UKH

I've been sorting through my gear during the lock-down and realise I need some new climbing shoes!

I've had a few pairs of Anasazi vcs in the past and really like the fit and feel of them, but I feel like their quality has gone downhill after 5:10 was bought out by Adidas.

Does anyone have suggestions for shoes that are similar to the Anasazi vcs but with better build quality?

UnParallel Rise.  I just got myself a pair under similar circumstances.  I only got to use them a couple of times before the lock down but they felt very similar to the pre-Adidas Anasazi VCS around most of the shoe but with a much-improved heel and I am impressed with the quality.

Yup, UnParallel are supposed to be very 510 like, and not all that surprising as the team behind UnParallel are all former 510 guys and gals.

Tenaya Ra might be another alternative. E.g their Masai is pretty close to the original Pink.

Certain Evolve models might be also a close match (Defy perhaps a tad less aggressive than the Velcro, and Shaman a bit more so). 

For the records, I have owned numerous 510 shoes and used the velcro as my daily driver for a few years. I have NOT climbed on UnParallels shoes, but did try 'em on pre-corona and they seemed pretty close and good quality.

My comfy/indoor shoes are older model of Evolve Shamans (the original) sized for pretty much all day comfort. And I did have the Tenaya Masai for some years, but preferred a tad more downturned toes so switched to 510 Quantums (still have those btw, and even modded a pair to boost the NoEdge rubber, like those a lot for sport).

I tried the UP rise and honestly after trying them over a year both indoors and out I went back to 5.10 and just bought half a size bigger than I used to.

The UP shoe I was using just felt way worse at edging, was less sensitive and also somehow less supportive. I had a really bad season 'mentally' last year where I was terrified on basically all my harder trad routes and it was only over the winter when I tried going back to the Anasazi that I realised it was all because of my shoe.

Gutted because I hate these evil megacorporations as much as the next guy and was looking forward to supporting 'the little guy' but oh well :/

edit: forgot to mention the build quality of my shoes was fine, so not sure if you got a bad pair of shoes

I had a similar complaint/ thought last year and moved to Scarpa Maestro and have been very impressed (I bought my second pair a few weeks back).  I mostly use them on routes either side of vertical. They feel a bit looser around the heal, so if you do lots of heal hooking they might not be quite as good.

Thanks a lot! Really helpful advice.