Sorry. Does anyone knows how do the grading of boots works?
Hi,
The different grades in football boots are to cater to customers with diifferent purchasing power. There are usually 3 to 4 grades of the same "model" and they are usually classed under top-end, middle-range and budget boots.
For example,
in Adidas they have 18+(laceless varient),18.1,18.2,18.3
in Nike they have Elite, Pro, Academy, Club
in Mizuno they have V1,V2,V3
For Adidas and Nike their top end boots are the Elite and the 18+/18.1 and their budget ones are the 18.3 and academy/club respectively.
Lets look at their costs, using Adidas X on the official adidas sg website as the example.
Adidas X 18.1 costs about S$300
Adidas X 18.2 costs about S$200
Adidas X 18.3 costs about S$120
Of course you can get a discount when buying from other shops like Westons. I went to Westons Kallang last friday and I believe their 18.2 was like S$169 or something.
Another point to take note is that these lower end models are referred to as takedown models. They are usually cheaper and made out of a different material than the top-end one. Adidas X 18.1's upper is made up of SpeedMesh while the 18.2 is made up of engineered mesh material. I think you roughly get the idea by now. Lower price = lousier materials. However, they are made to look very similar to their top-end counterpart. So that budget players can feel good about having like the same "model" and look as the pros. As usually takedown models are pretty bad, it is recommended that you go for the top-end models if you have cash to spare and if you are a regular player.
Football studs are also another thing to take note of.
SG - soft ground
FG - firm ground (long triangle/chevron studs)
AG - artificial ground (shorter round conical studs)
Turf - turf ground
Usually we normally go for either FG or AG in singapore. Some boots are in FG and some are in AG. While others have a mix of both called MG (mixed ground). So be sure to check what surface u are playing on before buying.
If u have any other questions u can pm me. I'm pretty new to football and am currently doing some research on which boots to buy. So if I have gotten anything wrong, someone pls correct me.
For your reference :
https://www.unisportstore.com/blog/...-club-what-does-the-new-nike-boot-names-mean/
Good luck!