Adidas Men's Terrex AX4 Hiking Shoe

I bought the olive Terrex AX4 hiking shoes without Gore-Tex fabric online accidentally while not paying complete attention. I love my black Terrex AX3 shoes with Gore-Tex and I thought something in a different color would be good. The AX3’s with G-T are a little better hiking shoe than the AX4 generation. The 3’s have better rubber outer toe support/protection and are a little more supportive shoe with better tread. The tread on the 3’s is also more knobby, but it doesn’t wear down as fast and has great traction on slippery surfaces. With the Gore-Tex fabric it’s also more durable in areas the shoe breaths. The AX4 without G-T looks like it has lower quality construction on some parts to me. The tread on the bottom is good, it’s the same harder Continental rubber from the AX3 generation. The lugs on the shoe are flatter though and I think they’ll wear down quicker making some surfaces slippery. On the AX4 they have more fabric on the toe and less rubber which I think will lead to more stubbed toes and shoe scuffing/damage. Additionally without G-T the meshy fabric on the shoe where it breaths looks cheap and I think it will snag and damage easily if you’re somewhat hard on shoes or use them in the woods. The mesh reminds me of a lower quality mesh fabric on Nike or Adidas walking/running shoes you see at department stores. In some photos online the AX4 has images of white speckles on the bottom rubber/tread area of the shoes. I think the white specks are just poor editing. When looking closely though, I did notice very little speckles of black rubber or rubber dust in the gray rubber on the shoe. If you look closely, the gray has texture on it. I think that comes from the shoe going into a mould or something that makes contact with it to make that texture pattern. I think the black is rubber dust or debris not completely cleaned out of some moulds or whatever makes contact when the gray rubber when it’s textured and formed. I can also see little glue fibers in some spots where the shoe was glued to the tread. They also must wipe the shoe down if it gets over glued or before it gets shipped away. 1 shoe had little fibers on it like a throw away cloth or paper towel had wiped 1 shoe. I’m still going to wear these shoes, but they’re not something I’d wear hiking or in the woods. I’d wear them running errands or hanging out with friends. My suggestion is if you want a great hiking shoe get the AX3 with Gortex. I imagine they’ll be discontinued at some point for the newer models coming. I wear the AX3’s for both work and everyday. They truly hold up to whatever I can put them through. I think the AX4 especially without Gore-Tex needs improvements to be considered a hiking shoe.