Asics Gel Rocket 11 Review

The Asics Gel Rocket 11 has landed! In my experience, the Asics Gel Rocket series is by far the most popular court shoe on the market, so whenever a new model comes out it’s time to spring into action. This replaces the Asics Gel Rocket 10 in the Asics lineup.

Asics Gel Rocket 11 vs. Other Asics Court Shoes

Here’s a video I put together providing a look at the Asics Gel Rocket 11 and comparing it to the Asics Gel Rocket 10, Asics Upcourt 5, and Asics Blast FF3. If you can’t watch the video right now, there’s a transcript below, or you can play the video on mute but turn on captions (click “CC”).

Asics Gel Rocket 10 vs. Asics Gel Rocket 11

Here’s a before-and-after photo comparison between the Rocket 10 (left) and 11 (right). As mentioned in the video, the construction is very similar. The soles seem identical to me. There are some minor changes to the upper.

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Men’s Colors — Asics Gel Rocket 11

Jump to women’s colors

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Peacoat / Shocking Orange

Also comes in a wide version.

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White / Lime Burst

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Black / Waterscape

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Blue Teal / Pale Mint

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Black / Gunmetal

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Black / White

Also comes in a wide version.

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Mako Blue / Pure Silver

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White / Black

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White / Pure Silver

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White / Indigo

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Peacoat / Shocking Orange [WIDE]

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Black / White [WIDE]

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Women’s Colors — Asics Gel Rocket 11

Jump to men’s colors.

Light Sapphire / White

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Black / Illuminate Mint

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White / Sapphire

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White / Pure Silver

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Asics Blue / White

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Black / Pure Silver

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Black / White

Kind of a cool pink accent on this one.

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White / White

Asics call this color scheme white / white. Not sure if they noticed the purple?

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Video & Transcript

What’s up gang. In this video I’m going to take you through the Asics Gel Rocket 11.

I’m going to show you visually what they look like in this video and I’m also gonna do a quick comparison to the previous Gel Rocket 10, as well as the Upcourt 5 and the Blast FF 3, all from Asics.

I purchased this Asics Gel Rocket 11 from the Asics website. These were $75. This is a quite a good price. It’s not the least expensive shoe in Asics’s court shoe lineup. That belongs to the Upcourt which is $15 cheaper but this is as always a very good deal. And it is because of that it is always one of the most popular shoes on the market. One of the most popular videos that I put out every year is the Asics Gel Rocket. The old standby.

This is marketed as a volleyball shoe from Asics but it is always popular on the squash courts as well as handball courts and other. I’ve seen them on the padel courts, pickleball courts. This is just a universally popular court shoe that’s non-marking that people use for a lot of different sports. I’ve been walking around in my house with these so far and I can tell you that they really have not changed that much from the Asics Gel Rocket 10, which were also a good value for money shoe. I’m going to walk you through how those two compare right now. There have been some slight changes but as you’re going to see, they’re not that big. The soles of these are virtually identical. The color of the rubber is a little bit different but the patterns are exactly the same as far as I can make out.

The top of the shoe is very similar. There’s been some slight changes to the type of fabric that they’re using but really not that big a deal. The overall cosmetics are pretty much about the same. Here’s the top.

Here’s the back, some minor changes there.

The side, it’s a little hard to see, but there’s been a tiny change in the inside part here. There’s a bit more covering for where you drag your inside big toe compared to the older model. It’s not much of a difference but the fabric of the new Asics Gel Rocket 11 model goes a little bit further along to give you a little more protection from toe drag, but on the whole if you liked the prior version of the Asics Gel Rocket 10, you’re going to like the Asics Gel Rocket 11. I’ve put them on my feet. They feel about the same.

And I’ll compare these now to some other models that are currently in Asics’s lineup.

Here’s the Rocket 11 versus the current Upcourt model, the Upcourt 5. As you’re going to see…these look to me, very similar. The fabric that they’re using is the same.

The general construction is very similar. The Rocket does have some differences in the fact that it’s got kind of two separate gum rubber pads with the sort of stability feature at the arch. As opposed to the Upcourt which is just one molded piece. I’m not sure I can really tell a difference between those two on the court. Again, I haven’t used these on court but it looks like the last Rocket. I don’t feel like I can tell a huge difference between the two.

Quality-wise they appear quite similar. There’s different levels of cushioning or sort of the design of the cushioning is a little bit different between the Upcourt 5 and the Rocket 10.

The lacing is about the same and the general design of a toe box is pretty much identical.

I think that the Rocket 11, like I showed you earlier, has a little bit more protection at the big toe for toe drag. But honestly, pretty similar. The Upcourts are $15 cheaper so in my opinion, I think if you’re just looking for a cheap, decent shoe, I would say you could go with either. The Upcourt can save you 15 bucks if you want to…if you want to save a few bucks.

Now I’ll compare the Rocket 11 to the Blast FF 3. This is one of the higher end shoes that’s currently available from Asics. These are $140 right now so almost twice as expensive as the Rockets. So in terms of comfort, just walking around my house, there is no comparison. The Blast FF 3 is way more comfortable. So if you have extra money to spend and you want to invest in something a little nicer, I would strongly recommend you go for the Blast FF 3.

You know that’s another $65 so it depends on what you want to invest but these are way more comfortable on the feet, much softer inside. These have a kind of integrated like sock booty thing that’s very, makes it very easy for you to get your feet in and out of the shoes. That’s the Blast does. The Rocket has a much more traditional sort of separate loose tongue.

Like kind of standard. The Blast has a little tag up here to help you pull your shoe on and off but the biggest thing is just the way that your foot feels inside of the Blast FF. It’s just a lot more comfort. The Blast FF has a removable, high quality — well, I don’t know about high quality, but a removable, moderate quality insole, whereas the Rocket 11 has an insole that is glued down permanently. You can actually remove that insole by just ripping it off

from inside the shoe but it’s glued down.

The Blast FF 3 has very nice lateral stability.

The Blast and the Rocket both have the sort of two-piece sole system that’s a very different design. The Blast FF 3 has this support piece in here, and this shoe also has some outside support. This kind of plastic piece. “Turn Truss” I think is what it’s says there. This is some sort of a feature of the Blast FFs for a while, whereas the Rocket just has your standard kind of outer part of the sole.

Basically it’s very similar size in terms of lateral stability. The Blast FF 3 has fewer moving parts if you will in terms of the stitching. It’s got, where the sole meets the upper part of the shoe, sort of a smooth material. It looks like there’s paneling there but really it’s all kind of this like um plastic-ish covering melded with the breathable material underneath. So basically there’s just fewer stitches on the Blast FF 3, which is going to probably prolong the shoe life a lot more than a shoe like this where you’ve got visible stitching and as you drag your foot along, the inside and outside of that, it’s going to start tearing away at the uh, the stitching on the toes.

So, you get what you pay for. If you want to have a bit more comfort and a bit better quality, trade up for the the Blast FF 3s, but if you’re just looking for a shoe that gets you out on court and you don’t want to spend a ton of money but you want a good value, the Rocket 11 is still that guy. It’s still that shoe. It hasn’t changed that much from the Rocket 10 and it’s still going to satisfy the sort of vast majority of people who are just looking to get out on court. So I will be trying these out on the squash court. I’ll be back with a later review more in depth on how they play. But I’m expecting them to be pretty much in line with where the last shoes were. Hope that helps, and subscribe if you want to see more shoe reviews. We’ll see you later! Bye.