adidas F50 adizero miCoach Football Boots – High Energy/White/Electricity Review

Adidas have just released the newest incarnation of the F50 adizero soccer boots and we’ve had the opportunity to try them out first here at Soccerprose. As you can imagine these cleats are super bright and will definitely catch your eye as soon as you see them on the pitch. When we first heard from adidas that these cleats we’re going to be orange and yellow, I was a little worried, but they actually work well together and I’m happy to admit I was wrong on this one. The orange high energy color looks classy, especially with a pair of black socks, and I’d expect to see it adorning the feet of a lot of pros this season including Messi and Robben.

Upper
The upper of these cleats is made from the same adiLite Twin material for a similar ‘Sprintskin’ upper, which has been hugely successful and loved by pros the world over. This single-layer synthetic is designed to reduces weight and gives improved ball feel. The upper is different from last years as it has a textured finish to improve ball contact and touch. During testing, I found that the texturing does give a better feel, and the ball tended to grip to the upper better when I went to shoot, especially on the run.

The newly introduced Sprintweb is an advancement on the TPU Bottom Frame off of the old adizero Primes. Its supposed to offer increased lateral stability and support, especially across the top of your foot, and hold the shoe on your foot better and be more durable than the adizero Prime. For my part, I found these boots to be really stable, and didn’t have any issues running in them, or pain in the knees afterwards. The Sprint web also hold lets you lace the boots tightly, without feeling an excess of pressure on your foot, or sacrificing your touch thanks to its flat laces. The upper is soft out of the box, but its a synthetic except for the toe, so you’ll need to wear them in practice to break them in. One thing though, if you’re wearing them for long than 90 minutes at a time, you’ll want to use the comfort insoles to protect your feet.

Weight and New Technology
Now I know a lot of people’s first reaction to a new adizero relates to how much it weights. These boots weigh 165g out of the box, and 173g with the Speed Cell chip fitted into the outsole. The Speedcell chip is what really makes these adizeros different than any other boots on the market. The adidas miCoach coach chip package that goes in under the insole acts as your own personal statistician. It tracks and uploads performance data including speed, max speed, number of sprints, distance, and distance at high intensity levels and time played. The on-board memory stores all of these stats and can remember up to seven hours. You can then plug the miCoach dongle into your computer or iPhone, depending on which version you have. They can then be uploaded to the miCoach website, where you can compare your stats to the pros or your friends. While I wasn’t faster than Messi, this should be a fun tool to use with teammates.

Sole Plate
The sole plate on these adizeroes is different than other previous adizero as it has a place to insert the miCoach dongle. The ‘Sprintframe’ outsole is still a one-piece chassis and I still love it. Its also the main reason the adizeros are so light, and I enjoy the extra heel support it offers compared to other ultralight boots. The Speedcell pod on the bottom looks bigger than it actually is in the picture above, and it didn’t bother me or hurt my foot. It does add to the rigidity of the sole plate, especially in the middle, but I found the shoes were still flexible enough on the toe to perform well.

Overall, these are a great pair of speed cleats, and if your looking for bright color and light weight these are the ones for you. The new technology of the miCoach bundle is also pretty sweet, and if you’re stats nut, or want to see how fast you are compared to Messi, they’ll definitely appeal to you. These cleats will run you $199.99 for the synthetic, and $209.99 for the leather versions. and the miCoach bundle is available for $69.99.

Written and Tested by: Matthew Wall, editor, soccerprose.com