The recommendation of sizing these things down by 2 to 3 sizes or 1 to 2 sizes for all-day comfort is just wrong. Size at your street shoe size or 1/2 size down. These shoes are not meant to be painful. Try them on first if possible. I've been climbing for 40 years and have gone through lots of shoes. I bought these relatively inexpensive shoes for the gym so I didn't wear out my more expensive shoes and ended up loving them for their comfort and acceptable performance level. If you are not climbing anything harder than 5.11 you don't need more expensive tighter shoes.

I bought these for the gym and as a backup pair while my TC Pros were getting resoled. Two months later, and two crag days, there’s a hole torn in the toe, through the rand, which means a resole and rerand. No thanks. Additionally the last went from neutral to elf shoe in no time. The soles are Sportiva, not Vibram. And you can tell. These shoes are soft and comfortable but the grip is not up to par. I knew I wasn’t buying a pair of professional shoes. But seriously, these shoes don’t inspire anything or anyone. If a beginner were to learn on these, they’d be learning how to climb without maximizing their feet. Good luck with that.

I’ve got a wide foot, so finding the right shoe can be comfortable. Further complicating this purchase was the fact that I’m new to climbing. I tried to break them in by keeping climbing sessions no more than 30 minutes for the first few weeks. I just did 2 hours of climbing this weekend and my plan to break them in worked perfectly. No sores. No blisters. Very happy with them!