2019 La Sportiva Testarossa

Any La Sportiva Testarossa devotees out there try out the redesign?  If so, do you like it?  Sizing the same? How's the new heel?

Thanks.

I haven’t climbed in them yet, but I have tried them on, and I was very happy with how they felt.

I have been wearing testarossas forever, and was very apprehensive about the change, but now I’m cautiously optimistic.

I tried the same size as my old ones, and they felt right. The biggest difference is the heel, it is much stiffer now, but it also felt smaller, somewhat less incut on the Achilles’ tendon, and for me this was a good thing.

My current pair of old-style testarossas is only two months old, so I probably won’t be buying a new pair until the fall.

Maybe by then I’ll get to try them on a shoe demo, there is usually one at the rocktoberfest, so dear La Sportiva rep, if you are reading this, please have a pair in size 36? Please? ;)

They are my favorite shoe, but I’ve never been crazy about the squishy heal. The new version made the shoe complete, imo. However, if you liked the old heal, it may not be an improvement for you. Sizing-wise I found it to be the same, maybe a tad tad tad bigger (Less than 1/4 size).  I wouldn’t size any differently. The new heal is very similar to the Genius.

Great shoe that got even better, go get’em!

Just spotted this: https://www.instagram.com/p/BxNtKNOn2C4/ La Sportiva saying to downsize a half size further from your old Testarossa size.  Ugh.  Why oh why do they insist in changing what was already great??  I actually love the heel the way it is.

Brendan Koch wrote: Just spotted this: https://www.instagram.com/p/BxNtKNOn2C4/ La Sportiva saying to downsize a half size further from your old Testarossa size.  Ugh.  Why oh why do they insist in changing what was already great??  I actually love the heel the way it is.

Just try it, I was saying the same thing, the old heel was just fine! I expected to dislike the new heel, but didn’t.

Still don’t know how it would feel when heel hooking though. 

Now that I think about it, there is some truth to sizing the new testsrossas a bit down. 

I’ve gone back and forth on the old ones, in terms of a size. Used to be 36 always, then got burned by an odd pair in size 36 that felt way too tight and just wouldn’t break in... thought that it was maybe my feet that were changing, went up a size to 36.5, decided that it was a touch too big, but not that bad... 
but really, I thought I was right in between 36 and 36.5 in the old model, and on the new ones I tried 36 and 36.5, and 36 was better. 

Bought a pair simply to try them on and see how they compared, side by side, to a brand new pair of "old" Testarossas, and low and behold, they are very different.  The new ones fit about a quarter size larger, which sort of f****s me over because a half size smaller will be impossible to get into, and excruciating even if I can get into them, and the current size is just slightly too big.  Also, the new heel is exactly like the Genius, which I think sucks.  F*** YOU, LA SPORTIVA! Guess I'll be stocking up on old pairs anywhere I can find them.  

Brendan Koch wrote: Bought a pair simply to try them on and see how they compared, side by side, to a brand new pair of "old" Testarossas, and low and behold, they are very different.  The new ones fit about a quarter size larger, which sort of f****s me over because a half size smaller will be impossible to get into, and excruciating even if I can get into them, and the current size is just slightly too big.  Also, the new heel is exactly like the Genius, which I think sucks.  F*** YOU, LA SPORTIVA! Guess I'll be stocking up on old pairs anywhere I can find them.  

Weird, it felt different than Genius heel to me... I 

anyway, good luck finding the old ones. Hopefully you are one of those less-in-demand sizes. 2 months ago GearExpress was the only online source that had my size. Weirdly enough, they seem to be the only retailers that haven’t discounted old model of testarossas... they still list them for $180...

Luckily there are a few pairs of the old version floating around the net in my size (43.5) , no deep discount, though, which is a bummer.  Have you ever resoled a pair?  I never have.  Perhaps I will have to now.  If so, how have they taken to one?

I've had a couple pair of old version Testarossas resoled.  They're a very soft shoe, sensitive, so you have to send them in very early, pretty much as soon as the rand peaks down the sole line -- otherwise I doubt you'll be happy with their future performance.

I have resoled  my very first pair of testarossas, and was disappointed. I felt that the shoe completely changed shape, even though I did send it to a resoler recommended by la Sportiva. I have not bothered resoling since then. But that was 10 years ago, things may have changed since then. 

Just bought a pair of the new ones, in the same size as the red-and-yellows. I stocked up on the old ones because I was paranoid about the redesign, but I think that was unnecessary. It seems to fit the same in the forefoot. The heel is more snug, which I like. I'll have to spend some time using them to know if the heel performance is better or not, since I liked the old one just fine.

To the resole question, my one resoled pair is 95% as good as a new pair. They did stiffen up just slightly, in a way that doesn't hurt performance but does hurt comfort.

2 full resoles on my old testarossas from rock and resole. Downturn and fit are like new

Caleb Schwarz wrote: 2 full resoles on my old testarossas from rock and resole. Downturn and fit are like new

They still had a good bump up under the big toe on the resole? I've got 4 pairs of the old style stock piled, but eventually they'll wear out. I love the original since I have bone spurs (haglunds deformity) that get painful pressure from stiff heel cups.

REI still has some old model for sale in smaller sizes

After wearing my black/red pair for a day, I feel like they might be a bit bigger than the red/yellow. They definitely have less-pronounced heel tension. I'm not unhappy with them at all but next time I need a new pair I'll at least try a half size smaller.

I can confirm, after trying both 43.5 and 43 (my size in the old Testarossa is 43.5) that they run approximately 1/4-1/2 size bigger. Closer to 1/4 size, with my foot. Will be buying 43's in the new version, and they'll definitely be more painful.  Oh well.  

Lena chita wrote:

Weird, it felt different than Genius heel to me... I 

anyway, good luck finding the old ones. Hopefully you are one of those less-in-demand sizes. 2 months ago GearExpress was the only online source that had my size. Weirdly enough, they seem to be the only retailers that haven’t discounted old model of testarossas... they still list them for $180...

You can compare prices on the old model here! https://www.footbeta.com/s/ls_tes_o/

There are a couple of holdouts at $180 but some retailers go all the way down to $90 atm.

(I've just made this site. If you have any feedback- would love to hear it!)

Tim Leong wrote:

You can compare prices on the old model here! https://www.footbeta.com/s/ls_tes_o/

There are a couple of holdouts at $180 but some retailers go all the way down to $90 atm.

(I've just made this site. If you have any feedback- would love to hear it!)

What do you think is the advantage of your website, over the same thing that google search gets me?

The biggest beef with the google search results is that it doesn't tell me what size is in stock at which website, I have to click on them individually, to find out. But your website results are no different.

The fact that Steep and Cheap has old-style testarossas for $90 does me no good, because they only have it in size 34.5... and if I have to click on each link individually, then I don't see the advantage of your site at all.

Lena chita wrote:

What do you think is the advantage of your website, over the same thing that google search gets me?

The biggest beef with the google search results is that it doesn't tell me what size is in stock at which website, I have to click on them individually, to find out. But your website results are no different.

The fact that Steep and Cheap has old-style testarossas for $90 does me no good, because they only have it in size 34.5... and if I have to click on each link individually, then I don't see the advantage of your site at all.

True- having size information would be super handy... Something to add for the future. Thank you for your feedback!

The site also offers notifications where you can watch a shoe and be notified when its prices have dropped.

Relatively good price on the new model ($141.47 shipped) from this German retailer on Ebay
https://ebay.to/2Qt6ZS2

Sam Cieply wrote: Relatively good price on the new model ($141.47 shipped) from this German retailer on Ebay
https://ebay.to/2Qt6ZS2

This is the new version. We’re looking for the old version.