Yonex Comfort Z 3 and Yonex Infinity 2.0 Badminton Shoes Review & Comparison
It’s time to look at the Yonex Comfort Z 3 and Yonex Infinity 2.0 badminton shoes and you are going to find them interesting.
Previously, in my Yonex badminton shoes reviews, I looked at the Yonex Aerus Z, the Yonex 65Z, and the Yonex Eclipsion Z which are 3 of the top-end badminton shoes Yonex produces. Now with the addition of the Yonex Comfort Z 3 and the Yonex Infinity 2.0, this completes Yonex’s high-end badminton shoe lineup, at least on the international market of course.
Before I begin, huge thanks to Yonex UK for sending me this sample to test! The Yonex infinity 2.0 badminton shoe came in a special black box, which included some instructions on how to use the BOA dials on the shoes, although they were written in Japanese. I understand that normal customers won’t be getting this box and that is disappointing as it would be nice to get something different than the usual Yonex shoe box, especially considering the price of these shoes.
On the other hand, the Yonex Comfort Z 3 arrived in its usual Yonex badminton shoe box, and huge thanks to Central Sports for sending me a pair to test. Remember to use my discount code “CKYEW’ if you are buying from Central Sports.
Let’s start with the Infinity 2.0! In terms of looks and design, the Infinity 2.0 is right up there as one of the best-looking badminton shoes for me. There are 3 colours to choose from, but the red one is certainly my favourite. The outer layer of the shoes, which Yonex calls Durable Skin Light, gives off a light shine which makes the shoes look very crisp. The BOA dials fit the design of the shoes really well, and their golden centre reminds me of the Adidas Fevernova football used in the 2002 World Cup. You can’t go wrong with red and gold. Even the woven laces from the BOA dials come with red and white accents matching the shoes.
There is a pull tab at the back of the heel section with gold lettering telling you the features of the shoes. There is also a muted section on the textured inner foot showing some of the Yonex technologies that have gone into the shoe and also where it was designed. Besides that, the Infinity 2.0 also has matching insoles in bright red. I wonder if the blue model has blue insoles too! The insoles are not the wavy insoles found in the 65s and the Eclipsion series shoes, they are closer to the ones found in the Aerus shoes. In fact, you’ll see quite a lot of similarities between the Aerus and the Infinity 2.0 as we go along.
Other design features include the 3D power graphite sheet which is visible on the outer side of the foot arch, in addition to the traditional location on the sole of the shoes. Similar to the Aerus, there is no venting mesh at the bottom of the shoes, unlike the 65s and the Eclipsions. For me, this isn’t a big issue as there is plenty of ventilation on the top side of the shoes. The Infinity 2.0 also has a boot-like construction, which is similar to the Eclipsions. On the soles, the power cushion + is visible from the windows at the heel section, but I was slightly disappointed to not see any radial blade soles on the outsoles as I liked it very much from the 65s and the Eclipsions. Personally, I think the radial blade sole is a better sole design compared to the hexagonal outsole.
Moving on to the Comfort Z 3, my first impression was that the contrast between the neon yellow and orange to the blacks on the shoes look amazing. I initially preferred the look of the ladies’ white version but the longer I looked at the black version, the more I like it. For the Comfort Z 3, Yonex has made these pretty durable and hardwearing using rubber-like synthetic materials around the toe box area. They are not as soft and flexible as the Aerus shoes and they feel like they are made of thicker materials to protect your feet. There are no BOA dials on the Comfort Z 3, but their laces are designed with a slight curve to better fit our foot around the upper area of our arch, and the laces are pulled through eyelets which are moulded onto the upper side of the Comfort Z 3 itself.
You can also feel the yellow streaks underneath the mesh on the upper side, which I find to be similar to Nike’s Flywire concept which spreads the pressure from the tied laces evenly through the whole shoe for comfort and stability. The Comfort Z 3 also has a pretty big heel support, making you feel really snug when you put the shoes on. The usual top-end Yonex materials and designs such as power cushion +, the power graphite sheet and the radial blade soles are all on this new Comfort Z 3 so I was pretty happy with them. The Comfort Z 3 has the same insoles as the Infinity 2.0 with grippy material instead of the wavy ones. There are also no ventilation holes at the bottom of the Comfort Z 3.
In terms of weight, the Infinity 2.0 is surprisingly light! The pair that I had for testing was a UK 9, half a size smaller than my usual size UK 9.5 and they weighed only 315g a side, which was very impressive. In comparison, the Aerus Z weighed 288g per side; the 65Z weighed 345g per side; the Eclipsion Z weighed 366g per side; and the Comfort Z 3 is the heaviest of them all at about 370g per side due to the amount of material and padding on the shoes.