The Under Armour Surge 2 AC seemed like a good buy at $35 on Zappos. It’s a lightweight athletic shoe with a mostly mesh upper and reinforcement around the toe. Due to how quickly kids grow out of shoes and destroy them, it’s a fine balance between paying enough to have the shoe last a season and overpaying for a shoe that is going to be too small in no time at all. 

Blue Under Armour Surge 2 AC toddler shoes
The Under Armour Surge 2 AC looked like a good option for our 3 year old

We bought the Under Armour Surge 2 AC shoes for our 4 year old daughter about a year ago and thought they were fine. They were lightweight and easy to slip on and off without needing to undo the velcro. We did run into a problem where one of the velcro tabs broke and the shoe continually fell off her foot when playing. This was chalked up to just bad luck, and we did not think much of it. Kids wear out shoes, it just happens. We thought about trying to sew it back on, but the shoes were already several months old and starting to tear near the toe anyways. We bought a different shoe the next time around, mostly because we couldn’t find the color we liked.

When it came time to buy our 3 year old son some shoes, we bought another pair of the Under Armour Surge 2 AC. Big mistake. The same exact issue with the velcro tab came up again after only about a month of owning the shoes. Not good at all. The shoes were in otherwise good shape, so we decided to see if we could just sew the tab back in place. That worked for about a week and then sure enough, the tab broke again. Now I’ll admit, my hand stitching may not be up to snuff, but looking at the design itself, the tab is just too delicate for kids that play hard… or just play at all. Looking back at the Zappos reviews, it looks like others have had the same problem. Bottom line, it’s a bad design and not worth $20 much less $35+.

Broken velcro strap on blue Under Armour Surge 2 AC toddler shoes
Major design flaw alert!!! This happened on both pairs of the Under Armour Surge 2 AC shoes we bought
Scooter toe hole on blue Under Armour Surge 2 AC toddler shoes
I 100% admit that this happens with most kids shoes at some point. My son drags his toe while riding his scooter (despite knowing how to use the brakes), so it was just a matter of time. It just seemed to happen quicker with these shoes.

Pros

  • Easy to slide on and off
  • Lightweight
  • Reasonably priced

Cons

  • Velcro tabs are weak point and likely to break. After that, shoe will not stay on at all.
  • Reinforcement at toe does not seem to hold up that well.

Rating: 1/5

I can’t give these shoes much in the way of stars. After buying 2 pairs, I will never buy another. The shoes are just not designed well and don’t last long at all. I I give them one star out of five, and I’m feeling like that might even be to generous. Maybe I expect too much from kids shoes. Then again, we’ve been through many different shoes before and never experienced anything like this.

I’d be interested in your thoughts and whether these shoes performed differently for you. Is the Velcro tab as big of a problem as I made it out to be?