5.10 Crawe First Impressions

First, these shoes have C4 rubber (EpicTV has them listed as HF), more stiff than the Aleon, about as stiff as the new Hiangle.This shoe is what I thought the Aleon would be, forefoot is quite flat and stiff, very, very comfortable. Foot rests flat in the shoe, think Skwama with less toe curl, or perhaps Butora Acro Wide.

With how flat the forefoot is, along with the relatively low volume of the front of the shoe, I don’t think the shoe should be sized too aggressively, but I’ll have a better impression once the shoe is properly broken in.

The heel is relaxed, not as much as the Aleon, but does make me wonder about aggressive heel hooks. I tend to wear my street shoe in 5.10 shoes and that’s what I ordered. Overall the fit feels right, though I do have a bit of air when I go from standing on my toes to heels on the ground. I’m tempted to try a half size smaller, but I really don’t think the performance (besides possibly heel hooks) would be much better, given how stiff and flat the forefoot is. At that point, might as well just pull out Hiangles.

The fabric on the inner sides of the shoes that the Velcro attaches to sits loose and looks a bit out of place, but I don’t think will negatively effect performance.

Overall, really great first impression, looking forward to climbing in them. With all the gym closures, hopefully I’ll get outside within the next weekend or two.

How's the new hiangles?

They look pretty sweet, I haven't heard about them until today

thanks for the review.
Not the best moment to buy climbing shoes, I'm afraid :-(

gumbie gene wrote: How's the new hiangles?

I was never able to wear the old Hiangles due to the heel being too narrow; the new ones have a different heel (at least as far as I can tell) and they feel much better, in my opinion. 

Overall construction is solid, they’re not as comfortable as some other aggressive shoes, but I’d still say they’re fantastic and worth checking out if you either want a stiffer aggressive shoe or love Stealth rubber. 

Vy Vu wrote: They look pretty sweet, I haven't heard about them until today

There was an article or something that had a sketch of the prototype awhile back so I’ve been keeping an eye out for them. 

Niccolo Gallio wrote: thanks for the review.
Not the best moment to buy climbing shoes, I'm afraid :-(

It’s always the best moment to buy climbing shoes   

buddy tested a prototype, said they were absolutely atrocious

Karl Walters wrote: buddy tested a prototype, said they were absolutely atrocious

That settles it then, end of thread

Hey Jacob, nice review of the shoe. Can I ask you how do you size other brands of climbing shoes (e.g. la sportiva)? I am intrested in the crawe and I want to size it properly because I use to resole my shoes couple of times, thus I would like it to last and not stretch a lot. Thanks in advance!