Adidas owning 5.10

I know this is kind of old news, but what is the general opinion of 5.10 shoes now that Adidas owns the brand? Specifically, the new dragon lace ups and the rubber. Is stealth rubber still being used and is it still as sticky as before? 

Adidas has owned 5.10 since 2011, longer than most have been climbing.

I think overwhelmingly, the change has hurt the brand. Shoes that people like are discontinued. Sizes can vary between manufacturing runs. New shoe designs underwhelming and under-performing compared to previously designed shoes. People are not sure about the rubber, if its changed or not. 

The one big positive is they firesale them quite frequently. 

I dunno about the rubber, but I have some moccs and while I like the fit they are already fraying in the "leather" around the edge after about 15-20 climbing days.

I wore guide tennis before and after Adidas took over, and have noticed a huge decline in quality since the takeover. Whatever Adidas uses to glue the rubber to the bottom of the shoe started peeling off almost immediately, and pretty soon the entire front end of the rubber becomes unglued and hangs there like a reverse flip-flop. This happened to two pairs in a row. After that, I switched to Sportiva approach shoes, which I've been happy with. 

Big issue with sizing changes and durability occurred when they moved production to Asia. They seem to quickly fall apart and wear under normal use now.

David A wrote: I wore guide tennis before and after Adidas took over, and have noticed a huge decline in quality since the takeover. Whatever Adidas uses to glue the rubber to the bottom of the shoe started peeling off almost immediately, and pretty soon the entire front end of the rubber becomes unglued and hangs there like a reverse flip-flop. This happened to two pairs in a row. After that, I switched to Sportiva approach shoes, which I've been happy with. 

same story here with approach shoes

#fakenews

I never had the american made shoes, but the Adidas 5.10 shoes I have tried have been less than impressive in terms of quality compared to the Italian brands. 

al ex wrote: I never had the american made shoes, but the Adidas 5.10 shoes I have tried have been less than impressive in terms of quality compared to the Italian brands. 

My own previous snarkiness aside, I’ve experienced and observed more Sportiva quality issues than any other brand. I haven’t bought a new pair of hiangles in a couple years, but I’ve never had 5.10 issues myself.

Yeah I would say of the major brands, the biggest QC issues have been Evolv and La Sportiva.  TC Pro delams, Miura toe blowouts in 2 months...they’re pretty infamous for it.  The Five Tens I’ve owned have all been top notch in construction.  Only owned one pair of Scarpas but they’ve impressed me, even though they don’t fit my feet that great.

al ex wrote: I never had the american made shoes, but the Adidas 5.10 shoes I have tried have been less than impressive in terms of quality compared to the Italian brands. 

Same here. I haven't been climbing long enough to have used 'American' 5.10, but after being disappointed with the Adidas Pink Anasazi I bought the Unparallel UP Lace and I've been using them for maybe 6 months or so. I'll probably buy another pair soon too, as my current ones are getting a bit too comfy to the detriment of performance.

I’ve been using 5.10 since they started and during the transition to Adidas.  I recently bought a pair of Grandstones and have to say they are the best built pair of shoes I’ve ever bought from them, very high quality build. And BTW, they are still using C4 the same sticky rubber.  

I have some guide tennies from before and after the factory shut down (seemingly where the issues started, not the change of ownership). The ones before the shut down are older, more used and... in SIGNIFICANTLY better condition. The ones purchased almost a year later are already all but useless with the bottom rubber almost completely detached. I will say I talked to an adidas rep who said they tried pretty hard to change the C4 rubber (trying to make it more eco friendly) but could not do it. So supposedly it is the same rubber. 

FWIW, I love my 5.10 Quantum lace-ups and the Stealth rubber that they used. It lasted me about 6 months and I am now about to send them in to be resoled. However, I have found that 5.10/Adidas is absolute dog shit when it comes to customer service. It has taken them 2-3 days to even ship shoes that I have bought through their super sale and, even then, shipping is slow (always more than a week from shipping date in my experience). Additionally, I ordered a couple pairs of Team VXIs which just didn't fit my foot well and, despite them having received the shoes, I have not heard anything regarding my refund.

Bottom line: love the shoes, not the customer service. Buy em from literally any retailer other than Adidas themselves. 

5.10 quality was always inferior to the European shoe makers. It is the Dodge Charger of climbing shoe companies and always was. Adidas buying them was like Fiat buying Chrysler - SOS.

Delam issues are not always the manufacturers fault.   Shoes get abused, they get thrown in the back of a car and sit it the hot sun and bake.   They get wet from sweat and then thrown into the bottom of a pack and then 30lbs of gear gets loaded on top and then we wonder why my shoes are starting to delaminate.   Take care of you shoes.  It’s like to new climber who’s shoes are blown out in the toe after a month and they complain that it’s a manufacturer defect when it’s clearly poor footwork.   I’ve never had a pair of Five Ten climbing shoes delam and I’ve been using them since Five Ten started.  I have had one pair of Guide Tennies start to delam but that was quickly fixed with a bit of super glue gel.   

I'm old...53 to be exact, and I have not had any issues with my multiple 5.10 shoes: Spires, Pinks, Coyotes and Gambits (and more that I can't remember). But they were all made in the USA and have all had many resoles.  The Coyotes are about done, the inside liner is all but gone and the leather is wearing through from the inside. Fantastic smearing shoe IMO.

The highest quality shoe I've ever had is the Boreal Ballet Gold, they are just a really well made shoe. Lots of stitching and rubber, in the right places, to make the shoes super durable.  I go through a lot of laces, because these are crack shoes. I also own the Boreal Ninja, which also are super well made.

La Sportiva is more hit and miss. My Cobras only took two resoles before they were toast. My Mythos on the other hand have been resoled at least four times, maybe 5.  My Kaukulators were the same way....many many resoles before the leather ripped. My first pair was orange, I remember that, long gone, but lasted a few seasons.

Only pair of Scarpa I ever had was the Helix, not that great a shoe IMO.

I don't climb much severely overhanging stuff, or pockets, so I don't really have a need for a super aggressive shoe, so maybe my choice of shoes just last longer than others.

I started using 5.10 in 1996.  Before that I had a few pairs of Boreals (Vector/Laser/Ballet), Scarpas (Rockmaster), Asolos (Opera) and La Sportivas (Kendo/SuperX/Ballerina/Mythos).  In 5.10, before Adidas took over, I used the Razor (best shoe ever), VX, UFO, RockSox, Moccs, and Ansazi lace and Velcro. Since 2011, I've had several pairs of Dragons, various Anasazis, as well as a couple pairs of Quantums, HiAngles and Arrowheads.  Before 2012 or so, I had absolutely no issues with sizing in 5.10, and I could find them in a store and actually try them on.  Since about that time frame, the sizing seems to be all over the place, and since it seems like no store carries the brand any longer, it is basically a complete lottery whether the pair I ordered will fit or not.  I have had size 7 fit perfectly, but then I wasn't able to get an 8 on my feet at all, and I have (somewhat) comfortably worn 5.10 anywhere from size 6.5 to 8.5.  This is really unfortunate, and I have started to drift to Sportiva as result.  Though they don't fit quite as well, the sizing is more consistent than 5.10, and they have better rubber than Boreal.

As for 5.10 quality issues, I have had none outside of a pair of Anasazi Pinks literally splitting in apart at the heel after three days of use. Customer service was completely unresponsive when I tried to warranty them, so that wasn't that great either.  I did have the same thing happen on a pair of VXs, but that was after a resole, and they were a super light weight shoe that 5.10 made for only 1 year in the late 90s.

David A wrote: I wore guide tennis before and after Adidas took over, and have noticed a huge decline in quality since the takeover. Whatever Adidas uses to glue the rubber to the bottom of the shoe started peeling off almost immediately, and pretty soon the entire front end of the rubber becomes unglued and hangs there like a reverse flip-flop. This happened to two pairs in a row. After that, I switched to Sportiva approach shoes, which I've been happy with. 

Second this comment.  Guide Tennis were my favorite and only approach shoe.  My last purchase (maybe 2.5 years ago) the sole came off within the first season.  Send them back, got a new pair, happened again.  I switched to Sportivas as well and have been very  happy!

I know a few sponsored climbers and apparently a former rep who all feel that the rubber is not the same.  The new Adidas factory has only been producing shoes for about the past 9 months and not all retailers have the new stock. There is a very stark difference between the new and old Hiangle construction.  You can tell if you have the new ones as the toe hook rubber is thinner and inside the shoe there is a horizontal seam near the midsole. Also, the label is different.

I loved my old Five Tens so much that I stockpiled many of them. The Teams never changed nor did the old Dragons. The new Hiangles feel uber stiff and insensitive and the heel fits differently (better for me, doesn't bag out). I loved that the Hiangle had some stiffness, but you could still microadjust and pull with the toes. The newest ones I have feel a lot like an Instinct VS or Solution when new, but both of those shoes break in quicker and better. I don't feel that the rubber is as sticky.

The Aleon is a love/hate. Most people I know like the heel for its fit, but not for heel hooking. The stretchiness of the upper means you have to really crank the velcro for it not to move during heel hooks, but it won't pull off. The main issue is the toebox can be love/hate.  It is one of the only toeboxes that pushes the big toe inwards and it is almost diamond shaped rather than a talon like the Dragon or Solution and for some it just never gets comfortable.

You can see my other posts about the Dragons, but almost no sponsored climbers are wearing the shoe and very few normal people I have met seem to like it. While the build quality is higher, the design isn't there. They feel more like an Evolv than a Five Ten. Let's be honest- no one ever bought Five Ten for durability. They were designed to perform and be comfortable on granite for the most part and they don't do that very well anymore.