Victor A970 NitroLite [2024]

[s_mair]

After pretty much exactly two years with my beloved P9200II, it was finally time to get a pair of new shoes.

I chose the A970 Nitrolite, mainly because I really liked how they looked in pictures.

First impressions are really good. Pretty wide toebox, middle wide mid foot area and a super comfy heel cup with some extra achilles padding. And the colours are just amazing:

The only thing that is still ridiculously bad are the insoles. They still use these paper like thingies with slim to none cushioning. For 170 EUR sales price they could really afford to add some proper insoles for Lin Dan‘s sake.

I have a pair of my trusted Spencos ready to go, so it doesn’t bother me too much. Anyways I’m really looking forward to getting on court with them soon.

 

[DinB]

I just bought the white version (worn by Anders Antonsen) because it looks amazing. I tried them on at the store and they felt great. This is the first A series from Victor that I bought. I had a knee injury a few years back so my go to shoes were P series, my favorite being the P9200II.

My first impression of the A970 Nitrolite is the cushioning. It feels great around the toe and like the OP said it has extra cushioning at the heel cup. This gives the same feeling with the P series like the P8510 or the new P8500II. What distinguishes it is its weight and the lighter feeling. Maybe because of what Victor market as Nitrolite, the shoe can afford as much cushioning while still being light.

I have 2 main issues with this shoe. First, the toe box is a bit tight. Despite being labelled as V-shape standard 2.5 like the P9200II, I think the P9200II has more room in the area. This is perhaps due to the extra cushioning of the A970 Nitrolite. However, this issue might just go away after I "break in" with more sessions (fingers cross!). The second issues is a bigger one for me. With the padding at the heel cup, I felt like there is extra space around the ankle area. This causes an unstable feeling around the ankle, which is something I dislike. Victor also does not have extra holes to tie the "runners knot" which could have tightened the ankle area. The P9200II somehow got away with this for some reason. I managed to tie the laces tighter to lock my heel, while this felt impossible with the A970Nitrolite.

I will need more time with the shoe to evaluate its durability. The white color gets dirty easily though, so I have to choose "cleaner" courts to play with it.

In sum, I think the shoe fits the all-around category, leaning a bit towards a more cushioned side while maintaining its lightness. The downside is its stability could be a bit compromised, and the V-shape could be a bit tight depending on your toe shape.

 

[DinB]

Nice review by CK. For those wearing white socks, watch out for blue stains at the heel

 

[ucantseeme]

The only thing that is still ridiculously bad are the insoles. They still use these paper like thingies with slim to none cushioning.

Tbh I also discovered that the quality of Victor insoles decrease with every model in the last 10 years. But this is not only Victor related, I also get this impression in any other running shoes/sneakers this occur. These cleaning sponge in some asics trail runners or the superglued paper insoles in Adidas shoes is something the whole sporting shoe industry is lacking. Regardless if Nike, Adidas, Asics, New Balance I personally got only in a model of Pumas an insole which deserves the name insole a few years back.

On the other hand I discovered that too cushy insoles lead to more movement in the shoe and less stability on landing after jumps. Especially when you move a lot on the forefoot too much cushion cut down the explosiveness.

Here the insoles of my last few years from my Victors (all highend). You can see that they switched the material to a cheaper version or dropped a feature.



Also the quality of the laces lacks and there was a time were every Victor shoe came with a pair of spare laces in a different color.

 

[s_mair]

After pretty much exactly two years with my beloved P9200II, it was finally time to get a pair of new shoes.

I chose the A970 Nitrolite, mainly because I really liked how they looked in pictures.

First impressions are really good. Pretty wide toebox, middle wide mid foot area and a super comfy heel cup with some extra achilles padding. And the colours are just amazing:

The only thing that is still ridiculously bad are the insoles. They still use these paper like thingies with slim to none cushioning. For 170 EUR sales price they could really afford to add some proper insoles for Lin Dan‘s sake.

I have a pair of my trusted Spencos ready to go, so it doesn’t bother me too much. Anyways I’m really looking forward to getting on court with them soon.

Three sessions done with the A970 so far and so far, I'm fully happy with them. I can lace them tighter than the P9200II without any pain, they sit snuggly (even with the Aircast A60), the grip and stability are fantastic... well, just a great shoe for me.

My only real gripe with them still are the horrible stock insoles. Just imagine if they added something like the 10-EUR Scholl GelActive ones stock... that alone would boost them to a whole different league compared to all their main competitors. And for a staggering price of 170 EUR, this should be more than doable.

 

[ucantseeme]

Tbh I personally ask me when the time will come they sell the shoe without any insoles? They ditched the grips on some freecores, rackets come without bags...so before they deliver a premium shoe with an insole of an Aldi sporting shoe for 9.99€ they should ditch it completely. Victor has also better insoles like the XD11. Don't understand why they don't equip their premium shoes also with their better insoles. I mean 170€ is a bold price and the insole gives a better impression of the product. I found an old Victor insole in the closet must be around 2014 which is also thicker and more firm than the new ones.

 

[insaint]

I am still looking forward to seeing the comparison in terms of durability between this and Yonex 65z3

 

[R20190]

Can someone with the A970 tell me if the cushion at the back of the shoe is removeable please? I've been using the Victor P8500II and it's been giving me a sore achilles tendon so looking to switch to something a bit lower. I quite like the A970 but ideally without the cushion.

 

[Swaroop KP]

Any idea what is difference between A970 ACE and A970 NitroLite. I see in india all are A970ACE.
Also, what is meaning of C, U , M as in the image

 

[s_mair]

Can someone with the A970 tell me if the cushion at the back of the shoe is removeable please?

no, it's not removable.

Any idea what is difference between A970 ACE and A970 NitroLite. I see in india all are A970ACE.
Also, what is meaning of C, U , M as in the image

As far as I understand the difference is mainly in the cushioning. Overall they look very similar. The A970ACE was previously used by Anders Antonsen and LZJ before both(?) switched to the Nitrolite. So imo if the ACE is easily available and maybe even cheaper, then go for it.
The letters describe the different colours only.

 

[R20190]

Can someone with the A970 tell me if the cushion at the back of the shoe is removeable please?

no, it's not removable.

Thanks. Can you tell if it's sewn on with stitches or is it glued on please? If it's sewn on, I guess I could remove the stitches.

 

[SIM YUN KIAT]

Any idea what is difference between A970 ACE and A970 NitroLite. I see in india all are A970ACE.
Also, what is meaning of C, U , M as in the image

A970 NL changed to a slightly lighter NITROLITE cushioning. The C, U, M is the color coding for VICTOR products.
C - Black
U - Blue
M - Light Blue

 

[s_mair]

Thanks. Can you tell if it's sewn on with stitches or is it glued on please? If it's sewn on, I guess I could remove the stitches.

Here's how it looks:

It's sewed on. You might have to remove the strap at the back too since it's also sewed on the pad.

 

[R20190]

That's perfect, thank you for posting those photos - very helpful indeed!