Adidas Harden Vol. 7 review

This signature shoe from James Harden and Adidas suits the following:

• guards who are quick on their feet and appreciate low-to-the-ground forefoot constructions
• bigger players who want impact protection and lots of lateral support
• players who need shoes that have a really strong bite on the hardwood
• athletes who play on both indoor and outdoor courts
• buyers who have a little leeway for pricier shoes

The Adidas Harden Vol. 7 is not going to be the best pick for those who want well-ventilated kicks. They are better off wearing the Adidas Dame 8. 

Another good pick that we can recommend is the Adidas D.O.N. Issue #4. Both of these basketball shoes are also lighter than the Adidas Harden Vol. 7, so those who are not happy with the Harden Vol. 7's weight may go for these options.

The Harden Vol. 7's breathability definitely has to be improved. During our tests, smoke could barely pass through the upper material. It's only the tongue that offered just a bit of aeration, and this is the only reason it got a 2 out of 5.

Even light found it hard to shine through the upper material.

Upon closer inspection with our microscope, we saw clearly that there are just no perforations in the upper.

The upper material is so closed that you might as well be wearing a cardboard!

It's clear now that the non-breathable upper offers another good thing: noteworthy durability. Our twelve-second Dremel drilling only went through the colored first layer. It got a 4 out of 5, and it truly deserves it!

The Adidas Harden Vol. 7 is indeed a jackpot for players who drag their toes a lot. Compared to the damage suffered by the Adidas Harden Stepback 3 after the same test, the mark on this shoe just looks superficial.

Adidas Harden Vol. 7 (4 out of 5) vs Adidas Harden Stepback 3 (3 out of 5)

The durability of the heel counter padding is out of this world. Our Dremel test was no match for it; it's a perfect 5!

Post-test, the heel counter just looks like its feathers only got ruffled the wrong way. No structural issues whatsoever.

This shoe's outsole hardness is just around the average. It got a rating of 82.9 on our HC durometer in the lab. 

Though this is not the best shoe for the outdoors, using it there once in a while wouldn't hurt.

Durability really is this strong highlight. After doing some Dremel drilling in the lab, we saw that the outsole incurred only 0.5 mm of damage. This makes it 55% more durable than usual!

The 0.5 mm damage is way way lower than the damage seen in typical basketball shoes. We do not have any reason to doubt this shoe's durability, and we are definitely going to use this shoe outdoors to our hearts' content.

It's a pleasant surprise that the Adidas Harden Vol. 7 delivers all the durability that we enjoyed without having a specially thick outsole.  Its outsole is only 3.5 mm based on our lab measurements, making it slightly thinner than average. 

It's such a bummer that this Adidas shoe really packed some weight. Even the Harden Stepback 3, which we already consider to be just a teeny bit on the heavier side, is lighter than this!

Our scale reported it to weigh 16.4 ounces or 466 grams. It's definitely heavier than the typical hoop shoe. Our first steps definitely felt heavy, and it really took some getting used to.

The midsole brought us closer to the ground, allowing us to feel the courts better. Back in the lab, we've seen that the heel stack is thinner than usual at 27.5 mm.

Because of this setup, we are able to improve our agility and control.

Just like the heel, the forefoot is also on the thinner side. Our caliper measurements revealed that it's significantly thinner than average at 18.2 mm.

The drop was measured to be 9.3 mm, and it was particularly supportive of our heel strikes and forward motions.

The moment we put this Adidas basketball shoe on, we already noticed how soft the midsole is. Calling it a pillow for our feet still felt like an understatement!

After we assessed the midsole softness using our HA durometer, we were pleasantly surprised by the results. The device gave it a rating of 11.0, making it a good 58% softer than average. 

The removable insole is slightly thinner than the usual. Fortunately, the reduced thickness did not have any significant effect on our experience because of the uber-soft midsole.

We had so much confidence in how the shoe clasped our feet during our test games. The sidewalls were sturdy enough to keep our feet in place even as we moved quite intensely up and down the court.

After doing some manual twists in the lab, we learned that this shoe is a 4 out of 5 when it comes to torsional rigidity. The firmness of this shoe's base helped us a lot in maintaining stability. Not once did we have to worry about painfully twisting our feet.

Just by feeling it with our bare hands and feet, the heel counter did not give us any reason to doubt its capacity to secure the rearfoot. After giving it a good squeeze in the lab, we were left with no other choice but to give it a 4 out of 5. This rating makes it better than the majority of hoop shoes that we've ever played on. 

A good deal of the stability that we enjoyed was because of the wider-than-average platform of the Adidas Harden Volume 7. As per our caliper measurements, the platform is 116.4 mm wide at the forefoot. 

The width of the platform at the heel is even more noteworthy. It adds 12% more to the average. Now, that's a lot of extra space for great stability.

That its supportiveness did not sacrifice flexibility is a noteworthy benefit of the Harden Vol. 7. Using a digital force gauge, we learned that this shoe needed only 34.6N of force to bend at 90 degrees. This is much lower than the amount of force needed by the typical hoop shoe.

During the games, this flexibility allowed us to move much more freely. The shoe was perfectly able to accommodate the peculiar but natural flexions of our feet.

During our test games, we never had issues with grip. Whether we wanted to turn or just stop abruptly to make a stable block, we got all the help that we needed from the outsole.

A close look at the outsole revealed that it's the ripple patterns on it that ensured multidirectional coverage. It must be noted that dust had the tendency to stick to the outsole, but just a wipe or two and we were again good to go.

We have to say, the Adidas Harden Vol. 7 is a treat for wide-footers. At its widest part, the toebox measured 108.2 mm, far wider than average.

This shoe did not have the usual problem of tapering too much toward the tip. At the big toe, the toebox measured 85.1 mm. This width is again far greater than usual.

The sock-like design of the tongue was one of the main reasons support was never an issue. It also prevented debris from getting into the shoe, especially when we were playing outdoors.

We noticed that the tongue padding is way lower than usual. It's only 4.7 mm thick based on our caliper measurements in the lab.

The Adidas Harden Volume 7 is equipped with a heel tab that helps us to put on and take off the shoe with ease.

The removable insole afforded us more space should there be a need to wear orthotics.