u/CaregiverLife2495

Hey kobereps! A while back I purchased these through an agent with yolo66 and I’ve put about 100 hours of work into them so why not make a review

In my personal opinion, the Venice beaches are in the top 5 best kobes of oat. Although the looks are very nice, cushion is very disappointing. The Kobe 8 sacrifices cushion for a lightweight feel snd great court feel. In my opinion thats just stupid, there are plenty of modern hoop shoes that are both light and packed with cushion such as the wow 10s and ja 3s. The drop-in felt very stiff for the first 20 hours of playing in them. One tip that did help plush up the insole was actually microwaving them 2-3 for 1 minute intervals and stepping on them after to speed up the breaking in process. So for cushion I would give it a 3/10

Now the fit. What I noticed with gx kobe 8s are the laces are 60 percent shorter than retail. You can barely double knot them. But once you do, the narrow fit secures your foot nicely so for lockdown I would give an 8/10

Moving onto the traction. Straight out the box the 8s had great bite. It did struggle on dust a bit but a couple wipes fixes the issue. Since it’s a translucent outsole it’s bound to pick up dust but my solid rubber pair still looks crisp. It doesn’t squeak crazy loud (doesnt affect traction) and it js quietly does its job so I would give it a 7.5/10 and for solid rubber outsoles 9/10

Finally durability and retail comparison. I’ve had no issues on durability at all and they have broken in perfectly well. But the shape is completely off to retail. On feet no one can tell but comparing to any retail, the outrigger is too wide and the laces are too short and anyone with experience could tell from one glance.

In conclusion. this is a great shoe if you don’t care about cushion thar much and care more about court feel and traction. For the same price I would highly recommend an ox Gt cut 1 anyday of the week.

Feel free to ask any questions 🤙🤙🤙