Unboxing the $2500 Wilson Airless Gen1 Basketball
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May 17, 2025
Is the Wilson Airless Gen1 Basketball the future of basketballs? Save on the Paperlike Pro Bundle Here: https://paperlike.com/unbox Thanks to Paperlike for partnering on this video. Check out Wilson's Airless Basketball - https://www.wilson.com/en-us/explore/basketball/airless-prototype FOLLOW ME IN THESE PLACES FOR UPDATES Twitter - http://twitter.com/unboxtherapy Facebook - http://facebook.com/lewis.hilsenteger Instagram - http://instagram.com/unboxtherapy
View Video Transcript
0:00
So this is a very exciting day, not because of this. I mean, you've seen this before. This is a
0:05
basketball, a Wilson basketball. It looks a lot like what they use in the NBA, but you may have
0:11
seen something, some previews of something a lot more high-tech. It is Wilson's futuristic basketball
0:19
that's inside of this box right here. And I don't know what the presentation is like. I don't know
0:24
what the unboxing experience is like. All I know is that I was part of a select group of people
0:29
that were contacted and asked if they would like to receive this new high-tech basketball and of
0:35
course I said yes and now we are here so the reason I've got this other basketball is in order to
0:42
compare the two a futuristic 3d printed high-tech basketball that costs a lot of money I'll tell you
0:48
more about that later and of course a standard basketball that you can buy at any sporting goods
0:53
store I think this one was about 60 bucks Canadian it's not the exact thing that they use on the NBA
0:59
port but it is what we're used to bouncing and it bounces essentially the same way so we'll test
1:05
them both out we'll see how the traditional air bladder holds up against the new technology
1:12
without any air inside of it at all well i mean there's air inside of it but it's not enclosed in
1:18
there i don't know how they did it so this episode has been sponsored by paper like this is a screen
1:23
protect for your ipad now i've talked about dedicated devices that can have this effect
1:28
where it feels like you're writing on paper. But the best thing about this product
1:31
is that it takes something you already have like an iPad and something that's much more versatile like an iPad
1:36
and makes its input far more satisfying and of course, artistic. Make your iPad feel like paper
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Plus at the same time, it's protecting your display. But it doesn't end there. They've actually got these little grips for Apple Pencil
1:50
in order to give you a much more comfortable hold. They've got two that come inside here
1:55
Precision and Comfort. They've also just come out with this spray. This will keep your screen squeaky clean
2:01
The unit itself is microfiber. So satisfying. Wow. Yeah. So this Pro Bundle is styled as a one-pack solution for iPad users
2:13
It includes everything someone needs to maximize their productivity and creativity. Bundles purchased online have been updated to carry the most recent stock
2:22
So this screen protector has some proprietary technology called NanoDots on the surface
2:27
This helps you achieve better handwriting and excellent stroke resistance while maintaining your screen clarity
2:35
See, one of the problems with writing on your iPad is it doesn't have a ton of feedback
2:41
It feels like writing on glass because, well, you are writing on glass
2:46
So once again, thanks to Paperlike for sponsoring this portion of the episode. If you want to check out those bundles, head down to the description
2:52
I'll have all the links down there. Let's take the classic out first. Now this unboxing experience, extremely straightforward
2:59
Look at that. That's frustration free. This one could use a little bit more air, but we're going to dial it in to the exact
3:08
PSI suggestion from Wilson. There we go. 8.1. That should do. yeah that that feels right that feels good and by the way if you also like that pump right there
3:24
i can i'm gonna link that because that's satisfying right you see the reading on there
3:28
i use it for the car tires plus it has a rechargeable battery removable and so it can share battery with your other tools I don know what you into I into some things
3:39
Here we go. It is time for us to finally get our hands on something that was teased for a while
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I don't even remember the first time that this was shown off, but I've wanted to get my hands on it ever since I first saw it
3:54
Like I saw the laboratory in which they were developing it. Some of those initial prototypes
4:00
I'm surprised it's even a real product. Like I didn't know if it was going to be more of a concept car type thing that then would eventually change and trickle its way into the store for some like budget price like a toy
4:15
Like I just didn't know what it was going to end up being. But it's kind of the opposite
4:19
They're like, no, this is regulation basketball behavior, and it's going to cost you a lot of money
4:26
Wow. And it starts with the special case. Imagine buying a basketball that comes in its own suitcase briefcase
4:43
Oh. Oh. wow airless gen 1
4:53
welcome to the future of sports Wilson is dedicated to pushing the boundaries of sports
4:58
innovation with the airless gen 1 basketball this moment marks a historic achievement
5:03
and we hope it fills you with the significance it holds in the world of basketball
5:08
this is kind of like a collector's item at this point like I got look at this
5:14
this base for it mirror base wilson airless gen one and i got this tag that's so cool unbox therapy custom tag with
5:25
the basketball pattern okay let's get the ball out look at this whoa like first of all it feels
5:34
way different it's hard to describe this texture i mean i have experience with 3d printing it kind
5:45
of feels like that substrate almost like it's been sanded or smoothed out and then the other
5:51
thing I'm noticing right away is the depth of the 3D printed portion is it's not a single layer like
6:01
it's far more complicated than I expected there's an interior and an exterior wall
6:07
and there's maybe a centimeter of depth between them with tiny little cutouts in between which
6:15
i presume are all completely necessary in order to achieve the bounce that you're looking for now
6:22
there's a couple of other important or like unique characteristics you have airless gen 1 written over
6:29
here and you have the wilson logo over here but other than that it's a uniform design and you can
6:36
see the way they've integrated your typical seams i mean they're not really seams here i wonder how
6:42
long it would take to 3d print something like this holding it i can understand why it has the insane
6:51
price tag that it does and i'll just tell you at this point this thing is 2500 but there's not going
6:56
to be many of them it's it's a limited edition type of thing at least for now and it's probably
7:01
extremely time consuming to build this i don know how many people will actually use them versus keep them as a collector item like this for a basketball fan that is something incredibly exclusive the other thing
7:15
i notice is it's as you look around the edge like you see here for example you don't have
7:21
entire cutouts instead this pinch comes through and it's not completely symmetrical but i assume
7:29
that all this has been considered and every indentation and every puncture is likely necessary
7:41
Plain, original basketball. New, airless, Gen 1. And I think they wrote Gen 1 on purpose
7:50
in order to imply, hey, we're not done here. We're releasing this for the super fans
7:56
This is going to be a developing space. At the moment, the feel advantage goes to the traditional Wilson basketball
8:04
The tech advantage and the airless advantage obviously goes over here. So let's go ahead and bounce
8:14
What? Okay. First things first, the sound. This didn't come through to me on the other videos that I watched
8:27
the sound. It's kind of satisfying though. Maybe you can hear that. It's like a whoosh that goes
8:39
through the ball. And I guess I should have expected that because you've got all these
8:44
openings here. It's bizarre because it bounces the same way, but yet those other attributes like
8:50
The sound difference and that air friction kind of just changes your perception of the bounce, but it does feel satisfying
9:04
Whew, it made me. I mean, the grip is a lot different, right
9:09
I'm feeling the texture on my fingertips. The grip is the biggest difference
9:18
Traditional. So loud! I remember thinking when I was watching the All-Star Game, I was like, I wonder if they're
9:27
gonna use that airless basketball? But I'm realizing now that it is much more unique than I expected
9:34
I was wondering if it would feel anything like a regular basketball
9:38
It does not. They bounce almost exactly the same way
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Just your other senses are all screwed up as to, wait a second, shouldn't that have a
9:57
louder sound in order to bounce that way? But it doesn't. Will, you want to try
10:04
I don't know if it's intentional, but there's like a rough surface to it
10:09
Yeah, like a proper 3D printed object. Oh. It feels like not a basketball
10:19
It doesn't feel like it, but I know it behaves like it
10:24
Whoa, whoa. It bounces the way that it should. It's almost like the characteristics
10:31
don't match up in your mind because you've bounced so many balls in your life
10:36
Soccer volleyball basketball you know what they feel like Smells different too Well yeah I mean it smells like Smells like the future
10:48
That's the thing, is the feedback is the same as the basketball. So you don't even, you don't need to look at it
10:53
You don't need to guess where it's gonna bounce. And the crazy part is it has no PSI. There's no PSI
10:58
And then the question becomes, where are the barriers and boundaries for this
11:02
What happens if you're outside versus inside? Even if it's hot, what if it's cold
11:08
What does the sun do to it? It's wet. It's a lot of questions
11:12
Would it eventually get discolored? So obviously I can't test the PSI of something like this for obvious reasons
11:21
There's no air in it. But what I can test is the weight and see how that compares to the other ball I've got over there
11:28
So first, actually, let's get the weight of this ball. And remember, this is inflated to just over 8 PSI
11:37
That is just under 600 grams. NBA basketball weight in grams. Oh, here we go
11:47
An NBA basketball is 624 grams. Now, that's with the ball being inflated between 7.5 and 8.5 pounds per inch
11:58
that probably has to do with the genuine leather that the official ball uses this one even though
12:08
this is called the authentic series it's an indoor outdoor ball and this retails for about 60 bucks
12:12
so if the official uh weight of the ball is 620 grams then this is actually closer than that ball
12:23
at 610 and a half grams. Anyway, extremely close regardless. Think about it, it has to be the official size
12:31
but then it has to have synthetic leather. Regular leather is going to be heavier. So that's how you have 600 here
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even though it's a size seven, and then an official NBA ball is 620
12:42
And then I wonder if they couldn't get 620 with this, or if whatever compromises had to be made
12:49
to make it bounce effectively with these dimensions, maybe six ten and a half was as close as they could get and i know some people will watch the
12:58
video and say well i don't get it what's the point if it ain't broke don't fix it like there's no way
13:03
that's as good as the existing technology but that's not the idea if there wasn't any experimentation
13:09
you wouldn't even necessarily land on where they landed in the first place so whether you're
13:15
talking about sporting equipment or electric vehicles or smartphones or whatever the tech
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happens to be it's experimentation and generation one of something that eventually takes you to
13:29
where we end up which is generation two three four five ten will it eventually be the standard
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basketball i don't know i don't have that answer i bet you even wilson wouldn't say that that's
13:41
necessarily the case but maybe some of their findings work their way into a hybrid maybe
13:47
there's an internal bladder inside of a ball like this that looks something like this and therefore
13:53
doesn't require inflation. I don't know what's going to happen but at the moment this is certainly
13:59
the most high-tech basketball that I've seen and I'm extremely grateful to be one of the first people
14:06
in the world to interact with it. That's pretty cool
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