[gardinrm]

Has anyone used 5.10's new(ish) boots, "team five ten" and what do you think about them. I'm in a bit of a confusion over boots at the moment, in no small part due to the fact that they cost so much. As with loads of new boots to the market, these boots seem to cost a bit less, perhaps in order to get people using them before they hike up the price again (like they did with arrowheads). Reading the blurb about any rock shoe seems about as helpful as asking a five year old what they think, because everything they do is amazing. The team five tens seem to have been designed by uber wads who know everything about climbing and so have made a perfect boot that will help you climb anything, regardless of rock type, foot shape or climbing style.
Essentially what i want to know is, would they be any good as technical bouldering shoes for my feet (quite narrow and asymmetric) on mostly steep climbing? The problem and confusion i see is that they are slightly downturned velcro shoes, but so are arrowheads, so what's the difference? I had a pair of arrowheads and they were good, especially after a bit of use when the downturned toe relaxed a bit and they started to feel like more aggressive VCS.
Any advice would be very well received, and hopefully save me a couple quid.
Rob

[cha1n]

I've had both but I am still in the breaking in stage with the Arrowheads.

Your foot certainly matches the shape required for the teams, no doubt about that. The Teams are quite soft, even out of the box. You have to have fairly strong feet to climb on small holds with them, whereas the Arrowheads are a bit stiffer.

Softer shoes are a bit better at pulling on holds with your feet as opposed to just pushing down on them. I've found that the arrowheads can slip off of holds when trying to smear on steep ground due to lack of sensitivity but then again, I am still wearing them in. The two shoes do use different rubber and I personally think the Stealth (Arrowheads) rubber is a bit grippier than the Teams' (mystique).

The teams have rubber coating the toe area which helps alot on toehooks and the heel is a bit narrow which can be handy on certain heel hooks. The heel is quite deep though and I struggle to fill it, whereas the arrrowhead heels fit me really well.

On horizontal roof climbing with lots of heel/toe trickery the teams are excellent, on board type angles I've found the arrowheads to be better. I don't actually use the Teams anymore as the heel fits so poorly but the dragons are a worthy alternative with a much better heel. The dragons are also much more versatile as the they can be laced tightly to offer good support whilst edging, or laced looser to give more sensitivity on the steep.

Good luck.

[krymson]

Have the teams.

When and if they fit they are amazing steep shoes - the rubber is very soft and fairly thin so very sensitive, you can feel everything through them and you get great feedback on where you're stepping. They stick quite well indoors and out as expected from 5.10.

The major determining factor is going to be your foot. They seem to be ideal for people with normal to narrow feet and normal to high volume heels. My guess is Dave Grahams foot is like this.

I have wider feet with a lower volume heel which did not work out with the teams. They were great at first when the heels fit(and the forefoot was quite painful) but after they broke in the forefoot/toes was still great, but the heel ballooned to be pretty much useless.

With the right foot profile i do think they'd be great shoes, if a bit masochistic at first .  They break in about half a size over a few weeks so you need to size them uncomfortably tight--that is to say, perhaps your street shoe size.

[Nibile]

Very good on steep stuff, for edging, pulling, trickery of sort. Not to good for toehooks in my opinion, because being downturded they are more difficult to hook (you hook with the convex upper and not with the convex sole).
Anyway excellent shoe. More radical than Arrowheads, they stretch but retain the shape.