Puma One 5.1 football boot review

The Puma One has had a few names and we are as confused as you are. Puma One One, Puma One 19.1 and now the Puma One 5.1. It’s a bit like the name changes represent the boot. A load of different names for a boot with a load of different materials. The Puma One 5.1 combines kangaroo leather, synthetic and knit into one pretty decent boot. We’re going to give you the low down and our take on the Puma One below, talking appearance, design, tech and pro advocates.

Are the Puma One 5.1 football boots worth buying?

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Appearance – 7/10

We checked out the Rush Pack colourway for this review. They were brought in by Puma for our whole team to try out and we certainly put them to the test!

The Rush Pack colourway is quite nice and a solid combo of colours. We say quite nice because they’re kinda of like a mid-table football team. Think Bournemouth, yeah they’re alright and look nice sometimes but still distinctly average. We like the outside section of the boot with its classic Puma vibe. The yellow, black and white with a black mesh cover looks awesome, with the mesh jazzing it up a bit. It also makes for a look that just looks fast, almost like a blur. Perfect for the synthetic side of the boots, the material typically used in a speed boot.

The big old white leather area on the inside gives a classy feel. White football boots will always look amazing! Until they get dirty. Still you can do your best to keep them clean by following our guide to cleaning your boots. You might think that a boot with stitching on the upper of boots went out of fashion as long ago as the mullet. Business in the front party in the back oooh yeah. But we’ve got some stitching where the leather joins the synthetic and it isn’t our favourite look, breaking up the flow a bit. They have made it as smooth as possible though and we don’t find it too offensive.

Following the fashion, these beauts have a collar on, shock. It’s quite a low collar compared to some other boots and while we aren’t fans of collars, we have no issues with it. Call us old school but we usually prefer no collar on our boots. Especially as they bring no performance benefits and in our opinion don’t improve the look. They also set you back an extra £20 or £30 too!

Design – 8/10

We used to get football boots in either synthetic, leather or knit. Synthetic for lightweight speed. Leather for a silky soft touch. Knitted uppers for that tight fit. Now Puma has combined all these into one, the Puma One. Get it!?

The kangaroo leather which is typically soft and smooth to give you an amazing feel on the ball as leather should! The kind of beautiful cushion that you dream of when you pluck a ball out the sky. We much prefer the feel of these vs the Nike Tiempo Legend VIII which seem to have gone a bit skew-whiff. There’s a support cage under the leather to give us a bit of stability and it works well. The cage also has no negative impact on touch on the ball. It’s almost like an invisible support hidden within the leather. Sort of like those rich people who seem to be self-made and self-supported but have an invisible £1 million given to them. Talking about you Donald.

The laces section is Puma’s Evoknit technology. There isn’t really much to say about this element to be honest. We assume it’s there to help give a nice bit of stretch when slipping these on. They will also pull either side of the upper together to keep it nice and tight alongside the laces. It’s also possible they’ve done it just so they’ve got the common 3 upper materials in one boot. Show offs.

There’s a nice pair of heels on these boots. Luckily we aren’t talking about the kind you secretly love to wear on a Saturday night. With these being collared boots. The heel is slightly higher and it works well. For possibly the first time ever we actually like the higher collar/heel. There’s a proper bit of padding in the heel area. A real nice bit of cushioning to help keep your heel locked in place while you’re weaving your way through defences.

Features – 7/10

For features, we’re going for a 7. There’s no stand out speciality here. Nothing special, just like all your players on a Sunday morning after a big Saturday night.

The Sprintframe is good but not great. We liked that it was flexible and didn’t take any time to wear in. It gives you the kind of natural feeling when you run as if there is nothing resisting the bend of your foot. Sounds great but in practice it isn’t actually ideal. The Vapor 13 has our favourite soleplate at the moment. This is because while it flexes nicely, there is still some resistance. It will ping back and feel really reactive. That’s where the Sprintframe is let down, it flexes nicely but doesn’t feel as reactive as you might want.

With the Sprintweb, Puma has made sure it’s got the whole speed boot feel going with its naming. The Sprintweb is the synthetic outside portion of the boot, the yellow-black white mesh bit. This Sprintweb is designed to be as lightweight as possible. It’s also there to help keep your foot locked down, pulling the whole boot tight. I found that my experience and that of the team was that they were overly tight here and that impacted comfort. It’s like the outside is pulled really tight with very little give to compensate for less structure on the inside. Either way, it was weird and we didn’t find it comfortable.

There is a bit of comfort within these boots though. The suede lining that runs throughout does it’s best to bring all 3 materials together. It’s pretty soft, a bit like all wingers, and you don’t really notice the stitching in the upper like we thought you might. Still doesn’t cover up the Sprintweb issues though.

Value for money 7/10

It’s a very average but respectable 7 for value for money. We think that Puma is a 7 kind of brand. Not bad, not great. Has anyone got anything really nice from Puma? Probably not. Has anyone got anything really average from Puma? Absolutely. We don’t mean to diss Rudolph Dassler – founder of Puma. But his brother Adolf Dassler definitely came out best in their argument and battle of brands.

If you’re not in the know on the whole Adidas vs Puma thing, check out our books for footballers, where we recommend Sneaker Wars. The Puma One is a good all-rounder but doesn’t really slip itself into any particular market. Is it a leather boot built for comfort? Is it a speed boot, lightweight and fast? Is it a knitted boot for a natural feel? We also can’t really say who it is for? Strikers? Midfielders? Defenders? Goalkeepers? Nah no one makes boots just for a goalkeeper.

Pro advocates – 8/10

There are some pretty good players wearing the Puma One 5.1 boots right now. Catch them on strikers Sergio Aguero or Romelu Lukaku. On midfielder David Silva. Defenders Diego Godin and Marc Bartra. Even on one of the legends of the game goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon! Pop these on and you’ll be in pretty good company no matter your position.

Final verdict on the Puma One 5.1 football boots

Look, it’s ambitious. Puma has combined pretty much every material you can get in a boot. We love the ambition and to a certain extent, it’s done well. You’ve got the soft classy touch of leather and a light weight design and sprint frame for a bit of speed. Hard to argue with that! You also have the added benefit of it being an FG/AG stud pattern! No matter your position there is space for these boots in your kit bag.

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