Five Ten HiAngle

So I took advantage of the ridiculous sale going on and picked up a pair of Five Ten's HiAngles a few months back. What I find interesting is that, as is often the case, Five Ten doesn't quite seem to know what they've made, as evidenced by the disparity between 5.10's marketing and its actual use in the field. When reading the description, the company tends to focus on the shoe's comfort and stiffness and advocates it as a good "first aggressive shoe," yet people have been sending ridiculously hard climbs in them, and they've also become incredibly popular in the competition climbing circuit. Ironically, the HiAngle is starting to displace the Dragon and the Blackwing as 5.10's flagship aggressive shoe, and has actually been more popular with high-end climbers:

youtube.com/watch?v=Ip928VM…

vimeo.com/199029223

The leather upper and slipper design let you downsize much more aggressively than with Five-Ten's other aggressive models (I literally couldn't get my foot into a pair of Blackwings that were a half size down from my normal street shoe size), so they're a great option if you have weird feet, but expect a break-in period.

As far as performance, I was a bit worried based on 5.10's description, as I'm not a big fan of climbing in super stiff shoes (especially indoors), but I thankfully found 5.10's description off in this case. They're stiff compared to Teams or Dragons (which isn't saying much), but still much softer than say a Miura VS, and they especially feel great once you've gotten a few burns in and warmed up. I'm a long-time Moccasym user, and these honestly felt to me like a really aggressive, downturned version of the Moccasym, which makes for an awesome shoe IMO. They have the same slipper-design and Stealth C4 Rubber (IMO, the best climbing shoe rubber), but with a ton of extra power in the toes and a big patch of toe rubber on the top, making them better for toe-hooking. I'd still prefer something like a Team or a Solution if doing roof boulder problems, but for hard sport climbing where you might need the occasional toe hook or bicycle, they're excellent. Climbing techy face or slab in them is about as fun as doing so in Solutions (not at all) and a waste of shoe, but on the steeps, these guys are fantastic. For $80, they're a no-brainer.

How does the sizing compare to the mocc?

And the toe box?

I have trouble resisting a good deal, but i'm also completely happy with my shoes -- Muira Lace Ups.

I have low volume feet, slight Morton's. After wearing the Muira laceups, my old mythos and my daughter's Katanas feel like they're falling off my heels. I one tried on Solutions and didn't like the twisted foot feeling.

Do you have advice as to how I might like/dislike the HiAngles?

Also, sizing compared to Muira? I already went to size squirrel and there are no comps.

Thank you!!

BigRed11 wrote:How does the sizing compare to the mocc? And the toe box?

I have a pair of size 11 mocc's which are my all day comfy shoes and a pair of Hiangles in 11.5. The mocc's are slightly too small to be super comfortable, but I like that I can still edge in them a little bit.

I probably should have bought the Hiangles in 11 now that they've stretched out, as they are probably a half size too big, but they felt really tight when I first got them.

The toe box is a little more form fit on the Hiangles as the moccs are kind of boxy.

Honestly, Hiangles are one of my favorite pairs of shoes. Comfy and aggressive at the same time as well as reasonably soft.

When I ordered a pair of Hiangles they were apparently having inventory issues. I instead picked up a pair of Evolv Nexco's for about $70, which I could not be happier with. They have an excellent toe patch for toe hooking, an excellent heel for heel hooking, they use the same kind of trick as the solutions to really get your foot to curve around as opposed to cramming them in the shoe, and they broke in to be extremely comfortable for a downturned shoe. I bought mine my street shoe size, and though they killed my pinky toes the first few nights (they are a narrower shoe) they soon broke in.

It is also worth mentioning that I see a lot of climbers wearing both the Hiangle as well as the Nexco, and I imagine this has more to do with the price of the shoes as opposed to their innate performance advantages.

BigRed11 wrote:How does the sizing compare to the mocc? And the toe box?

I sized my Moccs a full size smaller (45) than my HiAngles (46), for a similarly aggressive fit, although the Moccs are much more comfortable due to the naturally flat last.

Melrock: Five Ten is much more true to size compared to Sportiva's made up sizes. I'd start about a full size higher (when I wore Miuras, they were 45s and my HiAngles are 46).

PS hey Alex! Thanks again for the recommendation. I think I ran into you wearing them before I decided to pull the trigger.

Poooooooooooor quality. Returning mine.

Huh. How so?

I'm on my 3rd pair. they break in to ridiculous comfort levels for an aggressive shoe. Only issue is getting them on. If people weren't looking for that Butora sponsorship they might realize how good hiangles are.

Within two months: stitching on the inside of both shoes is significantly frayed, two heel pull tabs ripped even after I sewed them, velcro ripping off both straps, stitching on the material that strap loops through is coming apart, heel rubber delaminating, toe rubber on top delaminating.  Since buying them, I have met 3 people whose pairs have similar issues in similar time frames. I love 5.10 and have 5 other 5.10 shoes, all 1-3 years old with multiple resoles and in fine condition. 

Wow, that's nuts!  Definitely didn't have that happen.  I wore through to the rand a little sooner than I was hoping, but definitely didn't have any of those problems.  Out of curiosity: do yours have the blue interior (and stain your feet blue) or grey?

Mine has the blue, but two of the other bad pairs I've seen are grey.

I'm an 8 in moccs, 8.5 in anasazi velcros, 9.5 in Hi-angles (my tight pair is a 9).  

My 1st pair of Hiangles (2017, Grey) had both toes blow out in less than 10 weeks. My 2nd pair (2016, smurf edition) had a pull tab fray and fall apart on the second use...(although they are sending me a new pair).

I ordered 9.5, 10, 10.5 and kept the 10's. I'm a street size ten. I typically size down on la sportiva a bit for tight fit. I couldnt size down much on these, toes curled and the break in was long. I actually cut slits in the toe rubber to make more room for my toe knuckles. Blue does dye your foot but not as bad as my old rouges. I spend 50/50 time between these and solutions on hard stuff. For $80 was a great deal. Also, I have no issues with durability in 5 months of climbing, majority was indoor.

Does anyone have any size comparisons between the Team and the Hiangle?  I wear a 10 in the Hiangle and I'm trying to order a pair of Teams but I can't try them on anywhere near me.  Thanks.

I wear a half size down from street shoe on teams.  But I was 1.5 sizes down on hiangles

Similar story to mr. salad above, my teams are 1 size bigger than my hiangles and they fit/feel about the same. I love the toe on the hiangle. It's very precise and the added stiffness gives it better edging power on tiny features over the team in steep terrain. The team is definitely softer and more sensitive and better for smedging.

One full size down from teams has worked well for me. 

Bought a pair of these last night from REI.  I don't see it advertised anywhere but the appear to be half off.  I got mine for just over $80.  You don't see the discount until you put them in your cart.