My first shoes were La Sportiva Cliff... typical beginner shoe... after couple months I realized that I need something more aggressive... I tried 5.10 galileos but it didnt work for me at all... I wear 9.5 for street shoes and i went down to 8.5 REALLY tight and snug but not painful at all... I can say that its a great shoe for bouldering and powerful short routes... you can do pretty much everything with these babies... smearing, heel hook, toe hook... I am so glad that i got them... Probably I will keep renewing them with new pairs when they will get old... Also its really good price when you think about what you get...