Current Outdoor Gear Lab shoe reviews

Has anyone noticed the shift (good or bad) from when Chris Mcnamara did the climbing shoe reviews on Outdoor Gear lab? Thoughts? Or just how all the top 5 are sportiva shoes, maybe a (narrow foot) bias there? Just wanted to see what others thought.

climbing shoe reviews are mostly inherently flawed and mostly useless ... as what fits the foot of the reviewers may not fit your foot

in fact they can be downright counterproductive ...

weve all seen folks go out and get shiny new miuras or other such shoes, trying to cram their toes in something that doesnt really fit because it has "good reviews", or so and so "wears it", etc ...

and then they come back latter on complaining ... or they suffer and their feet get all gnarled up, which if it goes on long enough leads to permanent foot injuries

nothing else matters as much as the FIT ... everything else (rubber, sportiva delamination, fancy name brand, famous folks wearing it) is secondary

the best articles ive seen on finding shoes that FIT ... not fancy reviews that give a 90/100 rating

The sad truth is that wearing shoes that Chris Sharma wears will not automatically make you climb like Chris Sharma. Less controversial than the heated discussions about the merits of different climbing shoes for anyone’s individual feet and climbing needs is the wealth of scientific evidence to show that regularly wearing excessively tight or irregularly shaped shoes can, and will, lead onto many health problems.


bouldersuk.com/2013/09/clim…

bouldersuk.com/2013/08/are-…

eveningsends.com/climbing-s…

thebmc.co.uk/climbing-shoes…

;)

bearbreeder wrote: The sad truth is that wearing shoes that Chris Sharma wears will not automatically make you climb like Chris Sharma.

It's kind of a fraud in my mind, but you can't buy the shoes Sharma wears...

bearbreeder wrote:http://bouldersuk.com/2013/08/are-your-climbing-shoes-too-tight/

This link actually partially supports buying Sportiva & Scarpa shoes as they tend to have much higher level of asymmetry than other brands. I always thought people using Evolvs already have bunions or are getting there.

"The sad truth is that wearing shoes that Chris Sharma wears will not automatically make you climb like Chris Sharma. Less controversial than the heated discussions about the merits of different climbing shoes for anyone’s individual feet and climbing needs is the wealth of scientific evidence to show that regularly wearing excessively tight or irregularly shaped shoes can, and will, lead onto many health problems."

I just bought TC Pros and you're telling me I won't be able to free the Dawn Wall. I want a refund. Damn shoe companies.....

reboot wrote: It's kind of a fraud in my mind, but you can't buy the shoes Sharma wears... This link actually partially supports buying Sportiva & Scarpa shoes as they tend to have much higher level of asymmetry than other brands. I always thought people using Evolvs already have bunions or are getting there.

actually it supports buying climbing shoes that FIT, regardless of the brand

ive tried plenty of sportivas and scarpas that didnt fit and were quite painful ...

and ive had a pair of evolve defys that fit quite well ... and katanas that fit ... and vapors that fit ... and teneya oasis that fit

find the shoes that FITS regardless of brands ... and start from there

oh and the article supports doing all those fancy physio excercises too ... and taking of yr shoes when you can, which is why im a fan of velcro on multi

;)

bearbreeder wrote: actually it supports buying climbing shoes that FIT

Once your toes are deformed from wearing regular or climbing shoes, I don't think wear what fits is necessarily the answer anymore. If climbing shoes were anatomically correct, they probably should be low volume for less curled toes (like Sportiva Katana Lace) and highly asymmetrical for straighter big toes(like Scarpa Boostic).

bearbreeder wrote:The sad truth is that wearing shoes that Chris Sharma wears will not automatically make you climb like Chris Sharma.

Of course not, it doesn't matter what shoes Sharma wears since he doesn't use his feet;)

reboot wrote: Once your toes are deformed from wearing regular or climbing shoes, I don't think wear what fits is necessarily the answer anymore. If climbing shoes were anatomically correct, they probably should be low volume (like Sportiva Katana Lace) and highly asymmetrical (like Scarpa Boostic).

i cant even cram my feet the in boostic even with my poor deformed toes

everyone has different feet ... trying to force feet into shoes that DONT fit is just asking for foot injuries latter down the road

with the wide variety of shoes theres no excuse in not finding a shoe that FITS ... you can get all day shoes that fit and aggressive shoes that fit ...

ironically as my feet have gotten MORE deformed over the years .... i find fit MORE not less important

i used to be able to bear the pain of a shoe that didnt fit properly, which many of us did at one time .... these days if i try to cram my foot in something that doesnt fit well and climb ... i cant take the pain, everything flares up

;)

bearbreeder wrote: i cant even cram my feet the in boostic even with my poor deformed toes everyone has different feet ...

I didn't say the boostic is an ideal shoe for everyone, but that it has an important attribute that should be in most climbing shoes. It's pretty narrow & would be hard to cram a wide and/or high volume/arch foot in. But I still believe low toe box volume & high asymmetry should be more standard than exception in climbing shoes.

youtu.be/6F7FEu2o9To

Obviously shoes are irrelevant...

I've always liked their reviews...they pretty much single-handedly created demand for the Katana Lace, which is a fantastic shoe (maybe not quite the miracle they make it out to be, but still great). I agree that they are biased toward Sportiva, but that's how things go with subjective reviews. I wouldn't say they're in Sportiva's pocket, as they pretty much panned the Miura VCS despite it being one of the most popular shoes.

I always check out multiple sources while shopping. Andrew Bishart (Evening Sends) is a good second source to cross reference.

It's a good source of input, but it's just one source of input. Best way is obviously to buy a ton of shoes and see what works for you.

The biggest problem with OGL's shoe reviews as a whole is that they just rank everything in one big pile. I mean does it make even the tiniest bit of sense to compare, say, the Mythos and Solution and say one is "better" than the other? The Genius is hardly the "best" shoe if you're gonna go jam your feet in a crack all day, and they even admit that, but it's still "#1"...

The current crop of reviews seems completely in love with Sportiva's No Edge, but I don't see very many Futuras or Geniuses out there...

Really? Geniuses are all over my gym. I feel like they're replacing Solutions as the "shoe all the hard climbers (and people who think they are hard" wear. Also, Sean McColl wore them on the last American Ninja Warrior, despite recently moving his endorsements to Scarpa, lol.

It's old and I think the reviewer definitely has bias towards some companies, but this German blog - kletterschuhtest.wordpress.… - has some crazy thorough reviews for a lot of climbing shoes.

Definitely biased on some of their gear reviews. They gave Totem Cams a relativley low rating compared to other cams, Totems blow all other off sets and regular cams out of the water.

mkclimb wrote:It's old and I think the reviewer definitely has bias towards some companies, but this German blog - kletterschuhtest.wordpress.… - has some crazy thorough reviews for a lot of climbing shoes.

Looks very interesting - is it available in English?

My solution is to buy tons of used shoes on eBay for about $25 a pair. I've worn about 20 pairs in the last two years. This gave me a great understanding of what qualities I appreciate and what makes and models tend to fit me well. Then when I decide to move on from a shoe I sell it on eBay for about what I've paid for it. I've decided that I like la sportiva best. I also like a firmer sole and a shoe that allows my toes to lay flat. I like shoes with a fair amount of stretch for that custom fit feel.

Running it through Google Translate works quite well - and creates some weird/funny phrasing.

Outdoor Gear Lab has biases in their reviewing. Take their totem can review for example. They rave then rate it significantly lower than the C4. I take it al with a grain of salt, Max seems to do the best reviews.

I wear la sportiva and i have a wide foot (GG), heel fit is the single most important thing in a shoe and IMO la sportiva generally have the best heels on the market. Also no edge is beast.

that guy named seb wrote:I wear la sportiva and i have a wide foot (GG), heel fit is the single most important thing in a shoe and IMO la sportiva generally have the best heels on the market. Also no edge is beast.

Nope.

It's certainly up there but not the single most important thing. A perfectly fitting heal and a sloppy fore foot would be way worse than a bad heel and a perfect forefoot.