UKH

Here's an interesting question. I used to wear the old model of the Vapour Vs as my comfy but still good enough for most things pair.

When they got replaced with the current model, I bought a pair and absolutely hated it. The split but still stiff sole made them crap at both edging and smearing at the same time, it's as if they weren't really suitable for anything anymore.

More than that, the stitch broke on one of them, making my toe push through the rand. At first I thought that maybe my footwork had gone to shit, but then I noticed three important things: These are the only pair of shoes I have had that happen to in many many years, everyone I know who has a pair has had this happen, and the stitch pops *causing* the toe to push through and *then* the rubber goes, rather than wear on the rubber exposing the stitch to wear.

Anyhow, with the Vapour Vs no longer a thing, I moved to the Vapour S. These are an interesting shoe. Unlike what reviewers have stated, the narrower toe box means that they are very uncomfortable on my feet, especially as I have to wear them fairly tight (43 are quite snug but great, 43.5 is useless). It's not that there are particular hotspots anywhere, they just squeeze the blood out of my toes, and eventually my toes go numb and then start hurting. At the same time, they have performed better overall than any shoe I have owned, possibly ever. I cannot remember a single time where I felt a foot would stick and it didn't, they feel incredible both on rock and indoors. As such, I am now on my second pair, and have sent the first one back for a resole as well.

The Vapour S being amazing but uncomfortable has provided me with an unexpectedly good performance shoe but I now don't have any all round comfy shoes at all, leaving me on the market for something I can wear for longer periods.

I had a pair of Miura VS, which I like, but again they are not particularly comfortable on my feet either, those do have hotspots on the little toe. I no longer seem to get on with anything Anasazi-related, including NIADs and Unparallel's offerings - in all fact I would say that ever since I moved to Scarpa and Sportiva after a decade of wearing 5.10s going back to those feels like going back in time in terms of shoe technology.

I guess that finding the previous model of Vapour S was a bit of an outlier, never before had I had shoes that I could wear all day long and yet only occassionally need to change shoes for performance (got Blancos for tiny hold edging for example), can anyone think of any other offerings that could potentially be similar?

I’d have mentioned some of the shoes you’ve tried, but also the Evolv Geshido might be worth trying. I have a pair as an all purpose comfy shoe.

I thought all the vapours should have the same foot shape?

Vapour lace doesn't have the split sole  

What size were you in the old Vapour V?

I bought a pair of Scarpa Instinct VSRs in the same size as the old Vapour Vs and found they actually fitted better with a wider toebox. Have switched across to these. When resoling I had one done in XS Edge to replace the Vapours on edgy limestone.

43.5.

Hm, that would probably make them too wide, Vapour Vs (old and new) are just the right width for my feet. Worth a try though, I’ll have a play when I get to the wall tonight.

I thought so too, and the shape between the models of the Vapour V is the same, but the S feels slightly narrower, it is uncomfortable and without enough tension at the same size as my Vapour Vs and uncomfortable but absolutely amazing half a size down from that. I have never tried the Vapour Lace, as I generally don’t get many lace ups, I’ll have a play.

Hm, I wonder if those are available anywhere locally for me to try out. Past experience is that Evolvs don’t fit me across the board but it’s been a few years since I last tried a pair so it’s worth a shot.

Scarpa claimed that the last wasn't changed so there should be no difference between the grey/lime and newer blue/yellow vapor vs but I found the newer ones incredibly uncomfortable in comparison. The old orange/grey were fantastic and I don't know who needs firing for ruining them but someone should pay. 

On paper, the vapors shouldn't have worked for me so maybe don't read too much into it but I really like the Magos now. 

Let me know if you find anything. I bought up every pair of the old vapour V I could find in my size when they announced the change, so I'm still ok for another year or two depending on how many times they'll take being resoled, but one day I'll be in your situation.

I always found the concept of climbers hoarding shoes entertaining until they discontinued/ screwed up my favourite types of shoes in quick succession.

If anyone is after a pair of the green and white vapour Vs I have 2 pairs of UK7.5 that are definitely not going to fit me in future (feet seem to have changed shape after not climbing much for a couple of years) sat in a drawer. One resolved by Llanberis Resoles, one on their first life with a bit left in them.

I've learned the lesson over the years. As soon as you find a shoe you like they'll stop making it. This is only more true if everyone likes it. So now if I do I buy at least 2 pairs.

The original orange/grey were far and away the best shoes I’ve worn for climbing. They managed to be both comfortable and high performing. I am on my last pair of stockpiled ones so they will only come out for special occasions.

I have a pair of the new vapour laces and have to say that they come pretty close to the original v’s, better than the green v’s I’d say. An additional lace hole to allow a neater fit at the top of the foot would have helped, but it is an easy home fix.

Having previously dismissed the s I might give them a try having read about your experience with them. Ta.

I've been really liking the tenaya mastia and feel like they're similar to the old vapour v's. It has the widest toe box of Tenaya shoes (I think) so fit my wide toed foot well. The heel is a little too wide for me but they were on the old vapour V's too. Mega comfy shoe but feel mega grippy 

Oh, that's a great call. I used to have the Masai, and while I loved it it was way too narrow at the front so I ended up having to flog it, a Tenaya with a wide toebox would be great, I'll see who has them stocked to try them on.

I never got to try the original Orange/Grey Vapours. I randomly run into the Grey/Green ones on offer when they were discontinued, tried them on, got shocked by how good they were and bought the only two pairs I could get my hands on. I've had both resoled at this stage and they don't feel like they would take another resole. It's annoying that I only discovered them this late.

Have you ever tried either of the Katana models?

I think the laces are my favourite shoe. Obviously a very particular shape and also take a bit longer than some shoes to break in. I find them comfy but very precise, supportive, good on smears and slabs, but also good for steeper ground. I really enjoy using them for multipitch trad, and wore them for 200m to 300m routes in the warmth of Morocco (45 street sized down to 42.5). They jam nicely and I'd happily use them on any type of rock.

I also have the Vapor S and they're good but also uncomfortable (45 street sized to 43). But, with more wear they're becoming more comfy. I find the toebox imprecise and high volume, and worry they would be excruciating in jams due to slightly knuckled toebox, so they've become a bouldering and indoor shoe...

There's also the Vapor Lace..?

Another vote for instinct VSRs. I now wear them for everything except outdoor sport where I wear the ladies instinct for a tighter fit.

The ladies ones are lighter blue and a bit narrower so they might suit you better. I see loads of men in them so the man/woman thing is just marketing, it's the width that is different. I find I prefer the VSR rubber compared to the orange ones (VS) but they are also an option if you want something stiffer.

They have em at depot notts! 

Vapour Vs used to be the only shoe for me until they changed it. It was a good shoe and it fit well.

Then I tried the Tenaya Oasi (I use the LV version). It's so much better. Now when I wear my old Vapours they feel so much worse. So that's my recommendation. 

While I definitely feel your pain, in the interests of balance - I went from an orange/grey pair to blue/yellow and couldn't see the difference tbh. The guy in the shop warned me that they had changed, but they felt the same to me.

I have Wide feet, Morton's toes, and I tend to smear rather than edge, so I like soft 'floppy' shoes

Oasi are great, but a very different shoe, no? I used them for a quarried grit crack once and they were very painful in the jams and just generally standing around was tiring, so I sacked them off for trad. Love them for bouldering and indoors, though.

Op your feet grow as you age - one of God's little jokes - so subtle changes in shoe fit are to be expected  

Sure, I can’t wear Futuras anymore for example, but this isn’t the issue here. The new models of Vapour Vs fit fine, they are very comfortable in fact, they just don’t perform well, so my foot getting bigger wouldn’t really explain the difference.

Okay, so, bit of unexpected news. Just got my first pair of Vapour S back from Llanberis Resoles.

The bad news is, the profile of the toe has changed, it’s a lot more rounded.

The good news is, that makes the toe box feel wider, and as such I now have a pretty comfortable pair of shoes. A few sessions outside will show whether they remain comfortable when projecting stuff but we shall see. I guess that kinda gives me a good indication of what to look for in future.