hot take. It's implied that you use this on the way to the kitchen at 3AM.

The bigest drawback is that it is impossible to sign it by players 😂

It's called drag coefficient and I'm a little shocked that no one saw this coming. It's a ball, covered completely in holes. It's trajectory will be affected.

I can’t wait for the temu version

Every video I’ve seen of someone shooting with the airless ball has air balled their first shot

One of the main things for me is the sound. I don't think I can do without the sound of a normal basketball bouncing on the ground, it's as important as the feel to me.

Bring back Lew Later please 😢

This definitely makes sense as a collector's item. High price, low volume, selling to people who want to have a small piece of history so to speak. Wilson probably doesn't need to sell very many of these in the grand scheme to make enough money to recoup development costs so they can continue to comfortably develop gen 2 and so on. Future generations will likely get cheaper as the production process gets more refined and the product gets closer to being usable as a drop-in replacement for an air-filled basketball.

my smoll brain in 2000: humanity will be living on Saturn by the end of 2020 reality in 2024: airless basketball 😂😂😂😂😂

Your skill on the court is impressive 👌🏾

the editing with the texts in this video is chef's kiss

I'd say that the speed holes are interfering with the magnus effect. Preventing it flying as well as a backspinning basketball, golf ball or table tennis ball.

I want that R32 in the background!

At first I thought momentum would be the reason why he kept shooting short due to less weight, but apparently the Airless is very close in weight to the regular. So yeah, while he said air resistance, I'd say he's close to the answer, it'd be turbulance that's causing a lot more drag on the ball flying through the air. All those holes will be creating some mad random turbulance patterns.

I don't get how this guy is still so popular all his vids are 5 mins of ads before he even talks about the product we are here to see him review.

@EngineeringExplained needs to take a look at this. The effect of air around the ball instead of through it. Id watch that for sure.

I agree with you. If they were able to have some sort of leather/faux leather mesh covering the ball, that would definitely help with the air resistance and grip. Hopefully they’re already working on implementing something like that because if they’ve already tried and can’t get that to work then this just stays a collector’s item. It would be so cool to have airless balls that are functionally identical to regular balls

The drag would be quite a bit different because of the holes, which might be why you had to shoot it harder

I too miss lew later 😢

The vivobarefoot choice of shoes is the most impressive part of this video. I love it

Damn this guys is pretty athletic haha all your videos are just you sitting on a chair so I never imagined you being this fit, good job

I’m Wilson ❤

Can't wait to see an affordable, practical version of that. Hopefully they can lighten it too.

If it flies with more resistance than before that’s so awesome, that means the arc of the ball changed to be more vertical at the end - in other words once you’re used to the distance, it’s easier to get a basket

Damn, exact time at Assassin's Creed Shadows trailer.

Ok, long time subscriber...the thing that caught my eye the most is that Lew missed the 1st 2 shots and that competitive beast inside started sturing. Then he saw the 1st one go down and was like "nah thats not enough, I need another one!"

The most jarring part without handling one is the sound. So very different. Of course the look and design are fascinating. Yet again without handling one it’s hard to imagine. As many others in comments have stated, I would think all the holes would create drag. You expressed how you felt the need to push the shots harder from 3. Seems like a flaw in engineering. Yet I suppose it would very much change the game if it were adopted as regulation. Thanks for putting so much effort into a review of something I’ll likely only see on video. As you said it’s unlikely to be used in a random game and I don’t have that kind of scratch. Cheers!

Never been this early love the hard work you have always put into your videos it's is simply quality brother

I was looking at the r32 for 12:33 minutes , What a piece of art .

Ball is life

the first shot after going back to the regular ball and it went in 🔥

What's really cool is the moire pattern seen as the holes align at different orientations & at different camera distances. Can I borrow it to study?

With that analysis, it really belongs to a glass case only to be adored by friends and visitors. Not in the court! Keep inventing stuff Wilson, maybe someday you can make something court worthy ^_^

I miss the old unbox therapy 😢😢

I like your idea of keeping the core and wrapping it in leather

the good thing about he new ball is that you might be able to make trick shots out of it. The holes made it possible to curve the ball like a golf ball

Bro a professional brick layer throwing bricks all day long

You take that shit to the hood you'll never see that ball ever again 😂

What ever that material is, make a layer 1/20th the depth of those holes to cover it. That is what I want to see Wilson. Yes the bounce will be affected altering the structure, but surely ratio matters a lot. If you have a thin layer the resistance to morphing will be low enough to allow proper compression and uncompression.

Im Impressed with Lew on the court!

The ball is coming up short. The air going through it is probably messing it up. Seems like you have to use more strength to get that ball where you want it. Going to wear you out faster. There’s nothing wrong with todays basketball.

The real question is why they are investing R&D into a product that no one wants nor needs 😂 It solves a problem that doesn’t really exists and presents a bunch of new ones.

The bounce sound plays a significant role; I reckon even professionals would need to make adjustments when using this new airless basketball.

Artifact???

Very interesting analysis. Well done Lou

Awesome! I was also thinking about air resistance the whole time maybe the trick would be to ever so slightly increase the size of the holes...and to counter for weight use a more dense polymer??? I dont know...😅 the material science + fluid + aero dynamics here is not meant for my brain😅😅. Which is why i think its already insane that they got it to this level...

That GT-R sitting behind❤

Airflow is a factor when shooting with the ball, but it’s not as big as you’d think. It’s more so the actual weight of the ball compared to the regular basket ball. A regular basket ball has more weight to it which allows it to go farther with similar force as you would with the airless. It’s the same reason why a paper plane with the front two corners folded then the wings doesn’t fly, but the moment you fold those corners one more time and make it heavier in the front, it flies.

I think a clear material with the same texture as a regular basketball would have a very nice feel to it

What an awesome R32 in the back!😍😍😍😍

Try shooting it underhand. Spin should be a good facter against the air resistance with the holes.

This would be very interesting in the pro league , I actually would like this ball being used and see who comes out on top and who falls next generation of basketball players might have to be much stronger and its gonna force players to play more aggressive since dunks are gonna be the main way to make points

Orange Leather wrapped around the honeycomb would look and feel pretty cool I would think. I can't wait to see someone do that.

You should test this theory out by mentally adjusting to the airless ball, by only shooting and using the airless ball for a few days and then switch back to the normally wilson ball, with a hypothesis that your mental adjustment to the airless ball should lead to too much power when using the normal ball, as you try to mentally adjust back to the normal ball.

I'd love to see a wind test with smoke going over this ball and a regular one just for kicks.

This was really cool. KZfaq randomly made me watch you. I want to go play basketball. I will absolutely buy 2 if they hit $50.

Hey Will, have you got the Soundvibe Thunderpuck? We can not get it in the UK and you have two. Thank you.

I wonder how it functions in a cold gym or even in hot temps.

Honestly, I could see how you would want it to emulate a typical basketball a bit more accurately with future iterations. But I still think this would be a great tool to train with as is. You are using all the same motion but with more required strength to accommodate for the drag. That should improve accuracy control when shooting a regular ball.

It would be interesting to set up a little launcher like a trebuchet and compare the differences between balls in distance traveled at varying speeds.

Pretty sure this surface structure makes Magnus Effect quite strong. Effect of spin should be considered.

What shoes are you wearing ? I need those ! My feet need air during the summer and those look amazing

Air resistance through the mesh make it more force needed vs conventional solid curved surface of the ball..

They need to put a leather wrap around it with all the holes still exposed to give it a little bit more weight and still be able to have the leather basketball feel

It is definitely a multi use object, if your dog is bored you can put a treat in the ball and keep your dog entertained or you can put it in the washing machine to have the soap better distributed, not to mention the fact that you could clean amazingly your salad there, it could be difficult to cut the salad in a very small pieces to put them inside but hey, you can't have everything in life ... right?

For the short throw you can read about the magnus effect. It's probably what's "not" happening as the ball has no pressure and no plain surface compared to a normal ball.

welp this would be great on outdoor courts

Great Vid! Low key missing Lew Later 👀

Ohh nice Skyline. Didnt know ya had good taste in cars. Show us more of it.

the Nissan in the back made me subscribe

Looks like the Airless would work better as an indoor training tool for dribbling like if you are in an apartment building.

As a tennis player I’d be interested in trying out airless tennis balls if Wilson were ever to make them.

I really wanna drive that Skyline in the back lol

Airless balls have been around in different ways for a long time. Just haven't gone basketball sized yet. The marketing and product design for this is excellent. Taking an everyday kids toy idea. Making it feel fresh and new. At a much larger size. A wiffle ball is one example from our childhood.

Maybe with an orange leather exterior, and a heavy interior lining.

Shooting the ball with no spin, would there be less resistance vs. spinning with air going through it and around it..

I Work in 3D Printing and the first Ball you got was with raw Material unfinished. The Black one is chemicaly smoothend an coloured.

No way I’ve only just remembered about unbox therapy I used to watch this guy daily before bed back when he was doing the cup that doesn’t knock over 🤣🤦🏻‍♂️

They thought: "It bounces the same, so it is the same." 😂

What’s up with the ball having absolutely no rebound?? Like you said normal hits the rim it’s flying like 10 feet back. That hit the rim and bounce like maybe 5 feet? But on the bounce, they seem like they would respond similar.

If they put the same external orange layer than the classic ball, it will recover the holes, give the grip back, and maybe the sound as well

This was a good video. Please bring back more detailed honest reviews that focus on the things that you guys used to focus on 3-4 years ago. I miss these types of videos.

Hey, Hello, they can just plug the holes eventually and the ball will be fine. It's most likely still in this honeycomb form to show off that it has no air.

i want to see what a full court or even half court laser pass would look like. in my head I imagine it comes at you like a knuckle ball lmao

I Think that's Venom Ball Edition with Special Features!!! 🏀🏀

I figured that air drag was gonna play a massive role on that design after the last video, kinda dissapointed you didn't try it with a fan blowing near the hoop as to simulate wind in an exterior court

What if it's not completely airless? What if it has a molecular or atomic layer of any of the gases just behind those holes to provide that resistance or the bounce that it is getting

I imagine making the holes smaller will make it better for shooting but would change the way it reacts to dribbling

The problem is a combination of drag coefficient and the magnus effect. Both of which could be solved if there was a covering on the ball.

Nice blue Nissan R32 in the background ❤❤❤❤❤ 🔥 🔥 🔥

What's the problem within regular one? And why should we need to switch to Airless one?

Beautiful art

I hope The Professor gets to test this out!

Cool video! Thanks!

Wow first video in my sub box from Unbox in over a year...

The consistent missing short is pretty surprising, you think they could have figured that out too in the GEN 1

I think this tech would be great for people to practice their handling at home. Would require some more R&D for actual on-court use in a game.

Aerogel skin would be sick on this

Its actually funny that you airballed the first shot because I saw a video by another creator where he claimed everyone airballs the first shot with it. So clearly there is a difference however a pro NBA hooper was able to immediately adjust to that first airball and he was droppin dimes after that.

I'm so glad we have some of greatest minds in the world trying to figure out how to recreate a basketball that isn't as good as a basketball