I have been wearing them for a couple of months now with the hope that they'll stretch to fit. I bought them a full size smaller than my street shoe, and in hind sight I would have prefered a half size instead. Being a relatively new climber (1 year), I was previously in the Sportiva Cliff and was looking for something slightly higher in performance and I got it. They are certainly a more dynamic shoe, especially for edging, but the pain that they cause on the top of my big toe over rides this benefit. Smearing is an impossibility due to the pain caused by that tab of rubber over the big toe. I've spoken to other people wearing the X ray and they echo my thoughts. Perhaps I'm just a big baby and don't want to alter my bone structure. I've gotten a pair of Katanas now and have once again found the joy of climbing.

Customer Service

The staff at MEC are pretty good. The The sales guy seemed to be knowledgeable but perhaps not fully familiar with the properties of this shoe.

Similar Products Used:

Sportiva Cliff Sportiva Katana

These are the best boots I ever brought! I live in the lake district (England) and as such have some awsume climbing on my door step. My street shoes are 13 (US) and as such I brought a pair of 10s. I found them killing me for the first few climbs and was forced to take a bath in them. This caused them to stretch a litle and now they fit perfect. They are great at all indoor/outdoor bouldering, but on real climbs are crap so I've given them a 4 star rating, but they are well worth the price.

I have enjoyed this shoe through two soles and 18 months of climbing. I find it to be an excellent all-rounder, although when sized for bouldering it will not climb handcracks. My street shoes are 12. When I bought my size 10 X-Ray's, I thought about sending them back because I could not even put them on comfortably. I ended up doing a few big walls in them, so go figure. They only get four stars because while they were alwyas solid performers, the never seemed to excel in any area.

Customer Service

I have had four pair of Five Tens, never had to send any back.

Similar Products Used:

Five Ten Anasazi Five Ten Ascent Sportiva Mistral Sportiva Katana

Being fairly new to climbing and having run through a cheap board-lasted shoe, I bought several pairs of shoes to see how they would fit and perform over an extended period of time. Climbing shoe fit is extremely individual; one person can love a shoe while another may hate it. The shoes I bought were: Five-Ten Anasazi Velcro, Moccasym, Rock Socks, and X-Ray. I'll just give my experiences with each shoe one by one.
Moccasym: Super comfortable and red feet for a while. There was a little achilles chafing for a while but it subsided after a month. A rather soft shoe, the Moccs have good edging for more experienced climbers for a while, but after some wear they lose a lot of this ability.
Anasazi: Amazingly snug fit maybe too snug in the toes for long climbs, but great for small edges on sport routes and hard gym training.

Rock Socks: Ouch ! These guys didn't fit my feet right from the start and to this day don't stay on for more than ten minutes. The toe box is brutal on my forefoot and the heel doesn't suck up securely.
X-Ray: Love at first try. What can I say ? I will be buying these puppies again. Absolutely perfect fit and they seem to do everything pretty well. I will be going for my first resole so we'll see how they perform after I get them back. The five stars in this review are for the X-Rays.

Customer Service

Several of the pairs have worn through at the toe above the sole before the foresole was even close to being ready for a retread. This may be a result of bad climbing technique, bubbles in the rubber, or may point to a need for a more durable and/or thicker compound over the toes.

My second pair of shoes, and I absolutly love them. I bought them two sizes down from my street shoe, but after about a month they now fit perfectly! They can edge on just about anything, and are also really sensitive. I've been using them almost exclusively in the gym, where they work great. Because they are an unlined leather, you really have to size down, but that also ensures that once they stretch they'll fit your foot perfectly. And, of course, stealth rubber rules!!

Similar Products Used:

5.10 Spire

I love them, they are like leather anasazi's. I bought them really tight and they were a bit of a **** to break in but now they are they are excellent, stiff, lasted soles and stealth rubber, so good I want another pair. they look a little odd but get over it, they really are great shoes, they fit well and have great stickyness.

Similar Products Used:

None