Today I was given a pair of Under Armor Speed Freak Boots. To give a slight bit of background, I’m a Danner snob. I’ve worn Danner Boots (mostly Acadia) for the better part of the past 15 years. I’ve never owned Under Armor footwear. The only other type of footwear I use at work is black basketball-type shoes when its nice. By the way, I live in Michigan, so I wear my boots a lot!
I know several other officers who have worn these boots for about 10 months and really like them. The only criticism I’ve heard is that out of the box they aren’t very shiny. In the picture below I shined the boot on the left with Kiwi Parade Wax. Nothing extravagant and it took me literally 1 minute. This wasn’t some long drawn out polishing session. I simply included this view so you could see that you can easily throw a higher gloss on if that’s your thing…I’m all about looking professional and squared away but I truly have better things to do than buff boots for an extended period.
When I first put them on I was impressed by how light they are. One thing to know is that I have a relatively flat foot with a non-existent arch. The boots do have generous arch support and I’m not sure how I feel about that yet. I put a Danner Acadia on my left foot and a Speed Freak on my right and I couldn’t believe the difference in weight. The one thing I’m not hip on is that on the top of the boot there are a few uneven pressure points. I realize its not fair to judge them yet, and we will see how they feel in a couple of weeks. Overall they are very comfortable, and light. One other point, they seem to run quite true to size. I wear between a 10 1/2 and 11 in pretty much everything. I got an 11 in these and they fit nicely even with thicker winter-type socks.
Danner Acadia boots are the go to boot if you’re concerned with getting a nice polish. Give us an update after you scuff these up a little. I want to try these at some point. Obviously they won’t hold a polish lol.
Hope theyre better than the Valsetz, Ive broken two toes now doing just fairly strenuous exercise in duty gear because of how soft and flexible the sole and toe section of the boot is. Ive gone back to my old school Army basic leather boots for winter wear because of it.
This will be a common feeling with the Speed Freaks if laced too tightly or if not broken in.
I’ve got two pairs that I wear on a daily basis. My feet spend probably 12-18 hours a day in Speed Freaks, and have since Dec 2012. I have a black pair for duty, they do not hold a “polish” per se, but can be buffed to a nice even matte black. My other pair is the coyote/DE brown that I wear in lieu of tennis shoes and hiking boots. Ive stood in an ice cold stream for about an hour wearing these boots and my feet stayed dry, however water got into the layers of the boots and I had to dry them by the fire. Great boots, very light and well worth the money.
I will say this though. the traction on the black boots is different than on the tan ones. The black ones can get very slippery on ice or wet floors. As most of my time is spent in a jail, this can get tricky.
No idea how it happened the first time, we have a O course that is part of annual cert. that I ran and when I was done my foot felt funny. Took off the boot and theres a crooked middle toe and half my foot was purple. Second time was at work, don’t remember if it was from kicking a cell door or something else, but same thing happened; walked away and foot felt funny. That time was my big toe, same foot. Ive never had any issue like this with real boots with real boot soles (Altama, Corcoran, Belleville, Danner, Rocky, etc…)
I want another set of Corcoran II’s like I had back in the spit shine Army days, Those were super comfortable and shined awesome, just not waterproof. Might just be age catching up to me but a lot of those boots I used to wear kill my feet nowadays, cant mess with the jungle boots anymore and the basic leathers are leaving me a bit sore at the end of my shift. I gave my two pairs of Valsetz to my dog.
I have never broken a toe in my Valsetz, but I am less than thrilled with their construction/durability. For comfort though, they are hard to top; if the Speed Freaks are built a bit more rugged I would like to give them a try.
Theyre good for running, just not on uneven terrain or in wooded areas. Mesquite thorns will go right through the sole, found that out training around Joe Pool lake in Texas. I guess if everything I did happened indoors they would be a good boot but I would still want more protection around steel doors and such. Kicking doors in trailer parks with shitty wooden doors they would be great; in a prison not so much.
I like them so far. The one issue I had was tightness across the top of the foot. After 36 hours of wear this seems to have resolved itself.
As far as support goes, it all is dependant what you are used to. For me, as many of my fellow co-workers, we wear running shoes the majority of the time. Some Reebok Zigs, Nike Frees, and some Under Armour. These boots offer a ton more support than those so I feel comfortable doing everything in these.
I run Salomon Quest 4D. I love them. Good to run in, great ankle support, good traction, overall lateral stability is good, and dont break down under gear weight. Plus they dont make noises and clunk with the roll of your foot when trying to be silent.
