In reply to UKC Gear:
this seems to be in line with the other mostly (entirely?) cosmetic updates from laspo: their no-edge models all got a new coat of paint – futura, genius, and mantra.
narrowing the heel seems like a generally sensible thing to do, as a squishy, non-molded construction can always expand a bit to lay snugly against a chunkier heel but a voluminous construction will have slippery wiggle room on a foot with a narrower heel.
with regards to the dearth of stiff shoes: i have been having this discussion recently. (admittedly, in a group mostly comprised of boulderers, but with a few multipitch advocates and budding trad dads mixed in!) it certainly appears that the full-foot supportive stiff shoe is seen as a niche use tool, and not entirely without reason.
indoor climbing, sport or bouldering, rarely even has something that qualifies as a tiny foot. for outdoor bouldering on tiny features, some stiffness is required under the toes (but not so much as to sacrifice sensitivity) and to have high flexibility around the ball of the foot will make the shoe more useful while incurring no drawbacks. you’re only climbing a max of ~10 moves anyway.
for hard sport, the stiffer forefoot/flexy midfoot approach of the laspo solutions, mad rock drones, scarpa instincts, etc. seems to offer pretty much all you need. tiring out the midfoot to the degree that it costs you the attempt doesn’t seem to be the limiting factor on routes of moderate length, and the toes are amply supported.
that leaves the disciplines that have you spend way more time on the wall – trad and multipitch – where guarding the foot against tiring out is a more sensible tradeoff for versatility and sensibility. it sucks for the afficionado, but i can see why manufacturers don’t keep full length stiffness ‘generalist’ models around that burden practicioners of more mainstream disciplines with a feature that is detrimental more often than a boon.
