Mad Rock Drone CS Thoughts?

Anyone gotten a chance to try out the new Comp Drones? I’m curious to hear opinions on how they climb.

From the videos they’ve posted on social media sticking the shoes together and flipping them around, it seems like their new rubber compound may be the stickiest on the market. 

You can do that with literally any brand new shoe, I'm sure they are sticky but that's not the best metric.

Luke M wrote:

You can do that with literally any brand new shoe, I'm sure they are sticky but that's not the best metric.

I agree that it’s not the best metric, but you can’t do this with every new shoe: https://www.instagram.com/reel/CjY2MV8plti/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

I’m not sure you can do that with any other shoe.

Found their 2023 catalogue, also detailing the standard Drone 2.0:

https://issuu.com/madrockclimbing/docs/2023_madrock_catalog

Damian Skaw wrote:

I've only had a few sessions in them but I absolutely love them. I've used regular Drones for a couple years now, and the CS's take care of the one issue I always had with Drones, which is smearing. The CS's smear very well, but still has the great edging Drones are known for. I even did my first coordination boulder in them. The concave midsole puts my foot in a very precise feeling position, and the shoe itself looks great! I'm a big fan

How have these held up?

I absolutely love the CS'. Being a Scarpa wearer for the past 8 years, I've found their most recent offerings have been lacking besides the instinct line. Their softer Drago is great but the heel  cup never agreed with my heel unless I sized extremely tight. That's with both the regular and LV versions of them.

I have tried the regular drone and found them rather clunky to climb in so I quickly wrote them off. The Drone CS is in a world of its own though. The heel cup fits perfectly and is nice and sensitive, the rubber is incredibly sticky (reminisce of five ten stealth but more durable), and for being a comp shoe, the toe is very precise. One thing that intrigues me is when you try and bend the shoe with your hands, it is rather stiff, but, when you're on the wall the shoe is the right amount of soft for smearing while still having support for some slab climbing. As you can imagine, the shoe is incredible for steep roof and board climbing. For a "HV" shoe it is rather low volume so those with skinny feet don't be afraid to try them on. I also have the LV CS' as well and did have to go up half a size for those. Durability for the shoes have been great. The one piece molded outsole eliminates any possibility of the climbing rubber delaminating from the rand. I do believe this construction makes them just overall more structurally sound. 

Only Gripe I have with them is that they don't breathe particularly well. I do have really sweaty feet though. Besides that one microscopic gripe the shoe is such an amazing all around shoe for indoors and outdoor climbing.

As for sizing, I went with half a size down from my street shoe size and it was a perfect fit. Here are some examples of my sizing of other shoes:

Street shoe: Men's 7

Scarpa instinct VSR,VSW, and Slipper (My go to): 38

Scarpa Drago: 37.5

Five ten hiangle LV: 6

Unparallel Sirius LV: 6 (8.5 womens)

La sportiva Skwama: 37

Madrock Drone 1.0 HV: 6

Madrock Drone CS HV: 6.5

Madrock Drone CS LV: 7

FYI, I am not a sponsored athlete and these thoughts and opinions are my own.

Cheers,

Joe

I thought mad rock had gotten into the drone (quad copter) business ha

I just got a pair in 8.5, street shoe is 9-9.5. Definitely tight with some discomfort, but I expect a great fit after breaking them in. The heel is the best I’ve ever felt. No dead space and feels painted on. Excited to see how these perform outdoors!

UPDATE:

The shoes are unclimbable small. Lmk if anyone wants to buy them off me!

Elijah Benson wrote:

I just got a pair in 8.5, street shoe is 9-9.5. Definitely tight with some discomfort, but I expect a great fit after breaking them in. The heel is the best I’ve ever felt. No dead space and feels painted on. Excited to see how these perform outdoors!

UPDATE:

The shoes are unclimbable small. Lmk if anyone wants to buy them off me!

How much?

Damian Skaw wrote:

One of my favorite indoor shoes ever forsure. The smearing is so good. 

They haven't really stretched at all, more so molded to my foot.

For sizing, I sized up a whole size from street shoe size. No idea how people downsize in any of Mad Rock's aggressive shoes but maybe thats just my foot shape 

Glad to hear it. I'm seriously considering these, but not sure how resolable they are given that one piece sole/rand on the front.

Late to this, but I've been climbing in the drone CS for 2 months now and love them. If you like the love bump that makes evolv shoes comfortable, the new concave sole feels a LOT like that. I like to downsize my shoes very tight to keep my skinny heel from sliding out, and the concave sole makes it very comfortable to downsize aggressively. I'm an 11.5 in vans, and tried the OG drone in 10.5 and my toe knuckles almost always hurt, 10.5 in the CS and they're one of the most comfortable shoes I've worn while performing really well. I feel they don't edge very well, which is fine, they're a tool for a purpose. Amazing at hooking, smearing/smedging, and anything that has decent feet, just not tiny chips (which I don't enjoy much anyway, so not much skin off my back) I've also lost very little rubber climbing in them indoors and on sandstone in Moe's and red rocks. Great budget buy. Size aggressively, use a plastic bag, and after 2 sessions they'll be nice and cozy! 

Just bought some Drone CS HV's, without trying them on first, I know pretty dumb. But after reading online a lot of people seemed to be comfortable going a half size down, my street shoe size is a 9.5-10, in most shoes either size is fairly comfortable but usually go with a 10. I bought the Drone CS in a 9.5 thinking that a half size down might fit well but I couldn't even get these things on my feet, I honestly have no idea how people go a half size down on these shoes. Maybe my pain tolerance in my feet just isn't high enough but I'm thinking about maybe even going a half size up from my street size to a 10.5 instead.