is better than outdoor court. The groove differentiates the forefoot sole, it improves the flexibility.

The half-socks design shoe tongue can fix the shoe tongue. And the material has good air permeability.

The Lightstrike insole is lighter than Boost. It’s very flexible when turning.  It should be the biggest difference comparing with Harden Vol.3. The starting speed is fast. But the traction performance of Harden Vol. 4 is not good on outdoor court. But it’s excellent on clean indoor court.

The advantage of Harden Vol. 4 is excellent flexibility.

Lightstrike is light, it has fast feedback and good cushion performance. The cushion performance of Lightstrike is worse than Boost. But the light weight and feedback is better.

And the fixation of shoe heel is also good, the shoe heel won’t be easy to loosen.

Harden Vol. 4 VS Harden Vol. 3:

Harden Vol. 4: the advantage is light weight, fast response and good stability, but the traction performance on outdoor court and wear-resistance will be a problem

Harden Vol. 3: excellent cushion performance

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Adidas Harden Vol.4 Performance Review

I’m attracted by the appearance of Harden Vol. 4. It looks cool. After testing, below is our marking:

Fit：8 scores

Vamp Support: 7.5 scores

Feedback of Forefoot：6 scores

Cushion Performance of Rear Sole: 7 scores

Anti-torsion Performance: 9 scores

Traction Performance: 7 scores

Support: 8 scores

Overall Support: 8 scores

Overall Stability: 9 scores

Overall: 77 scores

Suited Field: clean indoor court, outdoor court

Suited Players: Light weight (below 85kg), the players like breaking through

Abrasive Resistance: Medium

Air Permeability: Medium

Cost Performance: Medium

Comfort Level: Medium

I have expected Harden Vol.4 for a long time, but I’m disappointed it after testing. But please don’t worry, it due to my personal reason, as the flatfoot is really unsuitable for Harden Vol.4.

Due to the elastic tie-down straps on the middle of vamp, it’s really hard to put on and it also press the instep in the beginning.

Although my foot is flat type, but it still presses my instep. But after breaking-in, it will be comfortable. If your foot is high instep, it’s better to have a try before purchasing.

The fit of forefoot is good, but the forefoot is a little empty. The vamp is made of chamois and mesh fabric. So the strength of vamp is not strong.

But due to the tie-down straps on the middle of vamp and plastic stiff plate on the vamp, your foot can be locked well in the shoes.

The tie-down straps design is similar to Harden Vol.3. But it’s thicker than Harden Vol.3. Its durability and fit will be better.

And the outside plastic stiff plate design is similar to Harden Vol.2.  But the area is smaller. It can reduce the weight of shoes, and also keep its effectiveness. So the design of these two parts is good.

But as it’s mesh fabric vamp, it’s soft, the supporting performance is not good.

Although it doesn’t have built-in padding in the shoe heel, but the fit of shoe heel is still good.

Adidas give us Boost technology, and change to Light Strike. The first pair of shoes which use Light Strike technology is Next Level. I love it. My feeling of Next Level is, although Light Strike is not so soft as Boost, but it’s stronger.

The insole of Harden Vol. 4 doesn’t have big lightspot, but also doesn’t have big disadvantages. The starting speed is fast. And the material of rear sole is thick, we can also see the obvious deformation when stepping on it with pressure.

As the forefoot sole is not thick, the cushion is bad. The cushion performance of rear sole is enough for me, but it should be unsuitable for the guys whose weight is above 85kg.

My foot is flat type. After playing about 5 minutes, my foot is getting hurt. But my friend still feels good. So it should be unsuitable for the guys who are flat foot.

The crystal outsole is a little stiff, so the abrasive resistance is good. But the traction performance in the inner court is bad. But the traction performance is great on the outdoor court.

Overall, the performance of Harden Vol.4 is good, it doesn’t have obvious disadvantages. But it’s not perfect. As there are not many basketball shoes for defenders, so I think the actual performance is above average.

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Detailed Look and Review：Adidas Harden Vol. 4

Today we want to show you Adidas Harden Vol.4. Let’s have a look at the basic information firstly:

Size: US9

Unit Weight: 410g

Size: A little big, but not bigger than half size

Shoebox

The white shoebox with gold Harden logo and Adidas logo.

The colorway that we want to show you is the black and gold one.

The pink one looks pretty

To be honest, I don’t like it at the first eye, I think that the whole black vamp with golden decoration is too monotonous. But after taking a good look at it, I find that it’s similar to Puma Clyde Court Disrupt which also don’t have nice colorway.

It has some details which can get higher scores.

The shoe head is chamois leather, then the vamp is made of thinner mesh fabric, a big area of elastic fabric, and chamois leather. As it uses several materials, so it can have more different colorways.

The forefoot and shoe heel part use chamois leather. It can fit the foot well. The position of monopodium uses elastic fabric. Actually Harden Vol.3 also uses elastic fabric, but the position is near to instep.

The plastic plate on the outside is different with other Adidas plastic plates. No matter the signature shoes or team shoes of Adidas, the outside stabilizing plate is usually on the outside connects with insole and outsole. But the stabilizing plate of Harden Vol.4 is on the vamp.

We can see the shoe collar is a little narrow, but Harden Vol.4 don’t have the lining. And the shoe heel has the surrounding TPU. The shoes can fit the foot very well.

Comparing with Harden Vol. 3, it uses more material on Harden Vol.4. It’s an improvement.

Harden Vol.4 abandon Boost, but using the new Adidas technology LightStrike.

We can see that the performance of LightStrike of Next Level is good, although it’s not perfect, but it’s not bad. It gives Adidas more confidence to proceed this technology.

The shape of Harden Vol.4 is similar to Mitchell, low front and high rear model. And the forefoot has the subby design to improve the feedback of breaking though. The rear sole is thick, it can increase the cushion performance of rear sole.

If you still remember that I’m unsatisfied at the thin insole of Harden Vol. 3. The cushion performance is bad. If you are heavier weight, then it will be unsuitable for you. So the insole material of Harden Vol.4 is a big improvement.

Except these normal design, the LightStrike on the part of toes make a division for better starting and breaking through. And the insole has upturning design on the middle part to improve the stability and anti-torsion performance.

Although it doesn’t have obvious insole supporting plate, but after trying, I find that the strength is good. It should have the supporting plate on the sole.

The outsole of Harden Vol. 4 doesn’t use the herringbone, but dense grains. It’s made of stiff rubber. The traction performance should be not good.

Overall. Except changing the insole material, Harden Vol. 4 is all-around upgrading comparing with Harden Vol.3. And it will release more colorways in the near future. We’re expecting that Harden Vol. 4 will be the good beginning of further Harden series shoes.

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Adidas Harden Vol. 4 Performance Review

September and October are the exciting times for the NBA fans and sneaker aficionados. The NBA is going to begin the matches, and the signature shoes are released. Adidas released the new signature shoes for Harden—Adidas Harden Vol. 4.

Appearance:

The colorway is black leather vamp with the symbolic Adidas red, blue and white logo decoration.

The Adidas logo on the shoe tongue is also red, white and blue colorway.

The TPU on shoe heel is “DESIGNED WITH JAMES HARDEN”, which means Harden also participate in the design of Adidas Harden Vol. 4.

The shoe-pad, shoe heel and outsole are printed with Harden’s logo.

The outsole “0001.9.59.11.12” is James’ mother’s birthday.

The lining of shoe heel is embroidered with “HASSAYAMPA 106 STREET”. It’s said that it’s the address of barber shop that James usually go there for haircut.

Cushion Performance

The biggest selling points of Adidas Harden Vol. 4 is the new insole technology—LightStrike, which has been used on N3XT L3V3L. The main feedback from market is the high cushion performance.

▲Adidas N3XT L3V3L

Now Adidas Harden Vol. 4 give up the BOOST, but using LightStrike to replace it. Many people should be worried the actual performance of LightStrike.

After testing, we think that you don’t need to worry about it. The feedback of LightStrike is faster than Boost, and it’s softer than Boost. The feedback is positive.

Adidas Harden Vol. 4 is very comfortable. The feedback of forefoot is fast, the thickness of forefoot is a little thin, but it doesn’t affect the actual cushion performance.

The feedback of rear sole is also obvious. You can feel the feedback even on walking. So I’m satisfied at the cushion performance of LightStrike.

When playing basketball games, I feel that Adidas Harden Vol. 4 is really comfortable. This kind of insole is very suitable for breaking through. It’s customized for Harden.

The outsole is elastic and soft. It doesn’t use herringbone or concentric stria, but using transformative gridding. The inspiration comes from Harden’s pace. It can offer support to urgently stop.

The Adidas sneakers always have good anti-torsion performance, Adidas Harden Vol. 4 is not exception.

Good Fit

The main material of Adidas Harden Vol. 4 is mesh and leather. The shoe head is covered with leather to increase the stability and fit. Of course, it looks better.

It continues the wide elastic cord design as last generation, but changing the position above instep to make it fit better.

It’s also easy to put on for the guys who have high instep.

But Adidas Harden Vol. 4 also has the same problems as other Harden series shoes. After fastening the shoelaces, the foot are restrained.

The front 3 shoelaces’ holes are on the silver fixing plate. So after fastening the shoelaces, it’s put forward, then the instep will be restrained.

Overall, the performance of Adidas Harden Vol. 4 is great. But we suggest you to try it on physical store to feel its lacing system. After playing a few basketball games, LightStrike insole will make you impressed.