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Alright, it's time to look at the Yonex Comfort Z3 and Infinity 2 badminton shoes
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You're going to find them interesting. Previously in my Yonex badminton shoe reviews, I've looked at the Aero Z, the 65Z and the Ecliption Z
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which are three of the top-end badminton shoes Yonex produces. Now, with the addition of the Comfort Z and Infinity 2, this completes Yonex's high-end badminton shoe lineup
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at least on the international market, of course. I'm going to start with the Infinity 2 first and thanks to Yonex UK for sending me this
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sample to test. The Infinity 2 came in a special black box, which also included some instructions on how
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to use the BOA dials on the shoe, all in Japanese of course
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I understand that normal customers aren't getting this box and what's inside and this
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makes me a bit sad as it'd be nice to get something that's different to the usual Yonex
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shoe box, especially considering the price of this shoe. For the comfort Z, it arrived in its usual Yonex badminton box and thanks goes to Central
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Sports for sending me a pair to Tess. Remember to use my discount code CKYW if you're shopping with them
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In terms of looks and design, the Infiniti 2 straight away goes into one of the best
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looking badminton shoes for me. There are three colours to choose from but the red is certainly my favourite and the Boa
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Dials fit the design of the shoe really, really well. The outer layer of the shoe, which Yonex calls durable skin light, gives off a light shine
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and it looks crisp. The Boa dials with its golden centre reminds me of the Adidas Fivanova football used in the 2002 World Cup and confirm gold golds really well with red
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Even the woven laces from the Boa dials come in red and white accents which matches the shoe really well
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Another cool design section is the pole tab on the back of the heel section, again with gold lettering telling you what shoe you have
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Besides that, there is a muted section on the textured inner foot showing some of the
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Yonex technologies that's gone into the shoe and also where it was designed in Tokyo. Nice
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Infinity also has a matching insole which is bright red and I wonder if the blue model
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has its insole in blue too. The insoles are not the wavy insoles found in the 65 and Eclipse series, but similar
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to the Aero's models. You'll see quite a lot of similarities here as we go along
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Other design features would be the 3D power graphite sheet which is also visible on the
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outer side of your foot arch in addition to the traditional location which is on the bottom
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of the shoe. Another ARIUS similarity on this Infinity would be the lack of venting mesh on the bottom
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of the shoe like the 65 and Ecliption. This isn't an issue obviously as there are plenty of ventilation on the top side of the
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shoe but do note the Infinity has a bootie construction which is similar to the Ecliption's
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in a sense. On the soles of the Infinity we can clearly see the power cushion plus from its window
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on the heel section but I was slightly disappointed to not see any radial blade soles on the outsole
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as I liked it very much from the 65 and Ecliptions and I do think it's a better sole design
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compared to the hexagonal outsole Maybe the collab and development cost with Boa was very high hence the Onyx couldn justify increasing the cost further by having the radial soles but maybe next time If we look at the Comfort Z and wow the contrast between the neon yellow and orange to the blacks on the shoe is very good looking indeed
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I initially preferred the look on the ladies white version, but the longer I looked at this black one, the more I liked it
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In terms of the shoe upper, it looks like Yonex has gone for a pretty durable and hard-wearing rubber-like synthetic material around the high wear area in the toe box section
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The upper also isn't as soft and flexible as the Aerie shoes, as the comfort feels like it's got thicker materials to protect and provide comfort to your foot in this case
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Obviously, we're back to laces instead of bore dials on the Comfort Z, but the laces are designed with a slight curve to better fit our foot around the upper area of our arch
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and the laces are pulled through the eyelets which are moulded onto the upper of the Comfort Z itself
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You can actually feel the yellow streaks underneath the mesh on the upper side
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which is similar to Nike's Flywear concept, where the pressure from the tied laces are spread evenly through the whole shoe for comfort and stability
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The Comfort Z also has a pretty big heel support which stands out, but felt reassuringly snug when you put on the shoe, so no problems there
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The usual top-end Yonex materials and designs such as Power Cushion Plus, Power Graphite Sheet
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and the Radar Blade soles are all on this Comfort Z, so that's good to see. The insoles on this Comfort Z is the same as the Infinity 2 with the grippy material instead of the wavy ones
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Also, as you can see, no ventilation holes on the bottom of the Comfort Z
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In terms of weight, one of the things that struck me immediately when handling the Infinity 2 was just how light the shoe was
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Obviously, you've seen me note some of the similarities of the Infinity 2 to the Ares Z
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Zs, but I wasn't too sure what to expect in terms of weight as I've never tried one
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before, but this is certainly a good surprise here. The Infinity 2 I had for testing was half a size down compared to my usual size, so it's
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a UK size 9 instead of my usual 9.5, and weighted at only 315g a side, which is very impressive
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For reference, the Aero Z was at 288g per side, which is very light, and the 65 was
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345 grams and the Ecliption Z was 366 grams per side. Unsurprisingly, the Comfort Z came in at about
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370 grams per side making it the heaviest shoe out of Yonex's flagship lineup but the amount of
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material I'm padding on the Comfort Z should give you some reassurance there. Now let's go test some
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shoes. You all would have known I've been testing these shoes for a while from the many of my previous
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videos and this is why I don't release shoe reviews very quickly as I need to spend enough
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time with the shoes to be able to give you guys an accurate feedback
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First off is the Infinity 2 and it very very quickly became an addictive pair of shoes
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and it was all down to one simple thing, not needing to tie shoelaces
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I was surprised at myself how often I unconsciously went for the Infinity 2 even though both pairs of shoes were in my badminton bag as they arrived at the same time This was especially true if I late for a session warm up and as soon as I get to the courts I able to immediately slip on the Infinities tighten the bore dials and off I went
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It was addictive and very much classified as a first world problem
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To verify how silly I sounded here, I went and timed how much time I spent putting on these two
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pairs of shoes and it came out to 35 seconds for the Comfort Z and it was just about 18 seconds
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for the Infinities, so half time there. If you're someone who already has some former
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Boa Dahl shoes, can you verify your time savings in the comment section below so I can confirm
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it's not me who's gone crazy here. In any case, I was loving how snug the Infinity 2 felt. Yes, this was with the additional
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half size reduction compared to my usual size, but I liked how much ease and control I have
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with the feeling of the Infinity wrapping around my foot, especially on the top side. The Infinity
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The Infiniti 2 also felt very similar to the Ares Z in a sense that you feel quite low onto
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the floor, similar to like an F1 car, compared to say the 65Z, which you can feel the layers
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of extra cushioning and height. Movement felt good and controlled and I was able to adjust how snug I wanted the shoe to
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wrap around my foot. I'm also quite certain that the Infiniti 2 will not fit people with wide feet, as I don't
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think I have wide feet, but these are already very snug on me, so anyone with wide feet
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I'm sorry, you're going to have to be tying shoelaces. Additionally, I would have preferred the radial blade soles on
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but the grip from the traditional Neonex hexagon soles are well proven, so no firsts there
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However, one problem I immediately noticed was the top strap digging onto my foot
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when I squat down and bend my feet. Obviously, the squat I'm talking about isn't the squat you do at the gym with the barbell
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but it's the squat when you're lowering yourself down to talk to kids or squatting to look at something on the floor
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We don't normally do these squats in normal badminton unless you're stretching, but I thought I'd point it out
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Another thing I noticed was if you do anything that has the boa dials close to the floor
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like a butterfly stretch or sitting cross-legged, it's not going to work for you as the boa dials
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are touching the floor. And you will feel two dials pressing against your foot, which is pretty
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uncomfortable depending on how hard you're going. I've had to swap onto a traditional pair of shoes
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when I'm stretching after my badminton sessions, so that's the downsides of the Infinity 2 there
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But outside of these two small niggles, anyone who loves the Aerie shoes will love the Infiniti too
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For anyone that questions if the Boa dials have any issues with its laces slipping or
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causing the shoe to loosen itself, personally I didn't feel the laces loosening itself
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much at all during my usual 2 to 3 hour sessions, either it'd be training or my usual BAMIN
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and club night. They match the tightness of any good grippy shoelaces, if not better
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If you ever feel it loosening, you can always just simply add a few more clicks onto the
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the BOA dials and you would have tightened it back up again. But will it last more than 6 months of constant use you ask
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And that's a really good question. I had Infiniti 2 since July and have been worn 1 sessions a week thus far with no issues at all But what reassures me is this pair of Yonex Safe Run 350 that also has a BOA dial that I been wearing since March and this
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shoe gets abused so so much more. I use that shoe multiple times a week and they're on
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for anything between 8-14 hours sometimes and I've been travelling a lot with it too
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This pair of shoes was with me when I was in Malaysia in May, and so they've gone through
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airports, planes, trains, walking, hiking, running, even badminton has happened on this shoe
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And the right BOA dial on my shoe has only started to need just the extra few clicks of tightening after every couple of hours
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So I think they've proven their durability well there. And if you think what happens when the BOA dials eventually does fail
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snapped its laces or dials don't tighten anymore, well, I found that BOA do provide replacements and spare parts
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So simply go on to boafit.com and go through the spare part ordering process
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It's as simple as inputting the information on your shoe in there and you end up with the
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right model of Boadal for replacement. Yes, they're not cheap, but at least you can replace them and continue enjoying your shoes
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For the Comfort Z, they remind me a bit of the Ecliption, although the shoe doesn't
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feel as clunky there. Sure, they're slightly heavier, but I think Yonex has beefed up this latest generation
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of Comfort Z to increase its durability, as I've heard of previous generation Comforts
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wearing out from players, especially around the toe box section. This beefing up also resulted in the comfort Z feeling slightly stiffer in both its cushioning
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as well as its upper. Yes, it's not in areas where the upper is super soft, but it's just a touch stiffer
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and certainly will not pinch your foot when it creases. For the stiffness of the soles, you might want to break and bed the shoe in by wearing
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and walking it around your house before using it on court for the first time
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I think this increase in stiffness across all levels is good for confidence and reassurance
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especially if you're a heavier player. around the court knowing your shoes will protect you from slippages inside and out is always
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confidence inspiring and very important for me. The insoles like I said earlier were very
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grippy and the outsole was the radial blade sole which I think certainly is a step forward
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So loving the grip there very much. The bigger heel support also felt very comfortable and
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stable, didn't catch at all so that was a win in my book. In terms of ride height
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I would say the comfort Z was slightly lower than the 65 making you feel closer to the ground
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but not as much as the Ares and Infiniti. I believe this Confidence Z provides players with another option for a good, comfortable
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durable shoe, in addition to the Ecliption Z. I think Yonex is doing a good job by providing us with lots of options for shoes for players
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with different requirements, although the Infiniti 2 is very steep in price, especially
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in the UK. But it looks like it's probably Boa that's charging a lot for the proprietary tech, looking
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at the replacement costs. Let me know what your thoughts are with these two shoes. My little hope is for Yonex to bring the radial blade souls to the Aeros and Infinity in the
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next iteration, whenever that drops. Till then, I'll see you in the next one
