Evolv Pontas Climbing Shoe

First off, these shoes are great.If you like the Defys, you'll love the Pontas-- if you're looking for something a good bit more agressive and a tad more "precise".I tend to look at my Defys as a comfortable, broken in pair of training shoes, and the Pontas as a performance pair of racing flats.The Pontas are essentially a performance minded big brother to the more relaxed Defys.I recommend getting both: wear the Defys on long Sunday mornings at the gym, and the Pontas to harder group trips to new outdoor spots (once you've spent a few weeks breaking them in on plastic, of course).DON'T size up/down/etc when going from Defys (this conversation seems to come up quite often). Going from a broken in pair of Defys to new Pontas is not going to be the most comfortable thing in the world. This has nothing to do with the sizing, and more to do with the fact that the last thing you climbed in were essentially snug Christmas slippers.If your Defys feel PERFECT (as an old pair of well fitted Defys will), then go with the same size in Pontas. Once they're broken in, you'll get the same sensitivity with an added aggressive edge you won't confuse with "too tight".That said, these things are terrific. The teeniest nicks in rock become ledges; smearing is fantastic.Note: this style of shoe (pointy, asymmetrical, big-toe emphasizing) either fits or doesn't; if you love the Optimus (round box) style, you'll probably feel weird and cramped in these (but you most likely already know that).Ok, on to the smell thing.For whatever reason, Evolv (and other synthetic, i guess) climbing shoes will start to stink really badly after awhile. At first i thought it was just guys, but my girlfriend-- who honestly never has BO and barely sweats even after hours of running/riding/climbing/whatever on the hottest days-- took her Evolvs off the other night at the gym.I was genuinely offended!To fix this, i recommend this simple solution (which works brilliantly every time):1) Spray (liberally) the inside of each shoe with Odor Eaters spray (it's cheap and can be found at any drug store).2) Pour a bunch of baking soda in each shoe and shake everything around until it's coated.3) Put them in a plastic grocery bag (sorry, California), tie it tight and place it in your freezer overnight.4) Take them out the next day, remove them from the bag and let them sit for a few hours (i let them sit while i'm at work).5) Dump the powder out into your trash or whatever (warning: it's going to smell a bunch), then wipe the excess baking soda off with a paper towel or whatever (smacking the shoes-- open end down-- into the trash works too).6) Spray with another hit of oder eaters and you're done. They'll smell great. Do this once a month or whatever (depending on how often you climb).

Yeah that's right these shoes feel amazing.

Street shoe size 11.5
Evolve Pontas size 10.5 Painfully tight for bouldering hard sport
Evolve Pontas size 11 for just about everything including multipitch cracks.
Evolve Pontas size 11.5 for brutally long routes not involving too much face climbing.

Once the full size smaller breaks in and your feet adjust i.e. after bloody toe knuckles become caluses the shoes are great. They do stretch in the toe box when wet from sweat but overall they retain there same size.
The rubber lasts forever. evolv has a harder rubber than other brands and much more so than vibram rubber but they are still plenty sticky and much more durable. less resoling needed.
If you have a narrow heel these shoes might not fit you so well. I don't know since my heel is not narrow and they fit perfect. The velcro lasts loner than whats used on other brands. It'll last long enough to get them resoled at least once and still stick to itself after two lifetimes. The straps are more durable than other brands and won't break. THe rubber over the big toe for toe hooking is great but if you dont havea callus there it's going to hurt until you get used to it or they break in or both. They are notas narrow as the defy but narrow enough to climb thin cracks. I'd day once broken in they are medium stiffness. They edge perfectly and yet are soft enough for those few slab sections that tend to pop up every now and again. Compared to the Pontas Lace-ups they are not as stiff narrower in the toes and just all around more comfortable. The Pontas lace-up is pretty much a strictly steep wall shoe for micro edges. The Pontas micro edges great and is sensitive enough to feel what your doing but not so sensitive that your feet are going to hate you at the end of the day from being over worked. Since Theyre not leather theyre easy to clean without them shrinking ( may be a little tight after washing but put on for 5 min and your good to go). Guess that's it for now. Roommate needs the computer oh yeah wash with baking soda gets rid of the funk and smell people tent to comlain about but I say if your feet stink that bad it's not the shoes its your diet that needs to be changed.

I’ve owned these shoes for two years and have resoled them once, because they perform so well. They are one of the most versatile, all-around shoes on the market and work great for steep bouldering, sport climbing, slabs...you name it. I’m a 10 street shoe and sized these to 9’s, which are now perfect. The break-in period was slightly longer and more painful compared to other shoes, but well worth it. These shoes will stretch slightly over a couple months. Initially they were so tight that it would take me three minutes to pry them on, but I fit them for performance over comfort and now have both.

The toes on these are awesome with just enough rubber to give you stiffness on small edges without losing sensitivity. I found the heel to be almost perfect even though there is the slightest amount of dead-space for me...it has yet to be an issue. These shoes are also stiff, yet flexible and smear awesome. I’ve always had a preference for Stealth rubber over Trax, because the durability of Trax isn’t as good as Five Ten’s. The edges seemed to wear down a little faster than some other shoes and in a few months my heels started to peel. The Trax rubber is very sticky however, and my resole from Yosemite Bum (who did an amazing job and fixed most durability issues) has truly made these one of my favorites shoes. 4.5/5 stars.

Love these shoes, on my third pair.

They are a great all around shoe, they edge, smear and toe really well. The rubber is just right, a good balance of smear-ability, sticky-ability and edge-ability. I don't care what other companies say, the stickest rubber doesn't win, sticky stuff is generally too soft and doesn't edge well.

The extra rubber on the toe, for me, puts more power down to the big toe, doesn't really add much for toe hooking.

Heel could be a little tighter, but nice and high performs well enough. I feel some space, but like I said it has never failed me.

Takes about 3-4 session to settle and get more sensitive, but after then it doesn't stretch at all. I wouldn't it stretches in the first 3-4 sessions...more a setting to your foot size.

Mine feet sweat like crazy in them...then the stink comes. I wash in sink with warm water and detergent every month, works fine.

Like all shoes, its fit is relative to the wearer as one shoe may fit one person well, and another person terribly. But for me, these feel great. I wear a size 11 running shoe and after reading many reviews of this shoe, bought the same size in evolvs. The fit of the shoe is perfect for my foot, keeping the toes squished close together to provide for a nice, even weight on the tips. The sole itself is much thinner than I was used to as I had previously been using a fiveten entry level shoe with thick soles. At first, the shoe felt flimsy to me, but after using it on smaller foot-holds, tiny crystals and thin cracks, I now appreciate the sensitivity I get with this sole. The rubber is slightly less sticky than my fivetens but not so much that it has ever prevented me from sending a problem.

They also look stinkin cool!

These are my go to shoes. Like with other evolves, if its your first pair you want to go with your street size shoe. However, as your feet get use to wearing tight shoes you are going to drop sizes I am wearing a 9 now and my street shoe is a 10.5.

For my foot Evolv's shoes just fit great. The knuckle of my big toe screams in most other shoes. For some reason in Evolv's especially the Pontas they feel fine. Even with the extra toe rand on these bad boys which grab under holds great.

The heel is deep and you really have to pull to get the shoe on but they fit great. Heel sinks in and when on the rock there is no dead space. Great for heel hooks! I recommend these as your all around shoe. Bouldering or lead climbing you can't go wrong.

I got these shoes early last summer and have found them to be great at everything except for cracks. They climb cracks well enough, but the Velcro doesn't hold up super well when jamming. The rubber is really sticky and seems to be durable enough. Also, you can pay to have your shoes resoled by Evolv themselves (I did that at the end of last summer and it worked out well). In short, get these shoes if you do a lot of face climbing and want to be able to get out of your shoes quickly. If you climb cracks, you might want to look at some slippers or lace-ups.