- 600
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- Aug 16, 2002
Performance Reviews
Protege Stackjack and A3H Playoff
Protege Stackjack and A3H Playoff
Protege Stackjack
Click the thumbnails for a larger view.
Starting with the upper, the shoes are really comfortable right out the box. No break in time is needed at all. Part of the reason they were so comfy wasbecause the upper was flexible in all the right places. The 'action leather' parts of the upper give good support up along the sides and also give gooddurability and some protection with its toe design. The gator print portions of the upper are pretty flexible and are located in all the right spots for goodflexibility without problems like the upper digging into your toes (which I've experienced with the Zoom Kobe III and have seen from another NT'er withthe Hyperize). See the second image above to see the well-designed placement of the materials. Fit was very good, both front-to-back or side-to-side. The meshtongue is padded nicely and the lace width and angle up the foot are perfect for getting a good perch on the foot. For me, the cut is good - not too high,causing any rubbing when rotating your ankle, and not too low. I had no problems with the upper after a total of 4 hours of play, there were no inner seams orhard spots causing any discomfort. The perfs on the upper aren't as functional as they could be because you can see a layer (that isn't mesh) beneathit, but breathability wasn't an issue. Considering the price, the upper does a great job at working well without any problems and with a great design toboot.
Moving down, the sockliner used in the Stackjack is a plain sockliner but with soft foam under the rear half. This gives a really nice and cushioned feel forwalking, kind of similar to the heel in the adidas T-Mac, but doesn't do much for basketball. Since this is one of Protégé's earlier shoes, itdoesn't use the dual density sockliner found in its newer models. Next, the Stackjack uses a CMEVA midsole. The first thing I noticed about the midsole washow low to the ground it felt and how good the court feel was. But, amazing court feel can come at the price of impact protection, which I found to be the case(could be because I'm normally spoiled with Zoom Air). Cushioning in the heel was adequate under normal play, but from harsh movements or landings, I couldfeel some discomfort in the heel running down the court later on. In the forefoot, I found the midsole to be somewhat thin, and experienced some discomfortunder the ball of me feet and big toes during play. In the midsole, the shoes have a pretty solid internal shank stopping the shoe from flexing/twisting underthe midfoot. This is pretty good considering the price point and also considering some of the higher end shoes still have this problem (try bending the ZoomMVP).
Lastly, Protégé skipped on crazy outsole designs that might look cool but not work well and kept it simple with the tried and true herringbone pattern. TheStackjack also has outriggers on both the inner and outer sides for some proprioceptive feedback. The material is soft enough for them to flex a little andnever edgy, which I thought might be an issue with the inner outriggers.
As a whole, the shoe is super lightweight. Maybe equivalent to the Hyperdunk or Zoom Soldier III (I don't have a scale)? But, that obviously comes at theprice of a thin midsole with poorer impact protection. Overall, the shoe is pretty good with only one real shortcoming. I think a TPU distribution plate (which we saw in a training prototype) and/or a polyurethane midsole orsockliner would help in giving better cushioning, at a small cost in weight. I think the design is original and looks pretty sweet. It especially looks goodwhen on the foot, looking down. When you find them on sale for $13, you can't go wrong. I no longer wear them for basketball but wear them casually often.It's also a 'rare' shoe in Canada with no Walmarts North of the border.
Protege A3H Playoff
Click the thumbnails for a larger view.
Starting with the upper, the A3H is also comfortable right out the box. The upper is a little stiffer but breaks in quickly. One of the first things I noticedwas the ankle coverage is on the low side, especially at the back, giving lots of freedom for movement. The cut on the back might be a little too low as Iexperienced an awkward pressure on the base of my achilles / top of my heel from that extra piece of padding stitched on the back (only on the right footthough, it may be because it was stitched too low from manufacturing.) It kind of felt like I didn't have the shoe on all the way. The second image aboveshows the low height at the back and the extra achilles padding.
The lacing itself is simple and effective at securing the foot and preventing slip in any direction. Although some don't like it, the use of the syntheticgator embossed material is beneficial for fit since it won't stretch like real leathers would. With the addition of the crossing straps, you can get addedlockdown for an even more solid feel. The A3H also has a nice TPU piece that wraps up the heel on the lateral side, which is stiff enough to help prevent yourfoot from sliding off the footbed. I found the toebox to be a little more cramped than I would prefer. [ I'm not sure, but maybe the midsole in the playoffversion was changed. A couple NTers said they found the original A3H to be thin with hardly any cushioning. A change in the midsole for the Playoff editionwould explain both the heel height and toebox issues. ]
Moving down, the sockliner of the A3H was identical to that in the Stackjack but the midsole is quite different (in a good way). The midsole is also CMEVA butit is hidden and is also thicker than that of the Stackjack. The added thickness is definitely good as I found the cushioning did a much better job in soakingup most impacts while court feel was still good. I've only worn them for a total of 3 - 4 hours, so how well the CMEVA will hold up in the long run isstill unknown. The A3H also has a solid internal shank for torsional rigidity. Like the Stackjack, the outsole uses good old herringbone with lateraloutriggers which worked for me without any problems (it probably helped that the court I played on was very clean, too). Overall, the shoe is on the heavy side(not Lebron IV heavy) but wasn't a problem.
All in all, for a $35 shoe (or $25 on sale!), I'd say the A3H competes quite well against higher price point counterparts, in both performance and looks.The design of the shoe is great, especially in this colorway. The black nubuck goes well with the black gator embossed material giving a subtle difference andthe blue stitching is a nice NYK touch (see the last picture above.)
Bonus… Here's a comparison between the regular A3H and the A3H "Supreme"
