5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Awesome Beginner's Shoe, August 31, 2011
This review is from: Evolv Men's Defy Vtr Climbing Shoe (Apparel)
I purchased the Evolv Defy VTR shoes on a whim, after going to an indoor rock climbing gym just once with a friend. I tried on a handful of pairs at the store, and ended up going with my street shoe size -- one-half size down resulted in hot spots. The best single piece of advice I've received thus far regarding sizing (for newcomers) is as follows: start out trying on small sizes, and stand on your toes. Keep increasing by half-sizes until none of your toes experience a burning sensation doing the "toe test."
Initially, I was worried that these would still be too small, as I had read that synthetic shoes "don't stretch at all." While this may or may not be true, the shoe definitely does conform to the foot and becomes much more comfortable after a day or two of climbing. Still uncomfortably tight, but this is what you want. The shoe is meant to fit like a sock, with as little free space as possible (ideally, none!)
I'm pleased to say that on my first outing with these shoes (and only my second time ever attempting to climb a wall,) I felt as if I was climbing like a pro. While my friend would recommend techniques to me such has heel hooking and smearing, I thought it sounded impossible. All it took was some suspension of disbelief, and these shoes performed brilliantly. One of the biggest indicators was on a heavily-traveled wall with a slicked surface. On my first night, I couldn't even rappel down the wall in my rental shoes due to the slickness. In the Defy VTR, I felt as if I had enough grip to climb the wall without the holds. I was sticking to it like Spiderman! On day one, I made it halfway up a few 5.6's before my faith in the rental shoes gave in. On day two, in the Defy VTR's, I reached the top of both 5.6's with relative ease, and even conquered all of the V0s on the bouldering wall.
The construction seems entirely solid and I love the simplistic design. I tried on a few other pairs of shoes from different manufacturers and felt they were rather ugly in comparison, not to mention less comfortable. However, I did notice that my pair of Defy VTR's are made in China. I'm praying to the wall-scaling gods that this doesn't hinder the longevity nor performance of this shoe, as I've been burned before by outsourced shoe production. For what it's worth, Amazon's stock photos of the USA-produced pair look strikingly identical to mine, aside from a few cosmetic details (the "Evolv" tag near the ankle, and the "USA" on the sole.) If you insist on buying a made-in-USA pair, be sure to check the inner tag before purchasing.
If you are a newcomer to rock climbing and are looking for your first pair of shoes, especially for an indoor gym, I highly recommend these. They perform great, are somewhat inexpensive, and keep the discomfort to a minimum while you begin the learning process of climbing walls.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Perfect Beginner Shoe!, February 17, 2011
This review is from: Evolv Men's Defy Vtr Climbing Shoe (Apparel)
This is the first shoe I bought for rock climbing and I used it exclusively for gym bouldering plus a little bit of outdoor bouldering. This shoe is fantastic for beginner climbers who are looking for a more comfort-based shoe rather than performance-based, so it can be used for longer climbs as well. The rubber isn't super sticky but still retains its tack after months and months of usage, but the shoe does stretch out about a half size, even though it is synthetic leather. There's no point in getting uncomfortable shoes if you are just starting out, so I recommend getting your street shoe size or a half size bigger. You can always go up an additional half size or so for comfort, but keep in mind that after a few months you will need new shoes because your shoes will be too loose.
Pros:
Comfortable
Good price
Good smearing and edging
Cons:
Stretch quite a lot for synthetic leather
Bad heel (not ideal for hooking)
They get stinky!
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good beginner shoe, October 4, 2011
This review is from: Evolv Men's Defy Vtr Climbing Shoe (Apparel)
I got these a few months after I really got into climbing (all indoor so far). I liked them a lot bc they are not expensive. I feel like they get you used to the feel of a climbing shoe, but are not too aggressive.
I did NOT like how much they stretched. They were perfect for the first few months, then I noticed the toe area was REALLY stretched out, and the velcro doesn't go down far enough on the foot to tighten there. Evolv should make these, but with laces. From now on, I'm going for climbing shoes with laces. Overall, however, I think these are good shoes, but after one year of use, I am going for a more aggressive, tighter shoe.
Also, mine don't smell. I wear socks when I climb though (partially because they are a little big without, partially because I hate sweaty feet, that's just gross...)
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