I’m very pleased when I saw Curry 6. After HOVR is launched, I am expecting the effect of HOVR on basketball shoes. The first pair of basketball shoes with full-length of HOVR–Curry 6 was launched in the begining of 2019. Curry has weared Curry 6 several times. He should be favorite of it. So is Curry 6 worthy for us, the Curry’s fans to except?
The shoebox of Curry 6 is gray. Curry’s logo is on the middle of box cap. The other position of the shoebox is printed with UA logo and Curry’s signature.
This pair of Curry 6 is red, is named by “Heart of the Town”. It is for saluting to Oakland, the city where Curry grew up and gave him so much energy before. It’s an affectional tie between Curry and Oakland.
Curry 6 is still low model as last generation. This design style is also used on Curry 5. It’s foreseeable that this design style will be future mainstream of Curry line. The bright-coloured and passionate red embellishing with black details make the shoes to be arresting.
The outsole of the sneaker use concentric circles with longitudinal straight grains. The traction is visibly excellent. There are some details on the outsole, such as Curry’s three kids’ name, “I Can Do All Things”on TPU and Curry’s signature, Curry’s logo on arch and UA logo on heelpiece.
The heelpiece part is with Curry’s logo：
The heelpiece part is with UA logo：
The shoetongue position is printed Curry’s motto “I CAN DO ALL THINGS”:
My first impression of Curry 6 is light. The vamp is made by weaving material. The insole is with full-length HOVR. So the weight can be light.
The features of vamp with weaving technology is light and thin. The vamp position is stiff. The shoe head position has leather to protect the toes. The shoe tongue is soft. It will be easier to wear it. Normally the integrated shoe tongue design is hard to wear and get off.
The key point of Curry 6 is HOVR in insole. The construction appearance of HOVR is reticular.
For the lacing system of Curry 6, except the traditional shoelace holes, Under Armour has creatively tied the shoelaces to the elastic nylon braid which wraps around the shoe body. It’s to enhance the dynamic wrapping performance. The lacing system of Curry 6 is similar with Curry 3.
Under Armour make separated outsole for Curry 6. The separated outsole is for enhancing the traction and flexibility. With full-length Speed Plate technology, the performance of insole is more comprehensive.
In order to provide more comprehensive evaluation of Curry 6, I weared “Armour” series socks to test.
Frankly, the wrapping performance of Curry 6 is excellent, especially after wearing the Armour socks.
It’s worth mentioning that you don’t need to choose bigger size for Curry 6. The size of UA basketball shoes let me fell confused sometimes. So I choose half a size bigger of Curry 6 for testing. But I find that I don’t need to do it. The size of Curry 6 is normal.
The shoe body of Curry 6 is made by integrated vamp and inside & outside modules. The present integrated sneaker is mainly made with knitted vamp and covering with TPU, rubber, support plate. The heelpiece part is made by foam padding, outside rubber module and inner support module.
Cushion:
Most of people mainly pay too much attention on cushion when choosing a basketball shoes. But it will let them to miss the real shoes that fit them.
Under Armour affirmative disclosure that Curry 6 pay the main attention on feedback and traction capacity. If you want great cushion, please don’t choose it. Curry is not soft and elastic enough. The cushion is not excellent, but enough.
HOVR has showed its elasticity on previous UA Running series. The designer evaluated Curry’s playing way, then change HOVR to make Curry 6 to be more suitable to actual combating demands of linebackers.
Last Curry signature shoes with cushion technology –Under Armour Curry 3 give me great impression for the comfort level and cushion technology UA HOVR Phantom. I still can’t forget the feeling of HOVR on foot till now.
Curry 6 increase the density of HOVR to avoid the deformation. Although it’s not soft enough, but it’s better than Curry 4 & Curry 5. The cushion is similar to Curry 3. It will be excellent for the pitchers who is not heavy
Abrasive Resistance:
For abrasive resistance, The translucence crystal outsole of Curry 6 is not better than rubber material. Curry 6 has great performance on outfield, but also wearing down the material after improving the competitive intension.
The outsole grain of Curry 6 is competitive. The space between the lines is big, so Curry 6 may clamp gravels.
Curry 6 has great performance on transverse and longitudinal traction. You can stop in time. But the abrasive resistance is not very good. The outsole grain has small abrasion after one week’s testing.
Support/Stabilization: surprise
Frankly, Curry 6 as a sneaker for defender has such excellent support and stabilization without carbon fiber plate, which is pleasantly surprised. Curry as a top level of breakthrough and shooting basketball player, he has high request for support and stabilization.
Curry 6 has full-length Speed Plate technology outsole, which can support the outsole well. The TPU stabilization system on heelpiece is also excellent. The two designs on the different positions bind the foot well with the shoes. What is the top level defender sneaker? Curry 6 is the one.
Overall
Curry 6 is good accurate positioning sneaker. The enough cushion and light vamp reduce the weight of the sneaker. The full-length HOVR is the main selling points of Curry 6. But after wearing, you will find that it has many shining points.
This sneaker is very suitable for the players who runs a lot when playing. Meanwhile, some players who love Curry, want to emulate Curry’s playing style and have the habit of wearing ankle guard will love the actual combat experience of wearing Curry 6.
The“Heart of the Town”colorway is for saluting to Oakland. The bran-new Curry 6 is for saluting to the all-powerful MVP Stephen Curry. Hopefully, under Curry’s influence, more people will be able to enjoy playing basketball.
Category: UA Curry 6
Under Armour Curry 6 Performance Review
Recently, Under Armour launched Curry 6 for its basketball player Stephen Curry at the end of 2018. As the signature shoes of the most famous player on Golden State Warriors which is the current best team in NBA, Curry series keeps Under Armour basketball shoes series’ high standard, and it also gives high support for Stephen Curry in the basketball court.
When a sneaker is named Curry, with the appearance with sense of speed and matching with Under Armour’s new insole technology HOVR, even people who are not so interested in basketball and sneaker cultures are eager to have a try. So what’s the improvement of Curry 6 comparing with last generation? What is the newest technology which offer the support? After getting Curry 6 “Fox Theater”, as an amateur, I have tested and offer below some reviews of this sneaker for your reference.
Appearance:
The first color scheme is stunning. The designer of UA Curry 6 is Leon Gu who has ever designed Curry 2.5. The dominant tone of this Under Armour Curry 6 “Fox Theater” color scheme is black， with the embellishment of gradually varied green TPU support plate and nylon rope etc. It’s inspired by Auckland’s landmark building FOX Theater. It looks like the neon lights of Fox Theater in night. I love this creativity. Curry is also satisfied at this inspiration of putting the elements of his hometown city in the shoes.
It embossed Curry’s personal logo SC30 on TPU support plate. The color of hot melting nylon rope on vamp is luminous yellow, which is very eye-catching. The shoe sides still use the hottest ankle socks cuff design. The insole part is made of the initiative energy mesh covering the core technology HOVER. The design of overall appearance gives us a sense of speed to the sneaker.
▼ Curry 6 designer Leon Gu
▼ The appearance has the sense of science fiction and speed.
Traction & Technology
There are three glittering points of Curry 6. The full-length HOVER foam is required for Curry’s playing style. Curry needs to run about 2.3 miles per game, that’s why Curry wants to design a sneaker that looks more like a running shoes for himself. This sneaker has full-length HOVR technology, which is conducive to cushion and energy feedback. This is also the greatest technology lightspot of this sneaker. Moreover, as Curry need to turn, do deceptive movement and other movements frequently, it requires the sneaker to have great traction. Curry 6 uses the separating outsole to increase the land area. Meanwhile, it uses Speed Plate technology to increase the traction.
The force of friction on outsole is great. When I wear Crry 6 and imitate Curry to do sudden stop, the sneaker can be stop and move in time. The sneaker behaves well when testing the sprint and sudden stop shooting at the basket. It owes to the special grain design on the outsole. The left side is grid mode and the right side is longitudinal mode, and assisted by the special grain design of Y and #. The grain design make it has great traction capacity.
Material
▼ The composited vamp with multiple density fabric
The different density and elastic strength fabric matching with hot melting , the tongue which is made by rubber and leather, and the heelpiece support which have reinforced the different parts of the shoes.
Full-length knit is used from heel to toe. There are some fuse overlays in the standard high-wear areas such as the toe along with the reinforced sections along the eyestay so the laces don’t rip through the knit.
Cushion
Full-length HOVR cushioning is used in the entire midsole. After Micro G and Charged, the newest cushion technology HOVR is used on Curry 6. Also, it’s a bit different from the HOVR Havoc, which housed the HOVR foam within an EVA carrier. The midsole cushion is definitely one of Curry 6’s lighspot . With HOVR, Curry 6 has the energy feedback and good elasticity. This has been proved by the prior sneaker which has used HOVR. After wearing Curry 6 to play basketball, it’s not soft enough as what I image. Certainly, running and playing basketball are two totally different sport. HOVR can offer high starting speed to you. But if you are a bouncer, you will feel that this sneaker is not very soft.
▼ HOVR material is used sufficiently
On a personal level, having played in every Curry shoe made thus far, this is the best they’ve done at giving a little bit of something for everyone. If you prefer the low profile feel of the previous Curry models, then you won’t be disappointed with the Curry 6. However, if cushion has been the one thing to stop you from trying a Curry model, then the Curry 6 will change that.
▼Offical Design Draft
Fit
As this model is not high-top, it’s easy to wear it. The first time that I wear it, I lace up the shoes too tight. But after loosing a little, the vamp won’t press the instep. if you’re already accustomed to knit basketball shoes, you will like this model. It’s not overly stretching (KD11) or overly stiff (Kobe 9) but it’s a good balance of strength where you need it and flex where you’d want it.
As the type of this sneaker is a little long, you won’t feel tight. You just need to choose the normal size that you used to wear.
Supporting & Protective Capability
The supporting capability is mainly reflected in supporting the knee after jump shot, bounce and other actions. Curry 6 has great supporting capability. After 5cm bounce, I hasn’t felt the bouncing pressure on the knees.
The protective capability is mainly for protecting the ankle, and protecting the feet when turning and twisting.
Curry 6 is low sneaker. The vamp is still knitted. Although it adds a hot-pressing reinforcement on the shoe head, but Curry requires that the sneakers need to be light. So Curry 6 is not heavy. Of course, the designer hasn’t given up the protection due to light model. The hot-pressing reinforcement, reinforcing lace and the outsole can fix well the sneaker when turning. But if you want the perfect protection, it’s better to put on ankle guard. After all, Curry 6 is designed for nimble full back.
Overall
Generally, Curry 6 has been improved a lot comparing with last generations. It’s suitable for full back who prefer to do the actions and running. It’s very suitable to Curry. But it’s not so suitable for the heavy center forward.
Traction and support are what Curry models are most known for and the Curry 6 is no exception.
The base of the shoe is fairly wide and flat for stability, while flex grooves are carved into the outsole to promote natural motion. You sit within the majority of the midsole while the lateral section has been extended to act as an outrigger. UA also implemented a TPU support plate which they call it a speed plate, that helps reinforce the HOVR and also acts as a full-length outrigger without restricting mobility — something spring plates are known for as they’re implemented directionally underfoot.
As far as I can see, this sneaker has fast starting and great traction. That’s enough for me. Hope this simple review is helpful for you to choose.
