La Sportiva Men's Skwama High-Performance Rock Climbing Shoes - Lightweight & Precise for Indoor & Outdoor Climbing Adventures

I've been following this pair of shoes since La Sportiva announced it last year. I have duck feet and really like the La Sportiva Genius's wider toe box area. The Skwama while cheaper, is a pretty big improvement.Pros:The S-heel is great, it's not a miracle feature, you are not going to suddenly jump from a V5 to a V7. However, the S-heel does keep the heel stiff and in place. I feel very secure when I do a heel hook. I think the heel is also slightly narrower than the Genius. I have skinny ankles. It's a very snug fit.The toe box is great. As mentioned before, I have duck feet. The Skwama toe box is just as comfortable as the Genius. I don't feel side compression at all. One feature I wish the Genius had was a pointier front toe. It's hard to get your foot into these small pockets on the plastic. The Skwama toe box does have a point like the solution. It makes it much easier to jam your toe into small pockets or on tiny holds. I feel very secure with this front.The rubber patch on top of the front toe area is also really nice for toe hooking. I tried this feature on a couple of problems at the gym. The rubber does hold you in place pretty well. I never once slipped or lost my footing.Cons:The shoe is HUGE! I wore a 39 Genius and felt it was just a tiny bit too small. So I first ordered a size 39.5 Skwama. (My street shoe size is 8 - 8.5) They feel like my street shoes at 39.5. Then I tried size 39, still too large. 38.5 is about the same size as the 39 Genius. I actually compared the 38.5 Skwama to my 39 Genius. They are about the same size. I wish La Sportiva does a better job keeping their shoe sizes consistent.Summary:I would definitely recommend this pair of shoes for bouldering at the gym. La Sportiva doesn't do a good job differentiating the Solution and the Skwama. The former being the previous premier bouldering shoe. I've never tried the Solution and I've been doing a lot of research online comparing the two. From what I've gathered, go with the Skwama if you have wider feet and Solutions if you have narrower feet. That seems like the primary driving force behind which shoe to choose. From a pure feature standpoint, I do think the S-Heel is an improvement. Overall, I would say the Skwama improved on the Genius with sports bouldering specific features.P.S. Another feature I didn't mention is a small cut out area on the bottom front of the shoe. La Sportiva is selling that feature as something that will expand, contract, and better form to your feet. Honestly, I didn't notice that much of a difference. My feet didn't hurt as bad after my first session with the szie 38.5 shoes. Maybe the cut out did make the shoe fit my feet better? It's hard to say.