Even in comparison to some other great shoes, these have more than held their own.
I have used these for several months now and am extremely happy.I had begun climbing harder routes((by my standards) and found that for some routes that were 5.12 and above and for bouldering routes V7 and above, my old shoes were not aggressive enough. My first pair of aggressive shoes were the LA Sportiva Solutions and to my dismay their strap broke in just a few months, making them pretty useless. I tried several other shoes and for the build and price these are perfect, even more so if you boulder and love pulling heel hooks. Most importantly if the strap on these shoes break they are practically slip-ons and will still be fine, unlike the Soultions.Ordered true to my street size and these shoes are quite snug. I have relatively wide feed but as many people have gone a size up or down and have found them to be satisfactory, you may have to try on a couple, but for me my street size and these shoe's size match up perfectly.Lastly the greatest feature of these shoes, that I have found to be even better than that of the famous LA Sportiva Solutions, is the heel. The heel on these shoes is something amazing. It has a ridge that runs along the back that can support me on even the tiniest of holds.Needless to say if these shoes are good enough for Jan Hojer they should be awesome for most. When i use them out I may just purchase them again.
✔ Verified Purchase
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Peter Buehner
March 06, 2019
The best climbing shoe for my foot
Climbing shoes are a personal thing so...Absolutely perfect fit. I have a wide foot and these fit as if they were custom built for me. I have owned a lot of shoes in my 25 years of climbing and these are the last shoe I will buy for bouldering, sport-climbing, and gym climbing. I will still go to another shoe for hard edging or all day trad climbing but for all else, I have found my shoe at last! Actually, the Mad Rock M5 is a nice complement to this shoe as I think that it is a better edging shoe and a bit more comfortable if you size properly.I wear my shoes snugly but not as crazy tight as I did when I was younger. My street shoe is a 9.5 and I wear a size 10 in these. Mad Rock sizes their shoes more like some other companies. I have worn as small as a 7.5 in other shoes. For these shoes, I could go down to a 9.5 but I wouldn't gain much performance out of it.These shoes are very comfortable out of the box, no dead space in the heels and enough give in the toe box for your toes to curl up a bit ( I have Morton's toe if you know what that is and it isn't an issue).They are fairly sensitive but not crazy soft like a moccasin yet also have a good enough edge for all but the most demanding edging problems.FWIW I have been climbing for decades and have sport climbed 12's, bouldered up to V8, and trad climbed 5.11I hope that helps.
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D
Dan Rossmann
June 28, 2024
Sizing is inconsistent
These are great shoes for the price. However I’ve read other reviews saying that sizing was an issue and it is. I’m a 10.5 in men’s sneakers so i got an 11. The shoes that arrived must be a women’s 11 because they barely fit my buddy who’s an 9.5 in men’s. Would have been a great shoe if I could get it on my foot smh.
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Mad Rock Flash
OK! Now I think I got it right! Sold to a friend the MR-Flash 7,5 and bought myself a 9,5, and now comes the true review of it!:What I can say, very good rock shoes, very sticky rubber, the shape is very good for my kind of foot, the heel fits like a charm, you barelly have empty spaces.Im comparission to MadRock Drift, I can say, the Flash ones are much more thigh and hard, the Drift ones I bought is half size smaller (9) and still much more confortable and soft than MR Flash.The rubber on the heel is amazing, soft but stick like superbonder on the rock... the special shape like scales absorb the impact really well.I would suggest this shoe for special routes with very small crimps or intensive heel hook work, I don't think it is a good idea to use it on long routes as it's asymmetric shape stress too much the feet.I'll keep the 04 stars rating because it is pretty good rock shoe but there is still room for improvements.==== old review below =======I've purchased this rock shows in the beg of 2011 taking in consideration the size I use with LA SPORTIVA, but unfortunatelly their matching are completelly different... for lucky I ended up selling to a friend and taking the money back. so the best solution on this case would be try this shoes on a phisic store before you buy it.Positives:The Shows are really nice, the rubber seems really sticky, the knee desing is awesome, the strap in the back are very well positioned.The Strap on the front are also good, didn't see what people say they are too long or such stuff..Also the quality of the material used is really good, can't tell if will still in good condition after long period os usage but I can say the seams look very hardy and there is no loose seams inside of the shoes, everything lead to feel Mad Rock has a very good quality control over their production.4 Stars because i didn't have a true chance to test it...==== old review below =======Kind regards,Johnny
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Mr.Slippyfist
November 19, 2014
so far as good as my scarpas
Holy crap these are awesome. I was skeptical at first; I used Mad Rock when I first started climbing and loved the feel but went through them way too fast. I switched to Scarpa and of course, they were amazing and lasted forever. I finally wore through them and they are now 180 vs. the 120 I bought them at, so I looked for alternatives and went with this one. They are great so far. Indoor use only so far. sport and bouldering and show no signs of damage yet. I smear with my toes like a mad man so that's usually where it takes the most punishment but this seems to have extra thick rubber there. The heel is a little weird to walk in (the shoe is not comfortable to walk in period) but it actually does grab hold pretty good on heel hooks. They are a bit of a pain to get on and off but once its on its a part of you. Maybe a little bit of sensitivity on the toes is sacrificed for the durability, but its far from wearing ski shoes on the wall or anything. Buy them.
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