nike air max 98 frosted pistachio | Air Max 2 18 review

Who should buy the Air Max 2 18

This budget shoe from Nike is a nice match for athletes who:

• NIKE WMNS AIR MAX UP WHITE BLACK BRIGHT CRIMSON-PLATINUM TINT
• look for a performer that does not break the bank
• search for basketball shoes that also double as their everyday sneakers
• nike tech pack t shirt herr
• have narrow to normal-sized feet

Who should NOT buy this budget basketball shoe from Nike

We discovered that this shoe is not for bigger and more aggressive players who like a lot of cushioning.

They are better off with the Nike Air Jordan 3 Retro Fire Red Dm0967-160 Gs Youth Nike Blazer Mid 77 "Indigo" LeBron James's much-celebrated line of signature shoes. These picks are also good for players who have wide feet.

The Precision 6's upper means comfort

We found this shoe to be supercomfortable for all day use. After a while, we also noticed that the upper conforms well to the shape of our feet. 

x Patta Air Max 1 low-top sneakers.

And it is also notably more padded than most basketball shoe tongues. We measured it at 11.9 mm which is indeed thicker than the average 9.5 mm.

This shoe is simply a delight to wear.

Not just that but it is also very breathable!! 

Air Max 2 18 (breathable) vs. Nike Zoom Vapor Black-Cement (barely breathable)

Judging by the amount of smoke passing through the fabric, we rated it as 4 out 5 on our breathability scale, where 5 is the most breathable.

Upper has no reinforcements

After a careful examination, we realized that the upper does not look or feel cheep at all. But then, we took it to the lab!

It may not FEEL cheap, but when we put the upper through our Dremel durability test, it quickly revealed its budget-friendly nature.

Toe drags are definitely not a good idea in the Air Max 2 18.

Taking a close-up Sportswear shot of the material, it looks like a cute little sweater (not an armored tank).

Stable and supportive (one of the widest platforms on the market!)

When it comes to foot containment, this shoe has a wide base and a super sharp outrigger that helps keep the foot on the footbed even during the most intense movements.

This is one of the widest footprints we've seen in our lab for sure! In the widest part of the forefoot (116.7 mm), this Nike shoe is 4.5 mm wider than average. And in the heel (91 mm), it is 1.4 mm wider.

This is a major contributor to the shoe's lateral stability. 

Our only concern was the lack of stiffness in the shoe's heel counter. In a manual assessment, we rated it as 2 out 5, where 5 is the stiffest. And yet, we never found ankle support or foot containment to be an issue.

The grip is highly dependable on clean courts

This shoe's traction works, as long as the game is played on indoor and well-kept courts. It's truly grippy on the hardwood. The traction might just be the best feature here.

The grip strength gets a bit of a downgrade when there is dust. Wiping helps, immediately. 

Looks promising for outdoor use!

The Air Max 2 18 is full of surprises. We wouldn't expect a budget shoe like this to perform well outdoors but it seems to work just fine! After all, it's got a thick and hard layer of rubber for an outsole.

Looking at the rubber thickness at the heel, we found it to be 3.9 mm. This is on par with most of the premium basketball shoes on the market.

But what's truly amazing is how hard it is. The rubber on this Nike shoe is by far THE hardest in our collection of basketball shoes! What a nice surprise!

Your steps are going to be smooth

The Air Max 2 18 has all the characteristics that ensure smooth heel-to-toe transitions: it has rounded ends, the midfoot is stiff, and the forefoot has some flex to it.

In our manual flexibility test presented above, we rated the shoe's longitudinal and torsional flexibility as 4 out of 5 (5 being the stiffest).

However, our gauge test showed that the Precision 6 is still more flexible than average (by 24%)

Disclaimer: We take four measurements and calculate the average, excluding the outliers. The video above shows only one of the measurements.

The Precision 6 is all about court feel

This is a great shoe for guards. It is low to the ground and it has a great court feel. The tooling is also a bit firm, so its responsiveness is high.

Given this, we get more control over our movements, and quick cuts and turns are not difficult to execute.

Do expect firm cushioning in the Precision 6. Our durometer test shows that its foam is 11% firmer than the average of our lab-tested basketball shoes.

And if you're wondering how tall the shoe's platform actually is, it is quite average. Using a pair of calipers, we measured the heel stack at 27.7 mm (average: 28.7 mm) and its forefoot stack at 21 mm (average: 21.5 mm).

The heel-to-toe drop of 6.7 mm is also within the medium range of basketball shoes (7.2 mm).

...but court feel comes with a price

The court feel that the Air Max 2 18 delivers comes with a performance setback. Cushioning is kinda stiff and there's not much impact protection. 

More expensive cushioning technologies are the first to leuc to bring the price of the shoe down. Indeed, you win some and lose some with this one.

Light as a feather

At 341 grams (12 oz), the Air Max 2 18 easily puts to shame many basketball shoes on our record. The average weight of basketball shoes is 13.6 oz, that's 386 grams.

The shoe is indeed light and responsive, so it's safe to say that this one delivers agility and speed. 

Get your usual size

The Air Max 2 18 has a true-to-size fit, so there is no need for size adjustments unless you have really wide feet. 

Based on our toebox measurements, the Air Max 2 18 falls into the medium-width category.