A short review on Dawei DW 376 table tennis shoe.
I remember the main criteria for good quality TT shoes are that they need to have a grippy and non-slip sole, together with an upper material that allows your feet to breathe. So let me start a review on Dawei DW shoe.
1) Construction and Ventilation - made of fabric on the side panels and top of the foot. 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. If you are playing a hard match, I believe you will be very sweaty and your feet will bear the most brunt too. But I believe the ventilation of this shoe is alright.
2) Cushioning, Comfort and Support - the Dawei DW are quite comfortable to wear for a session of tt for 3 - 5 hours. I would not recommend going for 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. My advice is to keep the shoe for matches and training only.
If you are a player who needs table tennis shoes with lots of ankle support and stability, these are the shoes for you. These shoes are stiff rather than suple, but still will allow your ankle to move freely.
3) Grip - grip is pretty good with soft rubber sole. The base surface has a zig-zag ribbing over. This provides good traction without being too sticky or slippery. The only exception is on very dusty floors or on marbles tiles, but then 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. Tried standing at the edge of my foot and never had the problem of the shoe sliding.
4) Weight and Flexibility - a very light table tennis shoe. They remind me a little of the old "Fung Keong" canvas shoes, from yesteryears (circa 1970s) which were very light. They are also slightly flexible, since you can bend the rubber sole one-third from the toe but not in half at just about any point along the sole.
5) Durability - I have worn these shoes since May 2009, it still looks OK. I am 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.
6) Value for Money - got it for RM$ 70 (or USD$20 equivalent), I would say it is excellent value for money. While not the perfect table tennis shoes (they could use a little more cushioning in my opinion if compared with Butterfly / Mizuno), Dawei have produced an inexpensive shoe that still delivers the goods.
To conclude, the Dawei DW very good table tennis shoe for the tt player whon does not play that often ( "Eat,sleep & play tt" all the time). It does not have any real bad features provided you do not need lots of cushioning or support.



