V-Mile

Well, you can read what is above about stats and performance for these shoes. I have been a fan of Five-Ten for 10 years, and have owned and climbed in everything from Red Chili, Boreal, Montreal, Scarpa, Evolve, MadRock, and LaSportiva. I have, however, always come back to Five-Ten due to what I consider the best climbing shoe company around. So when I ordered my V-Miles a few weeks ago I was super excited to get a new shoe.

These shoes fit well out of the box. There wasn't that uncomfortable toe-cramming feeling that the toe box wasn't wide enough for my duck feet. I was surprised to see that the tongue was attached only on one side of the shoe. They climb well, the Onyx rubber is super sticky and this being my second shoe with Onyx I wasn't the least bit concerned about rubber performance.

The thing I didn't like about these shoes is that instant comfort fit. I can see these shoes becoming a bit sloppy in the coming years as they get past that ever familiar break in point. These shoes are definitely not high-performance shoes, but shoes to wear all day.

The EVA cushioned heel is super comfortable and gives enough support that you don't feel every rock you walk on. In a pinch you could easily walk off a long climb in these and know that you won't be as sore as your partner.

I am more of a newbie climber in terms of hours on the rock. I have much experience in instructing climbing, mostly on rock walls; but have only recently been going all-out climbing. I am mainly climbing 5.7-5.9's.

Nevertheless, I have found these shoes to be, as Five-Ten states, a great all-around shoe. I bought mine a full size smaller, and while thus not being a great milage shoe (due to the small size), I have found they do a excellent job of both smearing and edging. However, they are a literal "pain" while crack climbing.
I would definetly recommend this shoe as a good, relatively beginner shoe. With the option of ordering normal size for an all-day shoe, or smaller for a more technical performance.

First let me start off by saying I am a sport climber of 6 or so years with my previous shoes being 5.10 Southwests. I was disappointed when those were no longer being made. Anyway, these shoes edge very well and I think the rubber is quite sticky. I climb overhanging walls with them and boulder in them as well and enjoy them. I would say they are not the most aggressive shoe, but if you plan on wearing them in the gym or on multi-pitch, I would recommend them.

These are not an aggressive shoe as the previous reviewer pointed out. But I'd say that they do better a few more things than just long slab. They edge well because they are so stiff. They'd also be good for long face and slightly overhanging routes. The real nice thing about these shoes is how good they feel. I was really surprised how well they climbed considering I was wearing a half size bigger than my Galileo's. At the gym where I tried them out I could use all sorts of small subtle jibs easily. I'll admit that I have toenail problems in my big toe, so I was looking for a more comfy shoe to wear on days that my other shoes weren't working for me. I think I'll be really happy with these provided they don't stretch too much. What did you find sthcrag510? Do they stretch much with continued use? Overall I thought they fit better than the Galileo's in a size ten, those were not good at all when sized bigger. These were a nice surprise I thought. I didn't notice the sloshy problem, so its probably just an individual foot fit thing.

When you read this review one must keep in mind that I have been wearing the Five Ten Galileo's for over two years now and this review is kind of a comparison. I bought this shoe to see if it would be an all around good trad shoe.

Sizing:
-I have a big foot and wear a size 12 in a Galileo so I ordered a pair of 12's in the V-Miles but they ended up running a little big. My guess is that sense they are an all day shoe they may run a little bigger for comfort. So I ended up returning them and getting a pair of 11.5's which fit great. So I would recommend trying to find a place that carries them and trying them on first or order them from somewhere that has a good exchange or return policy.
-Side note: Heel cup is not as aggressive as other five ten shoes. But fits rather nice.

Sizing Complaints:
- The toe box to the arch of your foot is sloshy. Resulting in bad hot spots after relatively short use. Although this might have been a result of the break in period it does not negate the sloshyniss.

Features:
-The V-Mile has many features that are nice. First off they are Velcro which makes for easy entry and exit.
-Padded tongue is nice (I prefer the split tongue of the Galileo better).
-Has Oynx rubber which is hands down awesome.
-Has padded heels which makes them very comfortable at hanging belaying or if you
have to walk off.
-Burly toe rand. Rubber extends higher than normal.

Feature Complaints:
- One thing I did not like was the partial red lining which left your feet red once you took them off.
- One other complaint is the length of the Velcro straps. Way to long.

Performance:
-Coming from the Galileo background I am used to a more high performance/technical shoe. This being said one of the first things I noticed when I took them out of the box was the shape of the sole in the toe area. It’s fairly rounded compared to the Galileo which are fairly pointed. So right off the bat I knew they were going to be a lot different. As far as actual performance/usage goes. They work great on slab. I wore them in North Carolina on Looking Glass and cruised through a section of eye brow slab with ease. Naturally I was quite happy with them at that point. A few weekends later I headed out to do some climbing thats more or less face climbing with a few splitter finger cracks. First lead I hopped on was a broken up face climb. Shoes did sub par. Terrible at smearing, edging was decent. Foot slipped off multiple times one time resulting in a small fall. Next lead I did was a finger splitter. I thought I would see how they did in the crack climbing department. They did horrible. Fell in the first ten feet. Could not toe jam to save my life. Almost impossible to even get the toe of the shoe in the crack to even try. So finally I lowered of and put my Galileo's on and was able to toe jam and cruised it with no problem. I was quite disappointed in the shoes after that weekend.

Conclusion:
- The V-Mile is no means a performance/technical shoes. Which is a known fact seeing that Five Ten says it’s an all day shoe. But one would think it would perform well in different types of climbing not just one. If your looking for a shoe to do long multi-pitch slab routes and enjoy comfort this is the shoe for you. These shoes have the potential to be a nice splitter shoe. When I say splitter I am talking about perfect hands and up. Nothing smaller then that. But if your looking for a shoe that does well in multiple area's of climbing whether it’s thin cracks, face, etc… I might look elsewhere. I will continue to test them in different areas and see if they get better with age. But for now they will only come out on multi-pitch slab endeavors.