Are these underrated? I think these are really criminally underrated shoes. These are super comfy, very nice on feet, easy to pull off with most casual attires and relatively affordable. But I do not like this specific Be True colorway.
I think these shoes are the most comfortable airmax shoes and may even be some of the most comfortable sneakers of all time.
I really loved the Purple Dawn pair and ordered them in this Feb (their Members only sell period), I really loved them in person, but I had to return the Purple colorway as these were insanely small for size 10 US shoes.
I think other than that, there was nothing to complain about these shoes. These shoes are comfy, affordable, seem very well-made and I think never crumble unlike the other airmax or Jordan retros. The white midsole of these shoes seems to be some sort of eTPU or possibly the Zoom X foam, which is some sort of PEBE (the chemical concoction may change from model to model though) and will not crumble any time soon.
Unlike the most retro Air Max shoes, these are really comfortable modern shoes, there are nothing like these from Nike or any other major sneaker brands.
The Ultraboosts are a bit similar to these Preday's in terms of ride and cushion, but I think the Preday's look much more unique (also cheaper).
The NB 2002R's are bit like them in terms of ride, but these do not look as futuristic as these Preday. And again, the Preday is about 40 dollars cheaper than the NB shoes.
I was almost ordering the NB 1906R Marine Blue pair, but I decided to get a few pairs of cheap Nike and Puma sneakers instead, and I think I made the right decision this time.
I really love the 1906R, but I think many of these are overpriced. These NB shoes are not very durable and not really practical shoes as they cannot take much of rain, they look really well-made, though. So, I think it is no longer worth considering the 2002R's or the 1906R until the BF sell.....or until I get my BD discount code from them.
New Balance shoes are expensive, especially in Asia and Europe, I think they are overcharging and ripping off Asians.
They sell the 991 or the 990V6 for 34800 yen here, which is roughly equal to 300 USD. I think it is just too much.
Sure, the 990V6 are really comfy, but I do not think these are better shoes than these cheap Nike Vomero 5 or Puma Velophasis suede, let alone the NB's own 90/60 or even 860 V2.
The material quality of the premium 90/60 is simply awesome, I think it is even slightly better than the NB 990V6 or even the v4.
Some of the NB 990 V3 colorways may have a bit better thicker suede than the GR 90/60's but these shoes normally cost more than 34800 yen here.....and the V3's are not very comfortable shoes compared to shoes like the Ultraboost 5.0, the Nike Vomero 5, the NB's own ML860 XC or ML1906R, etc. The V5's and the V6's are really overrated shoes in my opinion, and if they were not made in US, no one would rave about them.
So now I think the NB Made series are no longer worth considering, at least in my area. The new inflated price for these Made shoes (except for the 991 and the 920) is just unacceptable for many of us, to me it is getting even ridiculously expensive or overpriced.
I think 24800 yen may be the right price for these NB Made in US 99X here, but I think they will charge 38000 yen or like that or even more anyway. For that crazy high price, they must be much better than they are now. The quality of these Made shoes have deteriorated (noticeably so) in this decade.
It used to be really good in the 90's but now it is no longer worth the Made badge.......these shoes are not even made in USA or UK, just assembled in there anyway.....
Nike is at least brutally honest, all their shoes are cheaply made, sure, but they do not hide that. And if you dislike that you can always return any of your Nike shoes.......and Nike does not even ask you any reason for your return...just refund or exchange anything you dislike for you.
The current NB shoes boom at Reddit, Nike Talk, etc. are really odd, it is becoming like a cult....Now you cannot challenge or disagree with them. They seem truly believing in NB quality or superiority, but there is no such thing as NB Quality.
And most of those guys obsessively loving NB Made and accepting the high price of NB Made are naive new shoe shoppers. They compare a cheap pair of Nike or Adidas to an expensive Made in US or UK NB to conclude Nike or Adidas quality is trashy....but if you compare the shoes in same price range across the brands, almost all brands' shoes are made identically bad. There is no clear NB quality superiority or anything like that.
In fact, both Adidas and Saucony seem to be better, with a lot better material for the money.
Anyway, I think these New Balance Made series shoes are overrated these days, and not worth the new inflated price (especially if you live in Asia or Europe).
The material quality has deteriorated over the last three or four years, and now Puma and Saucony both offer clearly better-quality suede than even the expensive NB shoes for their under 100 US shoes.
In regard to pure everyday comfort, I think these Predays are actually better than most of the NB 99X shoes. For me, the NB 990 series shoes are just too wide, and I prefer snug-fit shoes.
So, in my opinion, the Nike Airmax Preday and P6000 are really underrated shoes, they deserve a bit more respect.