TC Pro vs Astroman

I got feet shaped like a duck. So I'm curious to try out the Astroman's. I've got the TC Pros, but I'm having a terrible time not shredding them in offwidths. There are lots of positions that I stack my feet that require pressing the body (not soles) of the feet into the rock.. meaning it abrades the shiite out of them.

Particular problem, light abrading of the top of the high top cuts the threads really easily and causes the top strip to come undone. So I tape them back together.

I want to know if anyone else has used the Astroman in OW and know if they are durable.

I really like the astromans for climbing the wide, they seem to hold up ok. For increased durability, I normally cover the seams (if not the entire upper portion) with something like barge cement. reapply as necessary.

good tip on using the barge glue. I'll check into that. I'm also thinking of using some kind of old school iron on pads.

Also with the TC pros, they delaminate right at the first joint of the big (and little) toe. I found a TC pro review on MP that someone got the exact same results as me. First day out the rubber peeled back:

TC pros vs grandstones

sportiva delamination is a common issue with sportiva shoes

the sportiva folks of course deny any issues ... but the simple fact is that many many folks have had the issues with sportivas and much less so with other shoes

the kicker is that resoles of sportiva shoes tend to delaminate much less than the original sportiva vibram rubber

note how not a single magazine or climbing media review mentions this (along with the fixe alien issues) ... thats the incestuous relationship between marketing departments and the media for ya

;)

bearbreeder wrote:FIT is everything

... that is the most important advice you will ever get when it comes to buying climbing shoes.

There's La Sportiva fit and then there is everything else. They are made for skinny Italian feet. I see a lot of people in La Sportivas that look like they are bursting at the seams. Could be that works just fine for them, but I would be looking at a wider, more high volume shoe if I were them.

To me, the rand peeling on TCs is little more than annoying, unless you really care about how they look. I let them peel as much and they want to, then apply Barge sparingly in the pocket created by the peeling ... letting the leather and rubber sides dry before heat activating the glue with a hairdryer and sticking the two side together. Then I smear a bit of Barge on the outside. That protects against future peeling and might get applied again from time to time.

Some put seam seal on the outside when they buy them... I haven't tried that so can't comment.

I have very wide (11EE) feet and avoided La Sportiva shoes for years because I'd heard many times that their shoes run narrow.
I recently bought TC Pros in a size 10.75 and am amazed how comfortable they are (I haven't climbed in them yet, so they are not broken in). Best fit in a climbing shoe I've found.

Can't comment yet on how they will hold up or how well they climb but they fit great.
They were on sale but still pricey

I also have really wide fit (UK G) and all my shoes are la sportiva, fit your shoes to your heel, the forefoot will stretch. TC pro's are beast.