I had an ear to ear grin when I picked up the box when I got home today and the sender said adidas. I wasn’t sure what was in there but the lightness of the box threw me off a bit… but it would all become evident as I sliced open the box!!! The adidas F50 adiZero itself has perhaps been the most well-received boot in recent seasons with the CTR360 from Nike being the only other one that comes to mind. No other boot before it has quite had the impact of offering a lightweight package at a relatively affordable price point. All too often lightweight boots have carried a paradoxically heavyweight pricetag… there are less materials right? But anyways, I never got to wear the original F50 adiZero. What differs from the current F50 adiZero and this F50 adiZero Prime FG is an even greater focus on weight deduction.

People around the Internet who were mostly quite happy with the F50 adiZero’s price point instantly scoffed at the $100 USD mark-up. Just to do a quick bit of math based on whatever metrics are available; Weights: Prime = 5.2 oz, OG Synthetic = 5.8 oz and OG Leather = 6.0 oz. Both OGs have a suggested retail price of $200 USD while the Prime retails for $300 USD. For 0.6 oz weight reduction, you’re paying a 50% more than the price of the OG and it must be noted that the OG Leather while the heaviest of the lot has been said to provide the greatest fit.

Now I’m not ruling anything out yet. Before wearing any Elite series boots from Nike, I didn’t feel the need for weight reduction. But then slowly but surely I would keep my heavier boots like my Predator X for training and grab the Total 90 Laser III Elites or CTR360 Maestri Elites for games despite the Xs having a better fit. As much as I wish psychology didn’t play a part in footwear selection… it does for me anyways.

Now onto the actual handling of the boots. Quality and construction are top notch as you would imagine from a $300 USD boot. But then again unlike a boot with a lot of stitching and multiple pieces, there isn’t a lot to screw up. There’s a black stripe right near the tooling (SprintFrame) that in some way bonds the upper to the tooling but most likely serves the purpose of just offering a bit more support. Additionally, the tooling is rather flexible, definitely not stiff like the carbon fiber seen on Nike’s Elite series. There is a little “plastic seam” that extends up the heel from the outsole that may have been a bit cleaner if it was removed. Yes the upper is very thin but I’m not necessarily worried about errant (or deliberate) studs cause if you get caught, you get caught and a few millimeters makes little difference in my eyes. The internals are reinforced with TPU and unlike Nike, adidas didn’t feel the need to make some sort of brand name out of it much like Nike and Flywire. The studs are different colors, shapes and sizes based on their particular use such as braking etc. Oh and the laces are supposedly Kevlar.

My last experience wearing anything F50 was with the TUNITs and they were a long and difficult breaking-in process. These fit pretty good out of the box. The last is still smaller than the Predator X, a boot which fit me perfectly the first time I put my foot in them. But these will hopefully mold and stretch to accommodate my fat feet. The lacing is conventional style and I was able to achieve a pretty locked down fit.

The F50 adiZero Primes also come packaged with a nice mesh shoebag, towel and a more cushion orientated insole with a thick heel. But if you’re a midfoot striker like you should be, I see little need for these. I’ve had trouble with boots lasting me awhile and have had studs fall of all of my Elite series boots so we’ll see how these hold up… but I’ll be surprised if they do hold up.

Can’t wait to give these a run out on Wednesday and thanks a lot to Erik!!!

-Eugene

Sidenote: Apologies on the different colors, some are shot with the Sony NEX-5 | Voigtlander 35mm f/1.4 Nokton and others with a Canon EOS 50D | Canon 50mm f1/8 II. But the color profiles are seemingly all over the place here.