Ok, i ruined about 10 pairs of katanas now and tried different shoes of scarpa, fiveten, during that period. Especially on real rock they are very sticky and have very good edging abilities. My feet are very narrow and my toes are quite long. I size the katana a lot smaller than my regular shoes and they only take about 2 hours to break in. Once you sweat them wet, your toes stretch the uppper material in the toebox so they fit without hotspots. They wont stretch lengthwise though. I would love to see sportiva give them a very little downturn only on the toes and a really thin rubber on the upper toebox for a little better toehooking even though i never slipped out of a toehook. I use them for bouldering and sportclimbing up to fb7c bloc and 8b routes. Never felt off anything because of the shoes. Sportiva must fix their glueing, as the toes tend to delaminate very fast. I just got a new pair from my store and noticed a small change in how they pack the katana, so maybe they changed this as well...hopefully, because if i would not get them with really great discounts this delaminating would really burn a hole in my pocket...

Enjoy climbing in the shoe. However I am extremely disappointed with the finish. Expected more from a top of the line shoe from a name manufacturer. Rubber started delaminating around the big toe area on both shoes shortly after I got them.

I have had two pairs of these and resoled them both each once. They fit, as they say, like a glove. I had tried these on at the shop in Portland but it was not until my five tens fell apart at Red Rocks that picked up my first pair. They were broken in by end of day one. I must admitt the katana last just seems to fit my foot unreasonablely well. My street shoe is a 9.5 (42) and I downsized to a 7 (39.5) and my feet just slide right in. However, I wouldn't say these shoes stretch as much as they break in. Don't buy real tight thinking they are going to get a lot better.

My Katanas seem to excell at small edges and smearing. I never noticed a difference between the vibram and the C4 rubber. Infact when it came to resoling I stuck with the virbram (it was a bit thinner I believe).
Durability hasn't been a real big issue. However I wouldn't recommend the shoes to a beginner learning to use feet. I am almost ready to resole my first pair for the second time. Pay attention and don't blow out the toe or wear through leather and they will last.

Find them on sale for around $100 and resole them once or twice for $35 and they are just as economical as any shoe out there.

Ok, done ranting. I love them.

Well i just have bought my second pair of katanas , i have tried more than 8 shoes and this is the first time i bought twice the same.
Altough this shoe brings some pain in the aquiles tendon.

I purchased these several years ago and and was astonished then first time out how I could stand on Dime edges.

I wasn't sure what i thought of having a velcro strapped shoe rather than laces. However I really love these shoes for short technical route climbing as I can get out of them easily @ belay stations so my dogs can rest a bit. I really love using these during bouldering sessions.

They are well worth the money spent. Keep up the great work Sportiva