Great fresh boot for the new season. When we can start playing that is!

I recently left a review on the Predator XP's after mulling over it for a while i decided to send the predator XP’s back, having a pair of kakari lights is good enough.. plus I’m sticking to what i know and love.. and i ordered The Kakari x Kevlars 2… these are my 5th pair in 3 years, not because they get destroyed after a season, oh no, far from it. I like to have spares and I like to have different stud configurations , I’m a geek, i don’t know. Anyways on to the boots... now i'll say right now boots are what i expect and they are awesome, highly recommended.. but a few things i've picked up over the years 'collecting' x kevlars. . . The 'Ignite', 'Huntdown' and the 'Duel Instinct' packs which are pretty much the first generation of kevlars have a thicker 'proper' kevlar band around the midfoot which looks heavy duty. The 'Rising Sun' and 'Scorch' pack the same kevlar band is much thinner, maybe to save weight i don’t know its just an observation. also i find that the rising sun and scorch packs have reduced achilles padding compared to the 1st generation, that said the boot in any carnation is still extremely comfortable . ok what else is different for better or worse.. first of all a new sole plate, now, when i first saw this i was baffled?! why put an old soleplate which was introduced in 2012? with the adi-power regulates?…whats wrong with the first generation kevlar soleplate? not a lot, although one of the plastic fin studs in the middle came off one pair.. I think i still prefer the old soleplate, with the extra 2 molded/plastic studs on the heel always gave that little extra traction in the scrums or mauls. 

as with the original kevlars you can still stick any stud on to the boot, and not have to spend another £25 on kakari adipower studs. The 15mm/18mm studs they come with are more than perfectly fine. It’s a welcome change to have a longer stud on a tight 5 boot! though what I can say about the new soleplate is its much, much, much stiffer almost unbendable brand new, its something you’d want in the scrums a firm base to push off with. But as time goes on we’ll see how much the soleplate breaks in. The introduction of a tongue I though was just a bit of a gimmick just in order to have something ‘different’ on the boot to call it ‘2’ or new… initial thoughts are it is actually good. 
Before on the original kevlar ‘1’s’ the sock would get kind of bunched up when you put the boot on then have to un tighten the laces, then pull the sock up, then lace them back up; but with the new tongue you can just pull it and it sorts it out. Plus gives the boot a little bit more stability in on the top of the foot. It’s a little thing but, hey, it works! 

 Another minute thing is finally they come with 1 more extra lace hole, for absolute lockdown.. the first generation always had 7 holes in the pictures but always came with 6.. So I always had to go at it with a blade and almost chop my fingers off adding that 7th hole. But the kevlar 2 come with it which is neat. And the laces are now at a respectable length now too. The laces on the ‘rising sun’ pack you had to wrap them around the boot 5 times.

 overall I am glad I have a kevlar 2 boot in my rotation, thing is; would I pay full price for them? No, not at the original £160 price mark. (I’ve always waited for end of season sales and eBay deals to buy any boot I’ve ever used) but with 50% off plus a 25% coupon a respectable £64 for a boot which will last years is a great deal.