How do you read shoe sole specs?

How do I read/understand climbing shoe soles. Such as how stiff, soft, sticky, thick, what mid sole. all that good stuff

example.
"LAST: PD75 LINING: Dentex SOLE: 4mm Vibram® XS Grip MIDSOLE: 1.1mm Laspoflex (forefoot only) WEIGHT: 8.22 oz/233 gm"

..im looking for a good edging ...but hard soled...so thats why im trying to understand it

A 1.1mm mid-sole is very thin. The shoe will feel like a slipper. If you want "hard sole" that may be too thin. For example, the La Sportiva tradmasters are built for crack climbing and have a 3mm mid-sole. That's fairly stiff and makes the shoe pretty comfortable for camming in cracks. The Mythos, which is just a rubber sock has a 1.1mm mid-sole. The same as the ones you reference, in fact. You can fold it like a taco.

Oh, and the XS Grip is the type of rubber. It has a reputation for being very sticky, but still able to edge I believe. But you can google it for more info. I like C4, which 5.10 uses. Extremely sticky, I've found. But for the higher end shoes, it's all going to be very good for the application, I'm sure.

whats the difference of outsole and insole and midsole

lucaskrajnik wrote: How do I read/understand climbing shoe soles. Such as how stiff, soft, sticky, thick, what mid sole. all that good stuff example. "LAST: PD75 LINING: Dentex SOLE: 4mm Vibram® XS Grip MIDSOLE: 1.1mm Laspoflex (forefoot only) WEIGHT: 8.22 oz/233 gm" ..im looking for a good edging ...but hard soled...so thats why im trying to understand it

PD75 is how down turned the shoe is.

4mm is the rubber thickness on the outsole.
1mm laspoflex is the stiffner in the shoe. It is what helps it holds its rigidity.

The shoe your are looking at is a good edger.
When you say hard soled what do you mean?
Like board lasted? Stiff like an approach shoe or just somthing that is not as soft as your current shoes?

And despite what John says. this info can become very usefull to selecting a shoe if you take the time to learn the details and process.
Hope this helps.
And it seems as if the shoe your looking at is the
La sportiva Miura lace up.

well yes helped quite a bit.. that pretty much the exact answer i was looking for.. but yea i was looking at the muira vs and tests

as in what i was hoping for ..was a good edge that would hold its shape and not wear out..... to quick, its uses would be for sport

lucaskrajnik wrote:well yes helped quite a bit.. that pretty much the exact answer i was looking for.. but yea i was looking at the muira vs and tests as in what i was hoping for ..was a good edge that would hold its shape and not wear out..... to quick, its uses would be for sport

The Miura VS would be keen for this.
ANything with the P3 on it will hold its down turned shape for multiple resoles.

That would be the solution and Miura VS in sportivas line.

what about the pontas lace.. reading up ..they sound stiff

• PROFILE asymmetrical toe profile (KA-1 last)
• SOLE 4.2 mm TRAX® XT-5 high friction rubber
• RAND 2.2mm TRAX® duro-rand
• UPPER Non-stretch Synthratek synthetic upper
• LINING Cotton lining
• MIDSOLE MX-2: 2mm stiff half-length midsole

and 1mm full-length midsole

• SIZES 4 to 13.5 US men, including half sizes

but im scared they are going to wear out like the optimus primes i had

?? mr shoe guru..what do i do?