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Reviews by hyhuu (4)


Aztec Rock Shoes (Manufacturer link) Average Rating = 4.00/5 Average Rating : 4.00/5

In: Gear: Shoes: Climbing Shoes: Lace Up

Great all around shoes 5 out of 5 stars

Review by: hyhuu, 2008-07-22


I believed I found shoe-topia for my feet. The shoes is very comfortable out of the box and climbs everything really well up to easy 5.12s, except maybe for really thin crack. It edges well and sensitive and soft enough for thin smearing. The unlined leather molded to the feet after a couple outing. The shoes last is more suitable for medium to wide feet. Mine is more on the wide side with slightly longer second toe and narrow heel. I went with 1/2 size down from my street shoes, as recommended by John Bachar. I wore a thin sock and it fits perfectly for all day outing. The construction is solid and so far the shoes shows little sign of wear after 2 months of climbing on the almost weekends.

Similar shoes I used for all around climbing were: Fiveten Heucos & Southwest, Sportiva Focus, Evolv Bandit & Demorto. The Aztec is my favorite follows by the Demorto.

Edit: After a more than a month of regular uses, I have some updates:

1. The unlined leather had stretched quite a bit so that I now need to wear a thin shock for a more precise fit, or else it's a bit too sloppy for thin edging on dime edges or small crystals. Next time I'll order 1 full size down. I also wish that the lace extends all the way down to the toe area for better adjustment.

2. The rubber wears strangely. To be exact, it is pitted rather than wears down like other rubbers. It also seems too soft for my taste. When standing on really tiny hold, I can feel the shoe slides as the rubber deforms. It's not what I'm used to and I'm not sure if I'll ever get use to it. Also, I had a really hard time when the rubber is wet. Other rubbers I used before seem to fare better.



Yosemite Bum Average Rating = 4.23/5 Average Rating : 4.23/5

In: Gear: Shoes: Resolers

Sometimes great sometimes just shitty 3 out of 5 stars

Review by: hyhuu, 2008-03-11


In the past I general had good and quick turn around services. But lately it took so much longer and on my last resole, they botched the rand repair on the left shoe of my Kaos. In all of my years climbing, I never had a hole in the rand of any of the shoes. When it's getting too thin I sent them in for a replacement. For my Kaos, which was on its third resole, they cut a small piece of the rand and patched it with a piece of rubber. But the job was so poorly done that there were gaps between the old rand and the new rubber and glueing job was also shitty. I consider sending it back but since I decide I'm going to get a new pair anyway, I figure that it shoes should hold up for a while. Turned out I was wrong, after using the shoes twice, the patch work started to disintegrate. I email them and got a response insinuating that it was not a deficiency of their work but instead it was a result of normal wear. Needless I was pissed. In hindsight I should have sent the shoes back right away but that also mean another 4 weeks w/o my shoes - a total of 2 months. They are also very slow responding to my emails. Since my experiences were both both good and bad, I gave them an average rating. I'll be looking for another resoler with better customer service.


Anasazi Southwest (Manufacturer link) popular Average Rating = 3.33/5 Average Rating : 3.33/5

In: Gear: Shoes: Climbing Shoes: Velcro

Average shoes 3 out of 5 stars

Review by: hyhuu, 2008-01-08


The shoes edge very well and can smear too after broken-in. However, it is clunky, heavy and not sensitive. There is no noticeable differences in performance wearing them in my street shoe size or a half size bigger. The heel is however too stiff for a good fit. As a result, it applied uneven pressure on my heel and caused lot of pain and blisters. Even without the heel issue, I'd say that there are better shoes out there that can perform the same functions.


Kaos (Manufacturer link) popular Average Rating = 4.40/5 Average Rating : 4.40/5

In: Gear: Shoes: Climbing Shoes: Velcro

Good shoes 4 out of 5 stars

Review by: hyhuu, 2008-01-08


It does everything well (e.g., edging, smearing) and seems to excell on vertical to slightly overhanging face. I wear them the same size as my street shoe size and I have a wide foot with slightly longer second toe and narrow heel. The construction is solid. Because of it's synthetic, there was no stretching but it it molded into my foot nicely. The heel cup is deeper than other shoes brands but fits my feet better than any 5.10 models. My only criticism is the layout of the ruber around the heel isn't really ideal for heel-hooking but that was not the limitation for me. After a few years of uses and two resoles, the rubbers around the heel are cracking and stretched out quite a bit. I never seen this on any of my other shoes before.