Soccer Cleats 101 Soccer Cleats News and Reviews
With the release of the latest Puma King my first thoughts were “Well what about the take down versions?”. I’ve found that the last incarnation of the Puma King came with a fantastic Mid-tier cleat in the form of the Puma Liga Finale i which I believe is the best boot for the value as of this time. So I’m very interested in what the Spirit and Momentta have to offer. Like the last incarnation of the King there are four tiers. The order of the tiers from highest to lowest is The King SL, King, Spirit, and the last being the Momentta. What you won’t be seeing in any of these tiers is Kangaroo leather! If you haven’t caught wind yet companies are slowly phasing it out. So I’m interested to see how the tiers make up for the lack of the ever popular kangaroo leather. They have also dropped the fold over tongue. Admittedly it did look very awkward and can for the most part be considered an improvement.
Lets go over what each boot has to offer and how they compare to each other and how they have changed from their last incarnation!
King SL – Retails for $249.99
The upper on the latest SL is actually a Microfiber with a leather like grain to give it similar properties. The out sole is Pebax and Nylon and sports a stud configuration that reminds me a lot of Adidas’ traxion 2.0 stud configuration. The end products weighs in at a very healthy 5.8 oz putting it neck and neck with the adiZero! The last King SL weighted in at 7.7oz so progress was made as far as trimming down the weight goes. But the last SL had a Kangaroo Leather upper as opposed to a microfiber upper so I wonder if the touch has suffered. Not a true leather boot but it is still pretty sweet.
King 2013 – Retails for $149.99
I have no idea what they mean by premium leather but it sounds nice. That is what they are replacing the k-leather with. They also replace the out sole material with pebax and gave it a new stud configuration. These changes have cut the weight from 9.2oz to 8.4oz. This version stresses comfort but still is a “speed boot”, weighing just 0.8 oz more than the last Puma King sl. Unfortunately we don’t see much of what made the Puma King Finale so successful in this latest incarnation.
Spirit – Retails for $99.99
This is the interesting boot of the group since it is the closest to it’s Liga counter part in the last King line up. Once again I must say the Liga Finale is a top value boot so I’m very interested to see if the boot that takes it’s place in the line up (and costs a full $38 more according to the list price). The upper is calf leather and incorporates Puma’s Comfort last just like the King and King Sl, the outsole however is TPU but sports the same stud config as the King. It weighs in at 9.0 oz making it the heaviest of the new King tiers. It is still 0.6 oz lighter than the Liga finale i however. Since the upper hasn’t changed dramatically between the Liga Finale and the Spirit I’m thinking fans of the Liga Finale will be quite happy with it. I’ll be the judge of that however, I’m definitely looking for a pair.
Momentta – Retails for $74.99
I admit I find this tier more interesting than the spirit. Out of the tiers it has made the most improvements, the upper is no longer an awkward synthetic. The Esito upper was PU and the Momentta has taken a step up and is now full grain leather which is what the Liga finale had. The outsole is TPU and the boot weighs in at 8.4oz according to specs. I want to get my hands on a pair of these more than I do the Spirit! It only costs $74.99 which is a pretty sweet deal for a boot that weighs under 9.0 oz. Very nice improvement by Puma.
So, which Tier would You Invest In? What do you think about Puma taking steps away from K-leather?
No kangaroo leather on a Puma King? I never thought I would see this day. This is a tragedy and a travesty. Remember how you could buy the same sort of boots as the ones Maradona and Pele wore? Why in the bloody hell would they do this. The Kangaroos are not an endangered animal and in fact outnumber people in Australia. They are actually considered a pest wherever there are farms and there are permits available for hunting them! The King is dead.
I was surprised too. I have a few contacts in Australia and they are all for the Kangaroo leather boots but I think they have ulterior motives for this other than the quality they add to leather boots (pest problem). I think They would do it for several reasons though other than cutting costs. It is still a shame though.
It's a pity that they ditched the K-leather, but this time is an exception that I would definitely try to buy one of them.
Oh, you missed the Universal, Jim. It's the fourth tier of the silo, and it has PU upper
I thought the same thing I tried the predator with 'galileo' leather instead of K leather for the first time. I promise you will be shocked at how stiff and hard the leather will be. Puma are doing it to reduce costs, not to improve boots.
Not really, they want to make the King a competitor in the control boot market. That's why they want to reduce weight. Also, the Predators used a Taurus leather upper.
I considered putting it in but it is an entry level style cleat by the looks of it. It seems like most of the major soccer retailers are only carrying the Junior and Womens version of the Universal so I didn't really think it was worth going over. Good spot though. I found that full grain leather can get to be very decent after being well broken in so I for one am not worried.
New era of boots has come, and i'm not tend of it!
Btw maybe the evoSPEED would be the real king coz it has k-lea and it's lightweight
A Puma king boot should always stay on the Heritage side… And making it from another material other than Kangaroo Leather that just kills the whole concept.. I'm bummed i have always loved the Puma King..
My daughters are constantly battling blisters on the sides of their feet. I've heard that Puma's are a little wider than Nike and Addidas. Is there any truth to that? I don't see Pumas much in the stores near us, so we're thinking of buying some online. Will the blister problem be helped by buying a more upscale version of the cleats?
It actually varise by boot, with many different types of soleaplates used by companies. Diadora boots would be the best in terms of width and fit. If you want to go the Puma root, check out the Puma King range.
Umbro have a wide fitting. I have speciali pro 3 and they are superb boot. check out sports or pro direct. you can pick them up real cheap. I have puma king top di mouldeds. Very good fit for wide feet too. All the puma kings I've had will give and wear to your feet if you look after the leather. My top di's are falling apart after 1 season though. My boots take a lot of punishment from me. The king xl's however are almost indestructable.
I saw the tf version of the momentta had a review, is it the same upper as the fg, so i can read that and then read the king for the fg stud configuration and have pretty much a full review?