Jordan True Flight review

Don't let the Jordan True Flight fly away if you are:

• Looking for a comfortable and ankle-hugging shoe to walk around town for hours.
• In need of a durable pair of trainers that look extra stylish.
• Absolutely in love with hooper aesthetics.
• On the hunt for a pair which is wide-feet friendly.

Regardless of the True Flight's status as a "real Jordan" or not, we believe there are better shoes to hoop in. For a start, they are branded as a casual pair on Nike's website, and after conducting this thorough review, we agree. We believe they are okay to play casually from time to time, but if you want to take bball seriously, as shoe lovers we need to tell you to check our basketball shoes catalogue to find a performance model.

As a high-top, this shoe might feel too heavy for some people. It has a stiff and ankle-hugging structure, which we understand it's not everyone's cup of tea. You might want to check some low-top trainers instead, or have a look at our lightweight casual pairs.

This shoe felt close to the ground yet cushioned to us!

Our calliper marked 27.1 mm, which is slightly lower than average. However, we never felt this pair lacked cushioning or underfoot comfort. We really enjoyed every walk around town with it!

And... we even tried to hoop a little bit in it. As it's a Jordan and it features a full-length Nike Air unit, we just couldn't resist it! It went okay, and even though you should have a look at actual basketball shoes if you want to play basketball (the True Flight is just a pair of trainers), we felt supported throughout the game.

The forefoot stack is slightly higher than average according to our calliper.

At 20.0 mm, the long Nike Air unit adds a couple of mm that felt really soft underfoot!

These Jordans heel and forefoot stacks left us with a drop of 7.1 mm.

This is neither negative nor positive, it just depends on your personal preference. If you're interested in this and want to know more, we've got you, here's our guide to understand the different drops better!

Even though it looks a little bit flat, the Jordan True Flight features a soft midsole and a Nike Air unit that provide cushioning.

When we pressed our durometer against it, it returned 32.3 HA, which is slightly higher than average. Overall, we really enjoyed its cushioning, and found it perfect even for long walks around town or busy days running errands!

To see if the True Flight's suede parts were made using authentic material, we grabbed our butane torch and scratch awl. Let's get the party started!

As you can see, even though the burning flame took its toll on it, the material didn't end up all sticky and melted. This means Jordan used authentic suede here!

Most likely in order to reduce this shoe's overall weight, the True Flight features a thin insole.

We were definitely not impressed when our calliper returned 4.1 mm. Still, we found this pair really comfortable, and you can always change the insole if you don't like it!

The 102.6 mm our calliper marked when we measured these trainers' toebox width at the widest part made us jump on our seats.

We are already used to Jordans being apt for wide-footers, but every time we get a pair and analyse it, we are happy to re-find it out.

Just by looking at this shoe from above when we wore it during our wear tests, we could already guess it wouldn't taper like crazy.

In other words, its toebox doesn't get super narrow towards the tip. Instead, it keeps a nice round shape that let us move our toes comfortably. Not only in every landing, but also in general, as there's actually plenty of space.

At 79.8 mm, we believe the True Flight offers enough space for wide-foot sneakerheads. In our experience with our standard-width feet, it's a very comfortable shoe, and we could feel the extra space in the toebox.

This comfort we got from the extra room in the forefoot is great for casual use, but we believe it might not be the best for narrow-footed ball lovers who want to give this shoe a shot on the court. Why? Well, most likely because the shoe might feel sloppy at the forefoot!

The high-top design of these J's provided great stability to our feet.

As you can see, it stopped our ankle from overextending, exactly as we expected from its durable and embracing structure.

Now, even though this is not a performance basketball shoe, it does have specific features associated with those. Are you thinking about the high-top? Well, you're kinda... right and wrong! That type of structure used to be very popular, but it had to be the one and only Kobe Bryant who started the trend of low-top hoopers.

It's true that some people and/or athletes feel safer with shoes that feature this bigger structure, but there's no scientific evidence on the topic. If you want to know a little bit more about this, maybe you can check our guide out!

Just as we expected, the True Flight showed an incredibly high level of torsional rigidity. We tried to bend it and twist it, but it was pretty much impossible for our fingers.

We can say this is mostly thanks to the rubberized walls it features! Apart from its durable materials, of course. But wait, let us show you a picture so you can see them better.

Do you see those spiky parts that look like mountains? Apart from offering protection, they go all the way up to the upper to improve support. And it works!

Taking all that into account, we've given this Jordan pair a 5/5 on our torsional rigidity test.

Despite its high-top structure, the True Flight doesn't have a lot of padding in the heel area. When we tried to make it bow, it complied without any problems.

Still, the collar structure embraces the ankle, and the top eyelet provides a snugger fit if needed. So, let's go through this once again: Can you hoop in this shoe? Yes, but theoretically you can hoop in any shoe. Would we advise you to do it? As shoe lovers, we can't. We believe there's a shoe for every occasion, and even though the True Flight might be ok to play for a little bit, we would much rather use performance hoopers.

When we measured this shoe's midsole width in the forefoot, we couldn't believe our eyes.

Our calliper returned 115.1 mm, which is an incredibly high score. We believe this is thanks to the sole flare this shoe has in the ball of the foot.

The midsole width in the heel is also higher than average at 86.5 mm, according to our calliper.

We loved the space these Jordans gave to our feet! Its hooper soul shone brightly thanks to this wide base, as it helped us land comfortably after every step.

The True Flight's tough structure wasn't easy to bend at all. But ah well, nothing we didn't already expect!

It actually required 40.9N to go all the way up to 90 degrees, which is almost twice as average. This translated into requiring a little bit of a break-in period before the shoe could give us its best. Also, the ride wasn't as smooth as with other pairs that are more flexible, lighter, or that have a low-top design.

You could tell. We could tell. Literally everyone could tell. This former hooper is heavy.

Our scale returned 15.8 oz/449.0g when we took it to the lab, and wow, that is a lot. This sturdy pair didn't feel light on our feet, but we didn't mind it that much.

It's true that if we had to be walking the whole day, its high comfort levels would kind of make up for it, but our feet would get a bit tired. However, we're talking about a high-top shoe here, so of course it'll be more on the heavy side than low-top ones!

Right after taking it out of its box, we can't say we expected this shoe to be very breathable. However, it was ready to prove us wrong!

Our light test showed us that we might as well be right, but our smoke machine and microscope still had a few words to say!

Oh, wow, wow, wow. Wait a second right there. That's a lot of smoke coming out of the bottom of the True Flight's tongue! We were really happy about this, and even though its toebox didn't really let the smoke come out, the tongue acted as a wonderful substitute.

We still can't compare it with the shoe on the right, though. The Adidas Astir is an expert on our breathability test, as it scored a flawless 5/5!

We grabbed our microscope to have a closer look at this shoe's toebox material.

And what can we say... there are no pores or ventilation holes over there! In conclusion, we've given these Jordans an average 3/5 on our breathability test.

To see if the True Flight's suede parts were made using authentic material, we grabbed our butane torch and scratch awl. Let's get the party started!

As you can see, even though the burning flame took its toll on it, the material didn't end up all sticky and melted. This means Jordan used authentic suede here!

Our Dremel was ready to give its all on our first durability test, so we put it over the toebox and started drilling.

During 12 seconds, this poor Jordan pair was being attacked with 3.2N of force and at 5K RPM.

And this was the result. Honestly, we're not complaining at all! The toebox faced the tool like a champ, and even though it ended up with some unavoidable damage, its resistance was admirable.

On the left, we have the Jordan True Flight, which scored a 4/5 on our toebox durability test. And on the right, we've got the New Balance 530, which... ended up with a hole in its toebox! It was so bad we could only give it a 1/5 on this same test.

After this Jordan's great performance on the previous test, we had high expectations regarding its durability. And there's only one way to find that out: turning our Dremel on!

We moved the tool all the way back to the heel padding and started drilling. This 4-second torture at 5K RPM and with 3.2N of force made this shoe's lining fly away, but once again, we were pretty happy with the result.

It looks messy, but trust us, it showed great resistance to abrasion! In fact, let us compare it with the New Balance 237's result.

There you go! On the left, we have the Jordan pair and its well-deserved 4/5 on our heel padding durability test. On the right, the New Balance shoe and its all-time low 1/5 on this same test.

Look at the difference!

When we pressured our durometer against this shoe's outsole, it marked 87.4 HC.

This is an average result, which means these trainers will most likely offer a healthy mix of durability and grip.

But hey, both these features have their specific sections in this review, so no spoilers!

We got our hands on the Dremel one last time to see if this shoe's outsole was as durable as our durometer indicated.

Going all out at 10K RPM this time, the tool started drilling non-stop for 22 seconds.

Once we were done, our tread gauge showed the dent had reached a depth of 1.1 mm. This is pretty much average, so even though we can't say this outsole is the most resistant to urban surfaces, don't worry, it won't leave your side any time soon!

The brand went for a thinner-than-average outsole in these Jordans.

Our calliper returned 4.7 mm, which doesn't sound like much, but it's just enough to protect this shoe's midsole from the harsh asphalt.

The J's have always been a force to reckon with, and regarding traction... our experience is telling us they are a couple of beasts!

The multiple patterns of its outsole offered us a fantastic grip on every single urban surface, no matter which direction we were going or if we changed paths in the blink of an eye.

As you can see in the first picture, its herringbone design has different widths and directions, as well as a dotted area on the inner forefoot. Dividing those zones, we've got deep flex grooves that make the whole structure more flexible.

In conclusion, the True Flight's traction is just wonderful. We just couldn't be happier about it!

Lights off!

As you can see (no pun intended), these J's don't have any reflective elements.

Our Dremel was ready to give its all on our first durability test, so we put it over the toebox and started drilling.

During 12 seconds, this poor Jordan pair was being attacked with 3.2N of force and at 5K RPM.

And this was the result. Honestly, we're not complaining at all! The toebox faced the tool like a champ, and even though it ended up with some unavoidable damage, its resistance was admirable.

On the left, we have the Jordan True Flight, which scored a 4/5 on our toebox durability test. And on the right, we've got the New Balance 530, which... ended up with a hole in its toebox! It was so bad we could only give it a 1/5 on this same test.

The 8.9 mm of tongue padding this Jordan has made its overall comfort level up.

Our instep was nicely protected, and we didn't experience any kind of lace bite. As you can see in the picture, the padding is uniformly spread throughout the piece, so it didn't matter if we laced this shoe all the way up to the top, or if we kept it low: it was never uncomfortable!

The brand made the right choice adding a finger-loop in the heel of this Jordan.

The main reason why is that it has a high-top structure, which is a design harder to put on than a low-top, for example.

A fully gusseted tongue hugged our feet as soon as we slid them in.

We really liked the support this detail gave us, and thanks to the couple of wings the True Flight features at the top (the two black flaps we're grabbing with our fingers), we could comfortably expand its opening.

This came in handy, as these J's materials don't really give in, so they can be a little bit stubborn to put on!

If you need or want to use your own orthotics, the True Flight won't have any problems with it.

This shoe features a removable insole that you can just change whenever you want to.