This was an average shoe it did not fail to impress me. The rubber is way to thin and they wore out in about 3 months. And it lacks the stickiness of Five Ten Stealth rubber. I also believe that my shoes had a defect and sent them back to Sportiva. Unforuntantly Sportiva, after a month, finally sent them back as is. I then had them resoled with 5.10 C4 which is a lot better. These are not a beginner's first time shoes.

Good shoe, but I have to say that in my opinion, they wear out too quickly even for someone with good footwork. I would definitely not recommend them to a beginner.

Solid shoe all the way around, doing just about everything well: from technical trad leads, to slapping up slopers on an overhanging boulder problem.
Rather powerful shoe through the front of the toe box. Being a bit stiffer, it'll easily handle powerful edging on dime edges. Amazingly enough, the shoe still remains rather sensative for finding those small foot placements that you might use.
Velcro closure system is rather unique to other shoes available on the market, as it has opposing straps. Allowing the shoe to really snug down onto your foot, as well as making sure that the closure system will remain closed.
Only downside I would have with this shoe would be the heal-box. More specifically, the rubber on the backside of it. If you end up heal-hooking a lot (typcial for most boulder problems), the rubber from the sole has a tendancy to pull off. You can "fix" the problem by cutting down the part that's delaming from the rest of the shoe, and then filing it smooth. But, still an issue. This can also happen along the front edges of the toe-box. Same "fix" will apply.
Owned several pairs of this shoe, and will continue to do so..

Pure crap, definately the worst shoes I've ever owned. While they fit and performed well, I bought them and two months later they were shot, totally worn through the left toe. I suspected this was a defect as the right shoe was fine and I've never had this problem with other shoes so I emailed sportiva customer support (several times). They neglected to get back to me, so I say fuck sportiva, I'm 5.10 for life.

I think this shoe is absolutly great. I have been climbing in them for a while. The opposing velcro system allows for a really snug fit. If you buy small the won't stretch too much so be careful not to buy too small. The edge like mad and they heel hook pretty well too. They have a large toebox which is perfect for my size foot, but not right for everyone. They don't smear as well as I would have hoped but they make up for it with their exceptional performance in other areas. This is "The Bouldering shoe":)