Adidas Intelligence Shoes

They look awesome.
An intelligent shoe that calculates your height, weight and gait and supports your foot accordingly.
I have got to get some of these.
They have computer chips in the sole and a motor that supplies the pressure where required.
Expensive at 175 but how cool!!!
The future's bright, the future's ADIDAS...

Comments

  • Then the chip goes pop and you got A heavy pair of trainers that do nowt.
  • Agreed.
    Durability is going to be an issue.
    But I have to say that standard shoes have a shorter life span than i would have thought.
    It would be interesting to see if adidas state how many miles they should last.
    In fact, do any manufacturers state this, or is it user info. that bands these numbers around ?
  • Would it depend on weight and running style?
    Got to say im quite lightfooted but I reckon I could knacker them.
    Off for a run to knacker me now.
  • for £175 I'd rather but 3/4 pairs of my normal trainers and knacker them.........seeing as they only last about 300 miles with my weight........
  • The future's bright, the future's b*ll*x.

    the question has to be... yeh but, why?!
  • These ahould only be available from JJB
  • Adidas should just give up trying to make proper running shoes.. Most of them are complete rubbish......
  • CraigB I am sorry but you are talking absolute b*ll*x again

    Adidas do make running shoes and good ones at that!!

    They might not suit you but they do a lot of people!!
  • well i think its great that a company is trying to use technology to make better shoes.
    If no-one had done this before we wouldn't today have "gel" and "air" - i suppose people like ed_m would have touted these as B*ll*x when they first came out so there you go... (yawn)
  • Again Hopey? Have I put your nose out of joint somewhere else then? I don;t remember but there you go.

    There was me thinking that this was a forum for people to express an opinion...I have owned 4 different pair of Adidas shoes and they were all crap.

    I was also part of the UK pre-release trial for these shoes and my opinion of them was that they were not good, for various reasons, not least of which the supposed computer controlled support was all over the place, if you ran on any surface other than the road.

    I am also trialing the Saucony Grid Triumph 3 on pre-release at the moment and they are a better shoe for a under 1/3 of the price.

    Save your money people, they go in the same category as the new Reebok pumps.....Fashion items.
  • I've run in Adidas Response and Supernova. all pairs were good, but just did not suit my foot shape in the end...

    However, I'm more skeptical on the computer part of the comput controlled shoe... Give it 10-12 years. However, most punters are unforgiving and will only take 3 or 4 versions of it before they reject it utterly. It might take 6-8 to get something even remotely worth having...
  • Last time I read one of your posts craigb you where saying adidas shoes where rubbish and that they don't make proper running shoes.

    I'm not on about this adidas computer shoe, you say that adidas don't make proper running shoes and I was disagreeing with this. I have 2 pairs of Adidas Supernova Control, I've got a pair of the swoop (feel shoe) which I use for cross country and I have a pair of the Trail shoes.

    If Adidas don't make proper running shoes, why do so many 'proper' runners run in them?

    I have tried all makes of shoes, Nike, Asics, NB, Saucony etc etc and Adidas are the best road shoe for me. So I persume I'm not a 'proper' runner as I don't have 'proper' running shoes.

    Please tell how you know that Adidas don't make proper running shoes.
  • Sorry CraigB but there's nothing wrong with Adidas running shoes.

    I've been running in them for over 10 years and I've never had any problems.
  • I think the point is, (from my point of view, do you see, it's an opinion I am expressing) that Adidas make crap running shoes based on my experience of them.

    I'm glad you get on with them, but I just don't.

    Incidentally my worst pair of shoes ever were supernova controls! Man the blisters! Horses for courses I guess..
  • Yes I see it's an opinion that you are expressing.

    and what I'm saying is that just because they don't suit you doesn't mean they are crap.

    You never answered why they aren't proper running shoes?
  • They are proper running shoes that's obvious, otherwise I wouldn't have bought them or tested them in the first instance. In my opinion they suck though, most certainly the latest ones do for the money.

    I agree though that because I think they are crap doesn't mean you do, or anyone else does.
  • Craig,

    So you have shoes on pre-release testing. Do we get to see your words of wisdom anywhere about shoes?

    I shall try to remember to treat comments about shoes that you have had input to with a little skepticism.

    To my mind testing should try to determine if things are no good, but be wary of stating strongly that they are no good if what it really means is this doesn't suit my particular needs.

    Simplistic arguments maketh the author look simple, even this one :-)

  • Dave, I think the idea of pre-release testing has exactly the opposite goal.

    The companies need individual feedback, whether they suited the tester. Shoes are tested by the average target wearer, and the feedback is specific to the user. If they don't suit me or my running style after selecting me as a typical runner based on my profile then they are doing something wrong.

    The comments from pre release testers only steer possible alterations, they aren't published for the very reason that they are individual opinions.
  • So pre-release Adidas is crap, but by the time they're released they're good? ;-p
  • " i suppose people like ed_m"

    and pray tell what am i like? !

    if you beleive maximum cushioning on a running shoe is a good thing then gel & air were advances that improved the shoe.

    i can't see how actively changing the cushioning of a shoe is of any benefit:
    - my weight doesn't fluctuate THAT much!
    - my gait even less so.
    - terrain? well i run trail ok in road shoes, unless they change the tread automatically i can't see a benefit.

    so back to the OP.... and the my unanswered question.. why?

    "An intelligent shoe that calculates your height, weight and gait and supports your foot accordingly."

    what is accordingly?
  • By people like YOU I meant sceptics.
    This is a concept that "could" alter the way shoes are made in the future.

    Actively changing the support of the shoe dependent on your own physical shape, running chrachteristics and the surface underfoot must surely be the most bespoke form of shoe one could have.
    Yes your weight doesn't fluctuate that much, nor your gait but it certainly does compared to the next man who happens to fall within the traget audience of a particular kind of current shoe.
    If the upshot of this development is a shoe more bespoke to you then that's good, right ?
    The "accordingly" means "for YOU ed_m"!
  • nrg-bnrg-b ✭✭✭
    £175 buys me 8 pairs of Puma H Streets and I have 15 quid left over for a Beer & Curry.

    ;-))

    Seriously, the intelligence is already in the runner.
  • so they make a realy expensive shoe that can adapt itself to tom dick or harry.

    tom buys a pair, it adapts itself over the first 50miles and lies dormant for the rest of ts life.... dick buys a pair, it adapts itself over the first 50miles and lies dormant for the rest of its life... harry goes to the pub.

    no benefit to tom dick or harry compared to buying the right shoe in the first place?!


    sceptical yes.. for the reasons i've explained.

    a bespoke shoe would need to be alot more than variable cushioning to be worth £175!
  • I was in a local shoe emporium today (fashion, not sports) and picked up a 1970s pair of Asics. I don't think many running shops would sell them now as the vast majority of runners wouldn't wear them. The reason is that technology has changed and shoes have simply got better in every way.
    Similarly we don't drive 1970s Ford Escorts or gather as a family around the radiogram.

    Whether this new Adidas idea takes off or not, we'll just have to wait and see. I for one applaud them for trying - how do you know if it works unless you give it a bash ?

    Not sure why there's the strength of feeling against it. If you don't want to try then don't - you may be right.
  • it's called change, and some people are frightened of it..
  • it's also called marketing and branding

    many products are released by big companies as a way of drawing interest to the company (branding), and not necessarily because the product offers any significant advantage over what has gone before........

    that fact that Adidas have slapped a chip into the shoe is embracing modern consumer electronics........"oh look - it's got a chip in it - must be better" sort of approach.......it generates interest


    it may work, it may not, it may have a future, but I guarantee that it will get people interested and loads will shell out £175 for them making Adidas a load of money and keeping their brand image up there against Nike, Reebok et al.....

  • Personally I'm not a fan of adi shoes - but I know that every runner is different and some makes fit people / work for people better than others.

    My biggest issue with the adidas_1 is that I don't see the point. Your body's natural running action accomodates differences in surfaces it is running on - the brain knows if it is running on a soft surface as opposed to a firm surface and reacts accordingly. It will do this in a split-second, whereas the adi shoe will change the cushioning only every 8 steps. I can only think that this will inhibit the body's natural understanding - the brain can know what surface you are running on, but it is not going to know how and when the shoe is going to react to this and firm or soften.
  • As an exercise it may be interesting but the technology isn't good enough yet.

    The only reason to buy this shoe is because you like gimmicks and you have more money than sense.

    In the future though - who knows ?
  • Our body is amazingly adaptable and can cope with running on all sorts of different surfaces. I can't help feeling that we should be designing shoes that work with the body's natural adaptability rather than against it.
  • I do agree with some of the comments on here - you have to applaud companies for trying new things.

    It does seem as though anytime something new comes out, many people are inherently against it.

    My advice is to keep an open mind and give it a go. If it suits you, fantastic. If it doesn't, try something else. Fair enough, the variety of shoes on the market does indeed make it difficult to select the one that is perfect for you, but at least you know your perfect shoe is out there...somewhere!
Sign In or Register to comment.