Summary
Overall, these shoes are a winner in my opinion. Light, comfortable, durable, and grippy. Nothing wrong with the price either!Construction and Ventilation
The shoes are made of fabric on the side panels and top of the foot, with special tougher fabric reinforcement on the toe and heel. The bottom edge of the shoe is covered with about half an inch of rubber, and the sole is made of ribbed rubber.The shoes provide enough ventilation to avoid getting sweaty feet from just standing around or walking. No guarantees if you are playing a hard match - if the rest of you is sweaty, your feel probably will be too! Seriously though, the ventilation is OK.
Cushioning, Comfort and Support
The Stiga Speed-Grip ping-pong shoes are quite comfortable to wear, provided you aren't going to walk in them all day. The cushioning is fine for playing table tennis matches, but too thin to be comfortable for lots of walking around or hours of training. I keep mine for matches only.If you are a player who needs table tennis shoes with lots of ankle support and stability, these are not the shoes for you. These shoes are supple rather than stiff, and will allow your ankle to move freely. This suits me just fine though.
Grip
The grip is pretty good. The shoes have a soft rubber sole with a zig-zag ribbing over most of the surface. This provides good traction without being too sticky or slippery. The only exception is on truly dusty floors, but then just about any shoe will slide on really dirty floors anyway. The ribbing on the sole is still in good condition even after all this time, with no obvious spots that have been worn down.I also have never had the problem of the shoe sliding if I accidentally stand on the edge of my shoe when placing my foot. I've worn other shoes which tend to skid if you do this, but the Stiga Speed-Grips have rubber trim on the bottom edge for about half an inch upwards, which stops you from slipping.
Weight and Flexibility
The Stiga Speed-Grips are advertised as a very light table tennis shoe, and they aren't kidding. They remind me a little of the old Double-Coin shoes, which were so light that you almost forgot you were wearing them. They are also just about as flexible, since you can bend the rubber sole in half at just about any point along the sole. One big difference between these shoes and the cheaper Chinese shoes of old is the durability, which I'll discuss below.Durability
After wearing these shoes for many months now, I'm favorably impressed with the durability of these shoes. They seemed pretty lightweight at first, and I was prepared for the shoe to have disintegrated by now. But apart from some ripped stitching around the ankle on my right shoe (which has had no effect on its usability), they are still in very good condition.Even the inner soles are still intact, which is something of a miracle for me, since I usually manage to wear through inner soles at the big toes pretty quickly. The Speed-Grip inners are still smooth and wear-free (although I can't comment about the smell!). I am sure that some of the shock absorbing qualities of the shoe would have been lost by now, but again, that is true of any shoe after many months of use.
One other thing I noticed is that there is an second layer of rubber reinforcement around the toe of the shoe. As someone who tends to drag the toes of his back foot at times, this is a godsend, since it means that I haven't worn out the outside toe of my shoe prematurely.
Value for Money
At around $50 US for a pair of Stiga Speed-Grip shoes, this offers excellent value for money. While not the perfect table tennis shoes (they could use a little more cushioning for my taste), Stiga have produced an inexpensive shoe that still delivers the goods.Conclusion
A very good table tennis shoe, with no real bad features. Provided you don't need lots of cushioning or support, well worth a look.Interested in Purchasing Stiga Speed-Grip Shoes? Vendor Website
