I was skeptical that the new generation of vapors could improve on a boot that I felt consisted of sex and awesomeness molded together, the talaria III.

But having said that, my talarias died in 3 years flat, no amount of boot tape could stop it from eventually falling apart, ripping at the sides and so on.

So heres a photo review, I didn't feel like putting this in the boot review thread because I wanted some specified discussion about the boot and a general community overview of ways in which you can break these things in quicker (I'm rather sore atm)

Arrival

The boots promptly arrived from the US. From the tracking information I received, my boots actually went the longer way around the world. It would have made sense to fly from the US west coast to Haiwaii, keep going till Australia. But USPS thought that it made sense to fly the other way, only a several thousand or so km's longer but hey, who am I to argue with that logic.


Initial thoughts

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Out of the box these things look awesome. First try feels pretty awesome too. In some places you could see where they used the glue to put the studs on, the same glue that tends to come off in around 2 years time. Noticed a few little imperfections in the boot, it had some little marks on it which aren't worrying and in all fairness were probably customs fault.

Training

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Basically after doing a lap on the field i was intensely sore and after some agility drills I was even more sore. So sore that I had to tape up my ankles. Initially I thought well hey, I'm just breaking these things in. I powered on, ignored the pain and kept training.

Here's the resulting injuries.

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Final Conclusions
Everyone has issues breaking in boots, but this is excessive. All injuries aside, the boot has an unnatural feel touch wise and I had problems juggling with it when usually I'd be able to juggle for ages without problems.

Maybe the boot will loosen up, maybe it wont. My feet will have to adjust either way. To be honest it feels as if I have to learn how to dribble again with these boots. Its not that they are too long, theyre not. They fit fine. The problem is that everything is so tight. Because of the lace cover it becomes extremely difficult to adjust your laces wider where you need it especially if you tend to have wider feet.


Is there light at the end of the tunnel?
I can't rate these boots out of ten atm because it wouldn't be fair. Give them a few weeks and i'll tell you how it goes. Im currently trying to widen the heel as you can see. I think its those stupid pads that are the culprit. here .

The problem lies in the heel lock. I wish nike had actually tested out the heel lock before throwing it into the market. I know it featured in the III's but I've never had this kind of heel injuries before, not even breaking in the III's.

Currently the impressions aren't good. If I could find a pair of Vapor III's they'd be straight back onto my feet. In a few weeks (if this thread hasnt died or gone to the dogs) I'll post on how the shoes are doing.


Cheers guys for reading the review. If you want more pics I've taken of my vapors then I suggest you follow this link. The gallery also shows my vapor III's beside the IV's for comparison.


All the best and I hope this helps.


Edit: If its worth bragging about. The nike rep at our club reckons he cant get these red vapors into Aus for at least another month. Unique colour way for now, woooo....

I have the same feelings towards the IVs. They are a good pair of boots but incomparable to the IIIs. Thats why I've decided to try to sell mine. The heel wrap system just seems to dig into my heel, even when I haven't started running or anything, I can feel the pressure from it. Really kinda sucks cause I loved the Vapor series up til this. I do however wanna try out a pair of SLs as its not a heel wrap but a counter and see if that decreases the pressure applied to the heel area. Great review by the way.

PS Did you have Vapor IIIs or Talarias?

Had the talarias but they were pretty much the same as the vapor III's in pretty much every regard. Much the same thing cannot be said about the talaria 4's which look like someone melted a lego block into a football boot.

The heel wrap is a major issue and does cause a considerable amount of pain, oiling it up doesnt quite do the trick and i cant exactly see my heel enduring 90 minutes of that. At least not whilst I train 4 times a week, I can hardly finish a session with these things on.

Im gonna leave my tennis ball in the boots heel over night, I will let you know how it goes.


Sellings a bit drastic for me as I have nothing to go back on and i know the person I sell to will have the same issues that im having. Im sure I can find a solution to the heel problem, all it needs is a few tennis balls and a bit of time (lets hope im right)

Nice review. Finally someone who knows how to resize pictures into a reasonable dimension.

I have yet to actually play in them, and only tried them in stores but haven't felt as ackward as you did. I thought they were slightly wider than the III's, which should suit more people. I'm happy with the snug fit of the III's though.

By the way I own both the Vapor and Talaria III, i can tell you they are NOT the same. The Talaria is quite a bit softer and more tolerant, whereas the Vapor is much more stiff. Same with the heel lock, the Talaria pads feel like a soft button, but the Vapor ones are very firm. I've not had a problem with either one though. I would say that if your heel doesn't like heel pads, you won't find much luck with the Vapor III's either. I've seen people who went and used a knife to cut out the heel lock.

i got the same blisters in pic #2 but no others, and after wearing them for the past 3 weeks now i still need to tape that part of my ankle, its not the heel pad its self that gives me blisters its the stiching around it, and the edge of a leather that is sown up to allow the heel pad to come out, i also get this funny pain in the arch of my left foot but i think thats due to wearing 9.5 when im a 10 to an 11

P.S hope your mates didnt see you taking pics of your boots at training, if i did that id get bashed on the spot

Hell me too. Did you have breaks for photoshoots or something???? Haha jk mate I hope it all works out for you, I have the same feelings about the IV's. I still wear my III's alot to training.

Our teams a pretty tight bunch of guys so noone really minds. I even got them to take the pics for me!

You're lucky mate my team is full of a bunch of twats for the most part.

the blisters dont look that bad tho. i have seen worse and I usually hear ppl say its about a month to really break in a boot

How sticky would you say the material is? So much that it hinders your dribbling because the ball sticks to your foot too much?

i dont think its overly sticky, you just need to get used to it, it definitly has made me change my free kick style

Wow great review, this is definitely how they should be done, i cannot wait to get my vapor ivs in a couple of days, and if you dont mind, maybe i can do a little add on to the review mate?

Yeah for sure, the review is more about sharing knowledge than me bitching about my blisters. Feel free to add whatever you guys want.

As for boot stickyness, they arent all that stick on the dry and are impossible to get a grip in the wet. Over time as the teijin weathers, that will change though.

nice review~
have you tried putting vaseline in the shoe? (around the area that giving blister) usually this does the trick for me.

But would you say that they are stickier than the 3's. Because I had some gravs and a huge downfall for me was that they stuck to the ball so much. Had to totally change my playing style.

I got my vapor 1v's recently and omg, the heel lock in my left boot kills my foot..
I have really bad blister on the inside of my left heel but the right boot is perfectly comfortable..
Hope it just needs time for these boots to break in..

Yeah the blisters from 4s are a bitch. I've gone back to wearing my 3s and air legends lately, I don't think I can go back to the 4s

Haha wow these aren't the greatest reviews for a vapor 4. I mean, i had one pair of vapor III's that would KILL my feet some days. Then I broke my knee and my feet "repaired" for the three months that I was out.
I bought a new pair of vapor III's (like an idiot, i mean y buy a cleat that previously killed your feet), but for some reason, I have only got one blister in the 6 months i had them.
Hopefully, the same will happen with the Vapor IV's. We take some time, but eventually get used to them. Is that a possible theory?

By the way, I'm thinking to get a new pair of Vapor IV's. Should I make the switch from III's? I have a little above average width feet.

wow way diff then what i think, I have had my vaps since feb and I love them exept i did get 2 bad blister/cut on both my heels, but i just taped them a few times and put some heel stuff my mom got from some women store on them and now there fine and i love them, maybe your feet just arent right for them, the III tho i dont think i could use them by the way poeple discribe the blisters you get from them every time you play a it happend to a guy on my team to

I always used to wear adidas boots. But since 2004, when adidas decided to decrease quality and increase price with Predator Pulse, I decided to give Nike a try.
I tried Nike Air Legends FG, which I would call the best boots ever for me, if the stud layout didn't give me knee pain all the time.
So i tried the shoe, which seemed to be perfect for my game, a sprint-shoe like one, the Vapor.

Vapor 2:
Way too narrow and the toe box was weird... sold 'em

Vapor 3:
Still narrow, took 2 weeks to break in... impressive. The first non-leather boots, that i liked.
But why don't they make at least a black and white version... i like classic style.

Vapor 4:
I can't decide, if I'll buy them, or if I should better try to grab myself another pair of Vapor IIIs.
The carbon heel lock seems to be very uncomfortable, style is disgusting to me.
So I considered SLs, but spending 250€+ doesn't seem sensible to me, but still they look to be much more Vapor III like than the ugly IVs.
I also considered the "true SLs" the carbon-only SLs, but when I look at the small carbon patches at the heel of my Vapor IIIs, I think those Nike Mercurial SL won't last long, those seem to be made for a display, not for the field.

So at the moment I need new boots, and it seems as if I will buy adidas Copa Mundial and adidas World Cup (78), because there's nothing else, which matches my requirements in terms of quality.
This is very dissapointing. You really can't find much Vapor IIIs in my size anymore.

well from what I have heard the vapor IV is wider than the III, i wonder if you could just cut out the heel lock?, also if you wrap your heel the first week and break them in nice it you will be fine I wish i had done that but we had spring break and i just messed around in turfs when i wanted to play now im fine.

Thing is that the heel lock isnt just those funny little pads, sure they rub but thats not the problem. The problem lies in the actual carbon fibre wrap around, i havent had the success in stretching it out by using tins and bottles like others have.

Went back to my old school adidas 7406 boots for the game today, adidas makes a comfortable but considerably heavier boot. Those who say they cant tell the weight difference between a leather boot and vapors probably aren't running fast enough.

Just picked up a pair of IV's and struggling to put them on is annoying.

I got a pair of 3's and got the heel blisters right away, and I'm sure it will happen again with the IV's.


Has anyone found a device to stretch out the heels? Also, how many times do you think I use these until they break in and stop bothering me?

Ok. watch t.v. and just keep stretching them and bending them with your hands.. do it for a while... once you can put them on and play for 5 - 10 mins do that, your goal is to get the "Gloss" off of them.. I went as far as showering in them, but if you dont want to do that.. play in them progressively longer for about a week. Also, when you finish playing with them put a tennis or baseball in the heel if it fits...

in your pic where there is your older boot of the III, that boot looks like it is a talaria and not the real MVIII, are u sure u had the real MVIII cuz in my opinion those look like talarias and the talarias are different from the actual MVIIIs since they are wider. that might be a reason why your foot is not used to vapors since this is your true first pair.

Yup, we've already established that ive been wearing talarias. Never had heel problems in them though and there wasnt a need for a heel lock.

Im gonna try soaking my boots in water and letting them roast in the sun afterwards. My love affair with these things has ended, they need to age a bit and become wearable. I'm now, more happy than ever to help speed up that ageing process. I did myself a favour and looked up on how teijin works, it ages just like real leather and stretches over time, lets hope I can break these cleats in faster.

Heel blisters seem to take forever to heal.

Yea, they really do. It took mine two weeks to heal when I got new vapors IIIs a while ago, but shower method made things easier haha. The mass of scar tissue from the numerous times it's happened to me really helped too. A friend of mine bought the same pair of vapors you have and he didn't seem to have any trouble breaking them in.

Lucky guy

Ive been wearing them around the home, it seems that the actual heel bone is causing the pain rather than the blisters. I could wear em for 30mins at training today and ill wear em another 30mins at the next training.

Swapping from vapors to leather adidas boots. Vapors are the old skool ferrari and the adidas is the landrover with furry seats and plenty of room. The amount of comfortability you sacrifice for speed hey....

Heh, lucky indeed. I'm sure they'll break in fine in a while. Just keep playing in them for a little bit at a time and you should be okay.

Very true, I got blisters from both the IIs and IIIs. However when I broke into them they were the perfect boots. I still wear the IIs to training and some matches.

I havent got the IVs yet but I am starting to regret even considering to buy them because like 80% of the reviews I have read on the net have been negative. I dont know, but I still think I will end up buying them when a colour in white comes out

Im considering taking my vapors back to the shop because i mean this blister i have on the inside of my heel isnt like a normal blister, its like deep cut.. Its small but its really painful to play and i can feel that the boots may be affecting my play negatively.
Do u guys think the shop will accept my boots if i take them back?

It all depends on the boot condition. What i suggest is that you wear another pair until it heals. The blister will NOT come back in that area cuz ur skin will harden after that... also, if you generally get heel blisters, tape your heels up, even if you have NO blisters... its a lot of work for a boot and a good old leather boot that doesnt give trouble may be worth it for some, but for me the blister trouble is worth the lightweight and look of the vapor.

Goncalves I had that same fucking problem. Its not like a blister, but its like a fucking cut man. It hurt soooooo bad to play with. When I took off the vapors they my heels were bleeding badly, and my sock was soaked with blood. I no longer wear IV's. Only my legends and vapor 3s

I dont want people to burn themselves....and i take no responsibility for anyones actions on my advice.

I poured boiling water over my vap 4s whilst wearing them, and they moulded to my foot. the boot was rather waterproof (i tested it beforehand). Also a hairdryer on high whilst crouching with the boots on would help stretch them out, they artificial leather expands and stays.


As for the heel, i use tape and vaseline, little by little my feet are getting used to it, theres no way i would have done this for a boot that costed 100 bucks, but since i spent 200+, its worth the boot at least fitting.

wow

Hey real 10, thats exactly wat happens!!
My socks are also full of blood cuz of that stupid cut!!
I really dunno if its worth the pain wearing vapor 4s..

If all else fails when breaking them in, use the shower method, where you either take a shower in your boots with your soccer socks on or wear your socks, put your shoes on, and soak them in a tub of hot water. It work's surprisingly well, but after I did it, my vapor IIIs had a weird smell as well as some of the glue started to peel. All is well though

^ That wont help though. The heel padding on the sides is what does it lol. I feel like cutting the padding off of mine.

how does this happen to you guys? it never happens with me :S i wear ankle guards inside my sock or sometimes outside for extra protection as a pre-caution though.

Another idea is to put them in the washer and then into the dryer. once they come out the upper will be really soft as well as clean and a little less bad smelling!

wouldnt that damage the boot overall rather than benefit you?

hmm.. tape on the heels?
Ooh i got it.. someone seriously try this when their heels heal.. (haha that was funny)

but seriously, rub vaseline on the heel cup.. it makes the rubbing stop and blisters and cuts wont form.. i tried it on my vapor 3's.. worked like a charm, my heel was still locked but no blisters.

No trickstar it really has no negative effects on the boots from what ive seen. if you think about it, they are just plastic, so its not so easat to damage them.

Actually putting them in the dryer will make them shrink, i tried with mine and had to go with the boiling water plus hair dryer method to form it to my foot. Now, even without the boot on you can clearly see the place where my big toe would be.

Have you managed to break it in more, or is the heel cup still bothering you?

Do like C.ronaldo did when he first came to Manchester, tape the hole foot up to the ankle with coach tape, but don`t tape the toes. I don`t have any picture of Ronaldo doing it but if you go back long,long time in gettimages you will find a picture with him sitting in the dressing room with Wes brown and some more and youll se.

I wear it around the home and its getting better. I havent had the balls to actually play a game in them yet, i really need to be able to play the full 90 atm and cant risk a drop in form due to new boots.

Even with taping on the heel, it does dig in, alot of people think its the little pads that do it, but if you look at the inside of the heel youll see that its actually the overall shape that digs in.

For all the people who use vaseline, could you provide a picture on where you put it? Or should i just put it all over.

all over would be best

You put it all over the meshy part, and put a relatively thick layer. But don't make it too slippery so that your foot can easily come out..