Mad Rock Phoenix

The bottoms are very receptive and have good feel. Much more than the Flash, another Mad Rock shoe. I like the Phoenix so much, I paid like 89 dollars for them even now you can find them on sale for much less. I give these shoes a 10! I am a very happy customer!

These are my first pair of rock shoes and they are very comfortable and I am keeping up with more experienced climbers,,, no complaints here!

I purchased these as my first rock shoe.

Lets start with the good:

-They edge well
-They are comfortable, even for hobbit-footed individuals such as myself
-They do not stink (relative term, as these are climbing shoes we are talking about)

Now, for the bad....

-If you do ANY slab climbing, for me it was Tuolumne Meadows climbs that made me hate these things. Switch to 5.10 or Sportiva or something that smears better, your heart will love you for it.
-SUPER hard rubber, again, no smearing

Basically, if you are doing a LOT of face work that requires minimal smearing, these are excellent.

If you want a first shoe for gym duty, this is excellent.

If you want to climb variable terrain that includes smearing, look more toward the entry-level 5.10 shoe.