This shoe is hands down one of the most comfortable climbing shoes that i have ever worn. Granted that i sized it to the perfect shoe size, i think that if you were to size it smaller you would still agree.

The sizing: Most of my climbing shoes are 10 1/2 to 11, but i sized these for crack climbing so i picked my street shoe size that has no wiggle room. So i sized it to 11 1/2, keeping in mind that 12 is my comfortable street shoe size but has a little dead space.

The Fit: The shoes are just amazingly comfortable. The uppers are synthetic and totally comfortable, more so that any leather shoes that i have tried (Moccs included). There is no dead space, nor is there a hot spot. The heel doesnt rub. Being that they laces they are totally adjustable. There was some looseness in the shoe but that quickly dissolved.

The Rubber: The rubber is thick and holds up well on granite. It is quite sticky and smears somewhat (being that smearing with a stiff shoe is hard anyway). There is plenty of it.

The Performance: The edging is great. The rubber is very stiff but not to the point of no sensitivity, its just not the shoe that you would want to do some overhanging bouldering with. The shoe seems responsive on vertical to less than vertical, and most impressive in cracks where you feel that your feet are armored. I never had foot pains in any other part than my toes (from standing on really small crystals for a long while).

Overall: One of the best stiff comfort shoes on the market.

I had been waiting a while to write a review of these shoes, just to make sure im not documenting something uninformed.

my street shoe is a size 12 (with a little space in the shoe), my moccasyms were size 10, and my katana's size 11.5 (44.5), with most of my shoes sized about 11.5. i bought these a 10.5 and they were pretty ridiculously painful and i feared i bought them too small. after a LONG break in period of about 2.5 weeks, i have a somewhat comfortable shoe. more on this later.

the performance.

compaired to the katana, the toe is less asymmetrical and seems to look more bulky, but only on the smallest foot holds have i had a problem. because of the bigger girth of the toe, pockets are somewhat problematic, but again only on the tiniest.

the edging is almost the same as the katana, suffering a little from the lack of sensitivity of the slipper because of the thicker rubber, you just dont wont to trust the shoe even though it wont slip.

the heel works fine, but ive had better (aka katana, kaos, etc)

the smearing is ok but not superb because of the thickness and decreased sensitivity of the shoe. the rubber is bufo's own from what i can tell, and it honestly isnt too bad. it really hasnt slipped on me, i havent complained for some other rubber, but i do notice that although the life of the rubber is long, the duration of the stickyness is short. there are some pretty glassy looking spots of rubber on my shoes in only about 2 months of regular (4-5 days a week) use.

the fit.

it hurts after a while. the shoe after being broken in feels good for a couple of really hard climbs but after 4-5 good burns, you want to burn these things. they have delayed hot spots that you dont feel until wearing the shoe for a little while, the worst spot being the smaller front toe portion near the pinky toe, then the heel when taking off the shoe. ive just never had hot spots that hurt this bad, maybe my foot isnt made for this shoe or vice versa.

overall: good investment for a performance shoe well under $100.

the lowdown: there are a lot of people professing to buy this shoe certain sizes smaller and i bought them a size 11 from my street shoe size 12. that being said, i like my street shoes with a little room so i would recommend going a half size smaller with these shoes at the most. they are not loose on my foot, they fit perfectly, and i have done many a heel-hook intensive route in them to prove it to myself that they are not loose. my feet felt comfortable in these shoes right out of the box.

the performance: i was hesitant to comment on this until i had given the shoes a chance to prove themselves. the have been tested on glassy slab where feet are the most critical, and they have also been tested on tiny feet overhung projects, as well as cave problems.

first and foremost: the edging. by far the best edging of any shoe i have worn (which my evolve kaos had big promotion as the best edging shoes on the market). i was hesitant on route to make a fairly easy move that required i only place my right foot on a slightly larger than credit card hold with no left foot. i just didnt want to make this foot placement. i did and realized through the whole movement that i felt solid. good stuff.

next the smearing. i hear a lot of talk about how these shoes are the pits when it comes to smearing, and honestly i kind of feel that whoever is saying this just doesnt know how to smear. they smear like cream cheese on bagels, they never have slipped on me, and i have put them to the test on slopey slabs.

the toe. sharp and pointy. pockets and eyeballs beware. this toe works amazing for any troublesome area, or small dot you need to place your foot.

the sensitivity. being that these shoes are velcro and not slippers (my last pair of shoes were the mocs) i felt that they would be lacking in this department, and honestly i thought that the stiffness of the shoes was going to be large factor because i really desire sensitive shoes. i was completely wrong, these shoes are about as sensitive if not more than my slippers were. i have not yet found a moment where i wish these were softer.

the heel. its great, nothing less.

the closure. the velcro is great, and whats even cooler is the ability to specify where you want the straps for added security.

great shoes, and the price was $130 but worth every penny.

p.s. i would not buy these shoes if i were a beginner. they are too soft and the foot work required to use these shoes needs to be refined.

i realize that reviews by nature are subjective but bear in mind that i have no predisposition to hate boreal.

this is the worst piece of equipment i have ever owned, period. they took all of 30 minutes to render themselves useless (the lame singular pull tab design broke). literally. during those 30 minutes, my feet were painfully squished and jammed by the shoes, no not because they were too tight. there we hot spots abundant, and to be honest, jamming my feet with needles would have provided more comfort. the rubber was rubbish and provided the opportunity to learn new campus techniques since i was not even able to place my feet on jugs in the indoor gym. and yes, all 30 minutes of the life of these shoes was spent inside. the most textured of holds felt like glass to these shoes. horrible. customer service was pathetic and even went so far as to threaten me when i offered my opinion of these shoes (no harsh remarks or lack of politeness was used, even though it was desired to be used). the worst company and product ever, do not waste the time nor money.

the famous, one and only mocs. what to say? Sharma climbs 5.14d in them, so anyone who starts off with some lies about how you cant climb hard with them and you need some really aggressive shoe is just full of it.

they edge better than a protractor, smear better than butter on warm toast, are softer than a babies butt, and form to your feet better than a dopplegangler. there seems to be some complaint about the heel, well i bought mine a size 10 and i have a size 12 street shoe, they opened up very quickly (as people have said) and i have completed some projects that really rely on heelhooks with no problem. it could be that people are buying their mocs too big and the shoe is stretching, ergo the heel slip. because of the soft nature of the shoe, you can just point your toe as a downturned shoe would, and find that the shoe will have a downturned shape, not something so radical like predators or the like, but good enough to get some really good power over your foot.

i would suggest that only people who are used to slippers, or soft shoes buy these guys with the intention of sending their projects straight out of the box, otherwise you will find that your foot hurts because it isnt strong enough. simple enough to fix (probably not pain-free) just by wearing the shoes and getting used to having to rely on foot strength, so you will have to build some.

the dont have a radical poke-your-eye out toe, but i have put these babies in their fair share of pockets, and they preformed amazingly. i always thought that people who say that they needed a super-pointy toe were full of it, but that is solely my opinion.