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?
Post edited at 12:35