Performance Teaser: Jordan Son of Mars

“What the hell are those?!?”

I got that a lot while I took these out on-court.

Traction is fine at the beginning but translucent outsoles seem to collect and absorb much more dust & debris than your typical solid rubber. Front to back, traction was perfectly fine… cutting, curling around screes and quick direction changes were a bit lackluster – especially once you factor in some good old fashioned dust.

My main issue is the same that I have with the Air Jordan V… a sloppy forefoot fit. No matter how tightly I tied the laces and harnessed the midfoot strap, my forefoot just couldn’t stay secure… once your feet start to perspire it gets a little worse as well.

Those Air Jordan XX midfoot straps… didn’t do much at all. When comparing them directly to the Air Jordan XX’s strap they are almost identical in thickness so I’m hoping they’ll prove to be more useful in that model… if not I’m already disappointed and I won’t be getting to the XX’s anytime soon seeing as how I’m currently on the AJV.

This last bit I just thought was a little odd… not too horrible as it’s completely reparable but I was only able to lace up my left shoe to the top eyelet… and not by choice. During the manufacturing process it looks as if they had forgotten to complete the top lace hole on the right shoe – just the medial side, lateral side was finished properly. I’m surprised I hadn’t noticed the issue until I put them on before playing; usually I catch mistakes like that before making a purchase. It didn’t affect their performance much but they definitely offered greater heel lockdown fully laced to the top rather than one section below.

Basically, they’re very similar to the AJV’s performance. Despite their looks… the Jordan Son of Mars is actually playable if you wanted to use them on-court. That giant strap doesn’t do much of anything but everything else actually works out perfectly fine.