In 2018 , the predator came back and in 2020 the predator came back for real growing up as a kid .
The Predator series was one of my favorites .
In fact , the predator mania is my all time favorite football boot .
I'm pretty happy to say that .
And ever since the predator came back in 2018 , I'll admit it .
I've been the leader of the predator is not a predator movement that's been happening for two years , but we now have the latest variation and I am thankful to say that the predator is truly back this time in the form of the Adidas predator mutated .
20 plus .
I mean , come on , they legitimately look like they could cut you .
Not only are these boots visually aggressive , but I'm happy to report that rubber striking elements are finally back on the Predator series 406 of them to be exact .
And let me tell you , does it make for a unique experience when playing in these boots ?
Which is exactly what I want to talk about in this video , we're going to break it down from a technical standpoint .
Go over all the little details , talk about how much different these are from any other football booth that you can currently buy and of course , take a look at how they fit and feel on feet .
So if you're interested in learning more , please stick around and watch the entire review .
And if you're interested in a pair of these for yourself , I'll leave a little pop up on screen or you can click the first link down below .
That's going to take you to the review page on my website where you'll find buy now with exclusive S R four U coupon codes to pick these up below the normal $275 retail price .
So I guess we'll start with the box , which as you can see is enormous , but it is very cool featuring the demons skin striking element pattern throughout the entire box .
And this very aggressive spiky looking predator logo right there in the middle , open it up .
And it does have that kind of ramp style base similar to what we've seen with previous generations of the return of the predator , partially due to the very high collar , which don't worry we'll talk about in just a second and they do include a couple of extras .
The first being a shoehorn , which is pretty common for a lot of lace boots from the Adidas brand just to help with putting them on .
And then they also include a string bag which is finally , not just generic black and white .
It is now red with a black Predator logo as well as an Adidas logo there on the front .
Still the normal string bag , really , really cool looking .
It gets a string bag rating of 24 out of 29.1 plus as do the boots themselves .
Let's talk about the one thing that everyone notices immediately and that is the way that they look .
Of course , I'm sure everyone's going to point out the very tall collar and I'll give you some comparison side by side with other boots in just a second .
I will admit that I'm not crazy about it , but it does look better when the boots are on feet .
Everything else about this boot though , I think looks fantastic .
They really nailed the aggressive look that I think a modern day predator should definitely have .
You have this base of red and kind of a little bit of orange with black as well , kind of giving it almost this camel look on the underside , the demon skin striking elements give it this spiky very , very aggressive look .
I like the positioning of the Adidas stripes underneath the demon skin so it kind of all overlaps almost giving it this kind of organic look .
I like the look of the lace system having the red peeking through the black in the prime knit itself , the predator logo on the back in rubber with even more spikes , spikes on the heel counter spikes on the sole plate , which is now a split sole as well looks very , very cool , not a wearable finish .
By the way , they actually put the graphics underneath translucent plastic , which is really nice .
Although the finish in the heel is wearable and has this kind of lowing multi color look to it , which doesn't really match anything else on the boot .
But honestly , I'm not mad at it .
I think the boot as a whole looks really , really mean .
And that's kind of what I want from a predator .
They also kind of remind me of these , but that's besides the point .
However , when it comes the performance , I can honestly say that there is nothing else that you can currently buy that feels quite like the predator mutated 20 plus , which is honestly what I really miss about the power boot era , basically , since 2014 , when everything transitioned into being knitted sock boots , pretty much because all the boots are made out of very similar materials .
They end up feeling relatively similar .
It's not saying that they're all the same , but there definitely isn't as much variety now as there once was .
And this while being marketed as a control boot rather than a power boot really does have some power boot elements that we haven't seen in the football boot industry for a very , very long time , which personally I'm very happy about .
I love the fact that this is one of those boots that you just have to try to know what it's like .
So basically what they've done here is it's still the same base as what we had on the predator 19 plus and 18 plus .
Meaning that it's a lace football boot with a prime knit base , although pretty much everything that element has been redesigned .
So the prime knit base has been thinned out in comparison to the previous generations of predator , both through the mid foot , as well as the four ft , which means that the boot has a much thinner overall touch on the ball .
There's not a lot of extra padding and you don't really need it because of what they're calling demon skin .
You can see the branding right there and that is the 406 rubber elements that are scattered across the entire foot on the lateral side , on the medial side across the top of the toes , you pretty much aren't going to be making contact with the ball without coming into contact with at least 100 of these things .
And the added grip that they provide is pretty phenomenal .
The elements themselves are three millimeters in length and are attached directly to the surface of the prime knit upper and you can see they're angled ever so slightly forward .
So they have this very aggressive look and feel and like I said , no matter what part of your foot makes contact with the ball there is going to be some additional grip .
You can actually hear how sticky these elements really are .
But because of how soft this rubber is , there's a really nice break in the grip because what I have found with a lot of boots like the predator LZ or the predator instinct , they took a lot of getting used to .
And I definitely think that this is in the same boat as those and that the amount of extra grip versus any other boot is going to feel a little bit weird at first .
But I didn't find that my feet were sticking to the ball in such a way where I was getting caught up on the ball like I did with the predator instinct and the predator LZ experience of striking the ball in this boot is just sick .
There's no other way to put it as far as effective striking elements go , I'm not sure that there has ever been anything that is quite as effective as this in terms of making for more grip on the ball .
The second that your foot makes contact , if I had to compare this to anything .
It kind of reminds me of those little rubber fins that we used to have on the Nike T 90 Laser three , which I realize is kind of an odd comparison .
This is definitely an amplified variation of that and obviously scattered across the entire upper , what I've always found with rubberized striking elements that add a significant amount of grip is not that it will make your shot more powerful or more accurate .
But I have definitely found and it's very noticeable with this boot that it's much easier to generate spin on the ball , whether or not that will make your shot better or worse .
Obviously , your technique is still going to be the most important thing there .
But I definitely think that if you're a fan of curling the ball , the added grip that you get from this boot is definitely going to be very noticeable and extremely effective .
Show you these , where are they ?
The new preds remind me a lot of the predator instinct , which was the final predator before they killed it off in 2015 .
And I kind of just wanted to show these boots together on camera moving to the middle of the upper , you will not find any lace list because the 20 plus is of course a lace football boot , something that I have openly not been a fan of it's still made out of primate just as it was on the predator 19 plus that this replaces .
But as you can see features a completely different pattern , one that I think makes a lot more sense .
It's supposed to for better tension through this area of the foot , which you need for a lace football boot design .
But quite honestly , from a lockdown perspective , it feels pretty similar to the outgoing predator 19 plus , I'm not going to lie .
If lockdown is something that you really value , it's still a lace football boot and it still has the downsides of most lace football boots that I've ever worn .
If maximum lockdown is what you're after , I would definitely go for the 20.1 variation which is different in a lot of ways .
But I still think offers a similar enough experience with better fit and better overall lockdown .
Of course , that flows into what is an extremely tall collar , more so at the back than the front , it does come up a little bit higher on all sides versus the predator 19 plus .
But again , this is something that I think they went for just to give the boot a more extreme silhouette and the boot as a whole doesn't really need help .
It has spikes all over the upper for crying out loud , but they decided to go in this direction .
And again , it does make the boot look a little bit weird , admit that it's a personal preference thing at the end of the day , but the collar itself is just elasticated prime .
It's not something that you notice when wearing the boots at all .
It's just something that's there and is more of a cosmetic element rather than a performance one .
And just to give you guys an idea of the height .
Here it is next to the predator 19 plus and here it is next to the super fly seven , it's high internally .
Not much has changed from the previous generation , the heel liner is still made from a synthetic suede material with plenty of extra padding feels quite nice .
And then the insole that is fully , they don't include an extra set and that's because they no longer include boost on the inside of the predator , which I'm perfectly fine with because as I said , with the previous generation , I don't think that it did anything .
It was just a gimmicky feature that was there for the sake of being there .
The insole though it's got this nice soft material lining the surface and it's made from a single layer of regular foam , pretty much the standard comfort insole from Adidas , moving to the base .
You'll find what they are still calling a control frame .
But one that has been completely redesigned from the previous now being a split sole rather than a solid soul plate .
And honestly , I'm not mad at this at all .
The reasoning for the split sole is because so many classic predators had a split sole , the predator mania being one of the big ones and they even opted for an external heel counter that has been modeled after after , after the predator absolute with that very familiar cut here at the side and just the general shape of it is very much from that particular model .
They even added this little rubber strip above the heel counter with some extra spikes in there for added grip on your back heels and just an even more aggressive look .
You can even see the heel counter and much of the soul plate .
I know it's difficult to see because of the texture , but everything has spikes or these little diamond things kind of like the striking element and just has kind of a roughness to it , which I'm quite a big fan of visually .
I think it looks quite good with any split .
So you still have a main soul plate underneath this being , I would say , more flexible than what we had from the previous generation predator .
But it also feels a lot thinner , just more natural in general .
I'm a fan of what they done here .
You can see it has some interesting cut outs which are more visual things than anything .
And then as far as the stud pattern is concerned , it's the same general layout that we see across the entire Adidas brand , but it has been redesigned in that the studs themselves are still in the same position , but they're a little bit smaller in profile , especially in the heel .
A lot slimmer , more like blades rather than kind of these almost triangular square studs .
Like we used to have basically the end result being that these studs with a smaller profile , I think , dig into the ground little bit more easily and slightly more aggressively .
So the traction as a whole is improved .
Although the difference I wouldn't say is hugely significant , which brings us to the weight .
Something that the predator series was never really about .
There were some light predators back in the day , but in general , I don't need this boot to be ridiculously light and it isn't in a size 9.5 us .
You can see that the 20 plus weighs in at 8.8 ounces , the equivalent of 250 g , which is pretty much right on par , give or take a couple of grams in comparison to the predator .
19 plus that it replaces .
So it has a lighter weight , feel on feet , but it's certainly not speed boot light .
Now , obviously , these are lace boots .
So I have not changed the laces .
However , if you did need some laces , you know where to get them .
Of course , because they're lace , people do like to know how to put them on , especially given that these have a very , very high collar higher than I think we've seen on any other football boot .
But the process really doesn't change all that much from the previous generation predator .
I still use two hands like this kind of turn it sideways , slide my foot in and then just support the back with my thumb .
So I'm not crushing the heel counter and then from there you're pretty much good to go .
I know the collar has this very slim look when it's not on feet , but obviously , it stretches quite a bit and then it ends up looking a lot more normal .
Once you have the boots on , on feet , I really like the way that the upper feels .
However , the first thing that I immediately notice upon taking a step is the lack of lockdown because of this lace system .
You can see when I bend my foot , how much it stretches across the top of the foot .
And the more that stretches , the less lockdown there is inside the boot , my heel immediately lifts from the base .
There's nothing holding it in place and there just is way too much movement for my liking .
Not to the point where I would say that the boots are unwearable .
The lockdown is comparable to a lot of the lace stuff that Adidas has put out .
But if you're planning on picking these up , I would strongly recommend investing in some grip socks .
I think we will go a long way in regards to your overall experience .
But again , if you are a lockdown fanatic , if you like having that super tight fit , don't go the lace one .
You are going to be disappointed as far as the fit of the upper is concerned .
You can definitely tell that they have thinned out the prime knit where it doesn't really have a padded sensation to it anymore .
The upper feels more like a synthetic , but it's still very flexible .
There's no stiffness to it or anything like that .
And also they have tweaked the shape a little bit where it seems to be a little bit slimmer through the mid foot , but a little bit wider through the toe box and four ft kind of a more rounded shape in that area .
And again , I like the way that they feel on feet .
It's a very , very comfortable pair football boots .
It's just lacking in the lockdown department because of that lace system .
Now , I have put on some white socks so you can see the contrast against the collar and you can see when they're actually on the super high collar is not as obnoxious looking .
I would say as when you're just holding the boots in hand , but again , it's more of a personal preference thing , not really something that you feel or notice , I guess if you're really paying attention to it , you can tell there's some extra material around your ankle that wouldn't normally be there .
But I definitely don't think that's providing any kind of ankle support or anything like that as far as with is concerned .
I think that these are going to be suitable for most people .
Again , they're a little bit more tight through the mid foot .
But , but there's so much stretch from the lace system that I don't think even if you do have a wider mid foot , it's going to be an issue .
So I think that these will fit most people and as far as sizing is concerned I'm wearing these in my usual size 9.5 US and the fit in length is perfect .
So if you're looking to order some for yourself , I would strongly recommend going through to size in order to achieve the best possible fit .
So in conclusion , aside from , from the lace system , just being a lace system and that it has certain compromises when it comes to lockdown and general tightness and of course , the collar may be being a little bit higher than it should .
Everything else about this boot .
I think Adidas got just right .
It's exactly what I was hoping for from a modern day predator .
I like the look .
I love the extra grip when it comes to touch on the ball , especially when shooting .
There really isn't anything else like it .
I think they made the necessary improvements when it comes to the soul plate and stud pattern .
If they weren't going to change that pattern entirely .
I like what they've done otherwise .
And as a whole , it's just a really , really impressive product and finally something that really separates itself from everything else out there .
Like I said , with the previous generation Predator 18 plus and 19 plus , it's not that I thought they were bad boots , but there just wasn't a reason to buy them over other options out there .
It was just a sock boot and nothing more .
And while at its core , this is still just a sock boot , there's so much more going on around that .
I think they just , man , they did a good job .
I don't know what else to say .
If you really value lockdown and responsiveness , I would definitely go for the 20.1 variation .
But if you're into the whole lace list thing and you like the predator concept , you especially like extra grip on the ball from a striking element .
I don't think you're going to be unhappy with these in any way at all .
Anyways guys , that's it for my review .
Hopefully you enjoyed the video if you did be sure to support it with a like again , if you're interested in some of these for yourself , you can click the first link down below .
That's going to take you to the review page on my website where you'll find buy it .
Now links with exclusive S R for you coupon codes to pick these up below their normal $275 retail price if you have any questions , which I'm sure you will leave them down below and I'll do my best to get an answer out to you if you aren't subscribed to the channel already , make sure you hit that subscribe button along with the little bell notification .
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Other than that guys , thank you so much for watching and we'll see you in the next week .