Tenaya Tarifa compared to Katana laced?

sorry for the shoe sizing spam. I have loved the katana laced for a while. My current pair are just about blown out and I am curious to try a different shoe purely for the sake of trying something new. For what I am looking for in a shoe, the katana is perfect, and through some reading, it seems the Tarifas are almost comparable. Maybe a little less stiff, with a smaller heal cup...? (The heel cup of the katana is the only thing about the fit of the shoe for me that is not 100%, its like 96%..)  Reading descriptions of shoes only go so far so I'm looking to try a pair. Nowhere around me stock any. Im wondering if anyone has tried both of these shoes and would have sizing advice. like, would you recommend a size down... 1/2 size down... 2 sizes up from the katana to reach a similar fit in the tarifa?

Size Squirrel might be a good place to check, and Climb Stuff lets you order a few sizes of shoes and return the ones that don't fit with free return shipping. That's how I've handled trying some new shoe sizes when they aren't offered anywhere locally.

Tenaya tarifa’s are soft and sensitive, a good shoe They fit way narrow compared to katanas and if katanas fit you well tenayas will feel too narrow even if you size to the appropriate length, which is a full size up from katanas. 

I disagree with the above comment - I wear both of these shoes regularly and love them! Personally, I wear a 42 katana lace and a 42.5 tenaya tarifa. Though, my katanas have a slightly more "performance" fit than my tarifas, so I'm sure I could make due with a 42 in the tarifa as well. The tarifas are crazy comfortable and soft, I love them. I typically wear them gym climbing or on sandstone, whereas I use my katanas exclusively on granite.

My only caution is that these shoes (IMO) are generally not that comparable outside of being a good performing lace shoe - the katanas are much stiffer. What are you looking to climb in the tarifas?

I haven't had the tarifa's but i have the iati's.

I liked my tenaya's a lot. I went 1.5 sizes down for them. I usually wear 11.5. I went with 10's. They work well. They are relatively easy to get on and off for an aggressive shoe. The only issue with my sizing strategy is if you haven't worn them in a while. The leather shrank up on me once and it took me a good five minutes to get them on.

I just got a pair of katanas. I went with 10.5+ (la sportive weird sizing). Toes aren't curled which is what I wanted. The Tenayas I have are really aggressive and I wanted them that way. The Katana's I wanted to wear all day long so didn't go as small with them.

The sizing depends (for me anyway) what you want to use them for. The Iati's are my sport shoe, katana's are my trad multi pitch shoe. So it depends what your looking for. 

Mark,
How does Iati compare with Katana in terms of firmness and aggressiveness?
I have both Katana Lace and Oasi.
Katana is definitely a very stiff shoe, great for edging but I found it is hard to smear sometimes.
Oasi is on the other side of the spectrum,
it has a very soft mid-sole for me to smear and arch my foot but I do miss the Katana's firmness from time to time for edging.
Katana and Oasi both has a similar degree of down-turn so I will say they are tie in aggressiveness.
How do you like your Iati? Does it edge well or smear well?

And a final word on sizing, I saw a lot of folks who downsize their Tenaya.
For some reasons downsizing just does not work for me.
I wear La Sportiva Kataki & Katana, Tenaya Oasi & Mundaka all in the same size.
I could not bear a half size down on my Tenaya at all.
I believe I have a weird footshape so take it with a grain of salt.

Katana's are definitely stiffer. The rubber used is different I believe. The tenaya's I have use Vibram xs grip, and the katana's use the Vibram edge. Iati's are pretty aggressive. I'd compare them to solutions potentially.

I really like my iati's. For an aggressive shoe they are relatively comfortable. They have never let me down on small edges or smears. The downturn in the toe makes it good for edging and the grippy rubber is awesome for smearing. Very good for bouldering or hard sport, which is what I use them for mostly.

My friend has the tarifas and they look pretty similar to the Iati's, minus the laces and heal cup. 

How does the heel differ between the Iatis and the Tarifa?

I'll second the "narrow" sizing comment. I have fairly average feet with a morton's toe, and after sizing the tarifa to 7.5 according to trango's recommendations (i'm street 9 oasi 7.5 ra 8) the sides of my feet feel like they're being suffocated, while the others fit great. The heel can be finicky where if your heels are smaller than average, they'll pop out of the shoe with a little pull

I climb in both the Katana Lace and Tenaya Tarifa and have the same size in both.  

Kevin Ross wrote: I disagree with the above comment - I wear both of these shoes regularly and love them! Personally, I wear a 42 katana lace and a 42.5 tenaya tarifa. Though, my katanas have a slightly more "performance" fit than my tarifas, so I'm sure I could make due with a 42 in the tarifa as well. The tarifas are crazy comfortable and soft, I love them. I typically wear them gym climbing or on sandstone, whereas I use my katanas exclusively on granite.

My only caution is that these shoes (IMO) are generally not that comparable outside of being a good performing lace shoe - the katanas are much stiffer. What are you looking to climb in the tarifas?

I climb at the Gunks a bunch, so I'm looking at a shoe that works for edging on hard rock and are not excruciating to wear for 40 minutes at a time. Crack climbing is not a factor for what I’m looking for (east coast=what is a splitter?) This said, I'm pushing the higher angle stuff in the gym, and want something more downturned than flat. I'm eyeing shoes in the "all around" range, and basically am looking for shoes that are similar to Katanas. Katanas are my starting point, but I’m more just curious to experiment with this sort-of "performance all around" range.... I I’m debating the quantums, which also seem to be in this group... the price of Tarifas is slightly less painful for this experiment. 

follow up questions: Are tarifas more or less aggressive than katanas? other than the Tarifas being softer and thinner, what else stands out as the major difference between the two? 

Richard Blumberg wrote: I climb in both the Katana Lace and Tenaya Tarifa and have the same size in both.  

What about the fit of both make you chose one over the other? 

Dan.G. yorlig wrote:

follow up questions: Are tarifas more or less aggressive than katanas? other than the Tarifas being softer and thinner, what else stands out as the major difference between the two? 

Are tarifas more or less aggressive than katanas? Bit of a tough question - kind of depends on how you'd define "aggressive". On an aggressiveness scale rating system between mythos and solutions, I'd actually lean towards saying tarifas are less aggressive overall, with the caveat that their softness makes them far superior on steep stuff. 

Other than the tarifas being softer and thinner, what else stands out as the major difference between the two? That's really the main difference... Katanas edge much better, are more solid, are less comfortable and if you ever EVER put your foot in a crack you'll want these instead of the tarifas. Tarifas are soft and crazy comfy, they have some nice sticky rubber too so I find they perform better in the gym and on steep routes. I guess the last difference I'll note is that the tarifas have a synthetic liner, so they stay pretty true to size, but do get pretty dang smelly after a while.

Dan.G. yorlig wrote:

I climb at the Gunks a bunch, so I'm looking at a shoe that works for edging on hard rock and...I'm pushing the higher angle stuff in the gym, and want something more downturned than flat. 

I see what you’re trying to do with one do-it-all shoe, but my suggestion is don’t. You can’t optimize for everything at once. At the very least, have a softer downturned gym slipper and a stiffer edging shoe for outside. You’ll get better performance in each arena, and you won’t trash your nice edging shoes in the gym. It’s a higher upfront shoe investment, but each pair will last longer, so the net cost long term is the same.

If using Tenaya, you could consider Oasi  for the gym and Tarifa for the Gunks. With La Sprtiva, maybe Skwama for the gym and Katana/Otaki/Kataki for the Gunks.

The Tarifas are definitely softer in the mid-foot than the katanas, and are definitely more asymmetrical. I got the tarifas a 1/2 size larger than my katana (43 tarifa, 42.5 katana) and the tarifas definitely feel slightly larger. I would suggest that sizing between the two is comparable (ie, 42 katana is about the same as a 42 tarifa). I think I would have liked the fit a half size smaller in the tarifas, but the 43’s I got were cheap af so, while degrading the quality of the comparison, I save a few bucks for a fine pair of shoes. I would probably get a bit more performance out of the tanaya ½ smaller, but they still work fine.
In the 43 tarifas, while my big toe is comfortably compressed in the top of the shoe, my other toes have room to curl up if I’m really cranking on something, probably has to do with the upsize. The tarifas feel a little more pointed, like the angle across the toes is steeper than the katas, if that makes sense.
Also, both shoes have the “sock liner” which I really dig, but the katana sock is snugger. Where I didn’t always have to tie my katans because the sock compression turned the shoes into a slipper sort of, I find I have to tie my tarifas pretty much right away. The sock in the tarifa is thinner and offers less compression. Again, may have to do with the upsize... I do like the XS grip on the tarifas. The lacing on the katana goes farther towards the toe, so lace tightening can be adjusted through the length of my foot essentially. The tarifas stop further up the foot, so precision toe knuckle area adjustment is not so specific/tight when I want it to be.
All in all, these shoes are similar. I like both, though I like the katanas a little more because of the stiffness, and I like having the snugger “sock” and more precision adjustment.  I’m thinking of getting the katanas resoled with XS Grip for fun.   

I also have both katana lace and tarifas. The OP should join the club and buy both as well. My katana lace is a 42 and sized a little big (I have 41.5’s as well) and I think my tarifas are a 9? and fit perfectly.  Another shoe you might consider is the Kataki, but I don’t like the heel - too big.