UKC

Five Ten Quantum Rock Shoes

© Matt Bird
Matt Bird finds the Quantum rock shoes (very good) jack-of-all-trades but masters-of-none. If you are looking for something specific to send your project then you may be better looking elsewhere, but for good all-rounders aimed at harder grades he reckons you may be well-served by the Quantums, if you can take the smell...

Also see this UKC Review by Tom Dixon of the Velcro version of the Quantum: Five Ten Arrowhead.


Released in 2011, the Quantums have been pitched as a half-way house between the classic Anasazi Velcro and the Dragons. So if you're wanting something slightly more down-turned than a Velcro but don't want to be crippled, the Quantums may be the shoes for you.

The Quantum's after a hard day's work in Hueco  © Matt Bird
The Quantum's after a hard day's work in Hueco
© Matt Bird

Appearance and Build

The Quantum is an attractive shoe and, while some have accused it of looking like a grilled aubergine, it seemed to pass muster with the glitterati down the local wall. The upper is made from a synthetic fabric, 'Cowdura'. The ribbing effect is supposedly designed to create friction against the rock, but personally I felt it added little. The Quantums feature an 'Onyxx' Stealth rubber sole, which is also used on their Velcro counter-part, the Arrowhead, while the rand is 'Mystique'. More on the rubber later.

The shoe is noticeably more aggressive in its downturn compared to the Arrowhead. The Arrowhead is a softer shoe, and the lacing on the Quantum goes down closer to the toe, which makes it more down-turned when done up tight. I will discuss the performance implications of this later. A final comment on the build of the shoe is the heel, which is the same as the Arrowhead and the Blancos in the Five Ten range.

The Quantum's are noticeably more aggressive than their velcro counterpart  © Matt Bird
The Quantum's are noticeably more aggressive than their velcro counterpart
© Matt Bird

The lacing of the shoe allows for much more power to be directed to the toe  © Matt Bird
The lacing of the shoe allows for much more power to be directed to the toe

Fit

While I usually go for a snug fit with my shoes, the Quantums felt very narrow. This is great if you have feet which fit this shoe type (The La Sportive Katana Lace is also worth considering here), but if you have wider feet I would recommend trying the Arrowheads or maybe another performance lace-up such as the Scarpa Instinct.

Back to the Quantums - the first couple of sessions with them on were a bit painful but they soon loosened up and were comfortable for long bouldering sessions or a good day of trad.

Performance

In terms of performance, the Quantums proved good shoes in a wide number of areas. I really enjoyed the power delivered to the toe, which was great when I was in Hueco over Christmas as I could really drive off small holds on very steep terrain. There was just enough rubber on the toes for them to be respectable at toe-hooking while swinging around roofs as well.

Ratcheting up the laces enabled the toe box to become really supportive and the shoes to really latch onto small holds on steep terrain. However, worn normally you could still use them to smear up gritstone slabs and edge when needed if you were using them for trad.

The edging was also excellent. In a recent warm patch, I was lucky enough to get on some limestone at Blackwell Dale and even though I have had the shoes for a good number of months, they were still able to find purchase on the small polished limestone edges.

"...in Hueco over Christmas I found I could really drive off small holds on very steep terrain..."
Author on the classic sandbag El Burro (V3)  © Matt Bird
Author on the classic sandbag El Burro (V3)
© Matt Bird
This brings me to what I felt was the real plus point of the Quantums - their durability. I absolutely battered these shoes. I wore them down the wall, left them in my bag, used awful footwork slapping around desperately for footholds in Hueco, wedged them in gritstone cracks on horrendous off-width epics and then expected them to perform on the limestone and they kept on coming back for more.

I was really impressed with the Onyxx rubber and felt Charles Cole, the Five Ten president and inventor of Stealth rubber, has done himself proud here. The rubber was really durable and despite the punishment I gave the shoes they still were able to give me friction when I needed it and retained their edges for a long time. This in a time when climbing shoe prices continue to rise is an important factor to consider.

"...This brings me to what I felt was the real plus point of the Quantums - their durability. I absolutely battered these shoes..."

The only thing that seems to have finally defeated these shoes is their smell. Now, my shoes generally smell after a couple of months use, but these took it to another level: literally clearing out an underground tube of passengers. If anyone else has noticed this then feel free to comment below, otherwise I may need to see a podiatrist...

The one real downside to the shoes I felt was the heel. In my opinion, this is literally the 'Achilles heel' of Five Ten shoes. I have never enjoyed the heel in any Five Ten shoe I have owned bare one exception - the Dragon. The heels of the Quantums were simply too baggy for me and, while I am fully aware that this topic splits opinion, I personally prefer shoes with greater sensitivity in the heel area. Again, it would be good to hear your views in the comments below.

Conclusion

My final conclusions on the Quantums are that they are overall very good shoes and would be excellent high performance all-rounders. However, if you are looking for something specific to meet your climbing style or complete a particular project then I would look at other top end shoes out there.

N.B. If you aren't suitably impressed by the photos (I do not blame you) then check out Carlo Traversi smash out some highball and then some really good looking problem in RMNP wearing the Quantums):


"...My shoes generally smell after a couple of months use, but these took it to another level: literally clearing out an underground tube of passengers..."

Five Ten Quantum

Five Ten Quantum

The iconic Anasazi Lace-up has made a Quantum leap into the future. The new last has a downturned toe with a low volume heel cup that enhances fit and sticks to heel hooks like duct tape. Features include a downturned toe, precision fit lace closure and a durable 'Cowdura' upper. The Quantum features 'Mystique' rubber—the ultimate combination of friction, precision and durability. For 5.10 fanatics the Quantum is a down-turned Pink.



Matt Bird  © Matt Bird Collection

About Matt Bird

"Having been raised in the middle of the Churnet Valley where there is really little else to do, I took up climbing at an early age. Climbing highs include a disastrous, harrowing but utterly amazing big wall trip to Yosemite, first learning to climb off widths at Almscliff and any time I step foot in the Churnet Valley.

Lows include climbing in Markfield quarry, mangling my ankles too many times from ill-thought out climbing adventures and failing at a slab climb which my dog promptly ran up with ease.

I am currently focussing on bouldering in the run up to a trip to Hueco Tanks at Christmas and live in Sheffield."


For more information Five Ten/Quantum



2 May, 2012
I bought some of these in Feb and have to say they are probably the best shoes I have climbed in. They felt so positive straight out of the box that I managed to boulder at my hardest straight away, and they didn't take much time to break in. I have wide feet and actually found these to fit a lot better than the Arrowheads which to me felt very clumpy, heavy and uncomfortable. I bought the Quantums as the Dragons I bought didn't fit me well enough. The difference with the toe on the quantum is the rubber above the toe box has a gap in it which allows for a little more stretch than the dragons if you have long middle toes like me. I actually think the heel is pretty bomber in these and haven't found that mine smell much at all, esp compared to my first pair of evolv pontas. All in all a cracking shoe, but as with most shoes it depends on the shape of your feet and what fits you best.
2 May, 2012
They heel is actually similar to the Anasazi LV, not blanco. It's much better fitting than the blanco/verde heel and in my opinion is a soft heel (you mentioned that you like sensitive heel). It's the best five ten heel I've used after the Dragon. I agree regarding the smell though, I don't think the fabric breathes very well.
2 May, 2012
Softer than both but uses stealth onyxx, like the velcros, so may have a similar feel to them. Dispite what the marketing says they are closer to the dragon than they are an anasazi. It's 'kind of' an anasazi heel apart from it actually fits without any deadspace and is a bit softer.
2 May, 2012
Hi all. Thanks for the comments and good points abound. @ziggytang: I agree with the box-fresh comment- they are mad stiff straight off so you can bear down pretty hard on steep stuff. Good point on the toe box, they do not rub as much as the dragon's on the toe. @Cha1n/ @ziggytang: Heel. Like I said, I knew this was going to split opinion and fair enough, if it works for you then awesome. It is a much better heel in my opinion than the anasazi's but there was still too much travel compared to say the instinct lace heel's which I felt were really good for this type of shoe. @Cha1n/Smiler: They felt very much a midpoint shoe between the blanco's and the dragon's in terms of aggression. For stiffness, they were stiffer than the blanco's (initially) but are stiffer than the dragon's. Like I said in the review, you could get on the grit in them after a while and smear in them but they still held a bit of power in the toe when on steep stuff. One more point. The photo of me on El Burro should be credited to Ben Grubb. He is pretty handy like with a camera and does a fair bit of bouldering shots so check his website out here: http://www.bengrubb.co.uk/
2 May, 2012
There is no way these are stiffer than whites, even out of the box. Have you ever tried bending the whites with your hands? It's a tough thing to do when they are new but the quantums are easy to bend in comparison. The quatums are slightly wider in the toebox so chances are, if you found the dragon a bit narrow, you might get on with the quantum. They are similar stiffness to dragons but the Stealth HF rubber of the dragons is more pliable and give much more feel. The dragon also focuses more power to the big toe so edging power is actually better in the dragon, even though it feels softer. Having worn both shoes for about the same amount of time now, the quantums don't get much use but I do climb mostly on steep ground.
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