Did Five Ten get rid of half their shoes?

Joe Lynchwrote:

I got brand new Anasazi VCS about a month ago, and the glue is failing after about 4 pitches total. Nothing major yet, and the shoe still performs very well, but the lack of quality is disappointing. 

Damn dude that sucks. Have you contacted Five Ten about this issue?

Realized the pinks were gone for good (again) and have been buying b-stock and without-box pairs of them in my size for a bit.  one of my climbing boxes looks like I'm running a five ten pink demo day at a climbing gym, but my stockpile of $65 shoes will hold me over for a few years. 

There are like a dozen shoe companies. Let go.

Adidas FiveTen: makers of fantastic looking climbing shoe replicas

I just can't imagine getting so angry about discontinuing or downgrading a line of outdated shoes. The Anasazis (VCS and Pinks) were good shoes for their time, but every shoe manufacturer including Adidas/FiveTen is making better shoes for the same use cases now. They had to update. They make a whole new line of shoes that work better and last longer and y'all need to modernize instead of complaining that 20 year old shoe designs haven't stood the test of time.

David Kwrote:

I just can't imagine getting so angry about discontinuing or downgrading a line of outdated shoes. The Anasazis (VCS and Pinks) were good shoes for their time, but every shoe manufacturer including Adidas/FiveTen is making better shoes for the same use cases now. They had to update. They make a whole new line of shoes that work better and last longer and y'all need to modernize instead of complaining that 20 year old shoe designs haven't stood the test of time.

I agree that some/many 5.10 models became dated. However, they were still (mostly) good shoes. The problem is that the new Adidas replacements (ie. new Dragon, new Hi Angle, new Moc, new-new Anasazi) are completely different, especially in fit, and just plain are not very good at what they are supposed to do do.

On the other hand, manufacturers such as La Sportiva and Boreal are able to update their models/line-up and stay true to their fit, sizing and performance orientation.

As I said before, I switched to Sportiva, and I’m really happy with a Miura/Futura/Katana quiver, but am bummed to have to give up brand loyalty after 25 years. 

Frank Steinwrote:

I agree that some/many 5.10 models became dated. However, they were still (mostly) good shoes. The problem is that the new Adidas replacements (ie. new Dragon, new Hi Angle, new Moc, new-new Anasazi) are completely different, especially in fit, and just plain are not very good at what they are supposed to do do.

On the other hand, manufacturers such as La Sportiva and Boreal are able to update their models/line-up and stay true to their fit, sizing and performance orientation.

As I said before, I switched to Sportiva, and I’m really happy with a Miura/Futura/Katana quiver, but am bummed to have to give up brand loyalty after 25 years. 

The way I see it, some of the shoes with the same name aren't replacements, they are really just there as beginner shoes and for old-timers who prefer familiarity over performance. Having owned both shoes, Pinks to Grandstones seems like a pretty obvious upgrade path. I haven't owned their entire lineup, so I won't speculate on the other possible upgrade paths. I will say that I know some strong (5.13/V10) climbers who disagree with you on the Dragons and Hiangles.

I do like La Sportiva's shoes--the fit and design of their comparable shoes is maybe a bit better than FiveTen's, but the FiveTen rubber wins out IMO.

I also like the Unparalleled shoes, but I think if you're complaining about the durability of the FiveTens, you're going to be disappointed by the durability of the Unparalleled shoes: their softer, thinner rubber is a tradeoff: you're getting better performance and sensitivity for less durability, and if you were still using the original Anasazis (Pinks/VCS/Moccs) performance probably wasn't your primary concern, so switching Unparalleled doesn't make much sense.