After using these shoes for over a year I must say that I am pleasantly surprised. I bought these shoes online for $30 on sale for indoor climbing and after using them indoors I thought that I would use them for long/easy trad outdoors and they work great. The positives are: the fit is great for my foot (narrow heel and a semi wide-bony ball), they smear wonderfully, they are very sensitive, and they edge better than one would imagine. The downsides are that they don't excel at edging, but they work pretty well if you learn to really trust your feet and let the rubber do the work (duh). Additionally the construction is very good... my shoe shows almost no wear after climbing on them on average twice a week, although the rubber sole is starting to delaminate right around the toe from the shoe, but it is not spreading out or causing any change in performance. All in all this is a great shoe for long routes or beginners.

I first must admit that I have not tried aliens before, but instead I bought a couple of these because they were drastically on sale and they fit my budget. So far I love these little things. Although I have only placed these units a few times, every placement felt bomber, which gives me the confidence to climb even better! If you have not considered these before do it now!

I love these little suckers. They are way cheap, well made, very strong and for their size make me feel pretty secure even though they are tiiiiny. Many people complain about the nut sliding around, but only one piece out of the set I own does this... only the larger ones appear capable of doing this I might add. This actually has an advantage over other brassies b/c it allows you to put them over bolts w/o hangers. If you dont have a set of these and are in the market for small pro get some!!