Puma v5.11 i FG – Fluorescent Green Review

I hope everyone had a solid Memorial Day weekend (and for any international readers—I hope you had a great weekend as well!), and hopefully I can lighten up your return to work with a review of Puma’s new Puma V5.11 FG soccer shoes in the fluo green and midnight navy colorway. I honestly believe Puma made some solid improvements to the boots, and it could definitely sway some people into the Puma camp. Alright, let’s do this.

The first thing you’ll notice about these boots, I think, is the low weight and the comfort. My feet felt a little too crammed in last season’s boots, but these V5.11 boots did the trick. I felt no excessive amount of pressure on any part of my foot, and the boots didn’t feel unusually stiff at all; the upper was a little tight around the top of my foot, but that’s to be expected in any new boots. The boot length seems to run fairly true to size. In a size 9, my normal size, my toes still had about a half inch or so of room. You may want to try a half size up, though, just in case. The insole is also a good balance between giving and supportive. Your foot won’t sink into it, but it isn’t like standing on a rock, either. What really allows these boots to be lightweight is the synthetic polyurethane upper. Now, I’ve made my affinity for leather boots pretty well known, but the corollary isn’t necessarily that I hate synthetics. I like that Puma went with the PU upper because it offers lightweight capabilities while keeping cost down. The only disadvantage with the synthetic, to me, is that it won’t really conform to your foot as much as a leather upper—that said, though, you’ll still find these boots highly comfortable throughout their lifespan. As for the cleat shape and design, well, it’s more or less the same, except they’ve been thinned out a bit. The issue with last season’s cleats was that they wore down alarmingly quick. I think that won’t be a problem this time due to reduced surface area and less friction.

I know for at least some of you out there, style is just as important as performance. These boots are stylish, man. I’ll admit to some apprehension when I first got them out of the box, but once these boots were on my feet, I really loved the look. The lustrous fluorescent green, which is a lot like the green of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ice cream, works extremely well with the navy. The best improvement in my mind is the newly stylized Puma cat design. Rather than being a separately stitched design, the cat flows with the boot and utilizes a two color design of navy and white. The white aspects are inside the basic navy cat and provide a sleek element to the boot that really ups the boot’s aesthetic appeal. While the cleats are the same green as the upper, the navy soleplate provides a necessary barrier between the two, and it absolutely complements the boot perfectly. The boot design is no longer confused and cumbersome—it’s sleek and confident. Bravo, Puma.

You can expect to pay between $44.99 and $49.99 for a pair of these boots, which is more than fair if you’re playing slightly competitive ball. If you’re playing college ball or something equivalent, you may want to look a step up, but make sure you give the new Puma soccer shoes a shot.

Written by: Kris Dyer, leading ornithology expert, soccerprose.com