Five Ten Hiangle Review

No one shoe can do everything for you, but focusing on a shoe can definitely give you more precise experiences on what things you are good at and your shoe is good at doing, and also show you some of the skills you need to increase and where your shoe is lacking in different areas. 

The Five Ten Hiangle is a great shoe to try out and go in depth with to figure out if its the best climbing shoe, Five Ten Hiangle Review for you.

In Depth Guide of the Five Ten Hiangle Review

Five Ten Hiangle Review

Five Ten Hiangle Climbing Shoe Score

  • Cracks – 5 out of 10
  • Edging – 6 out of 10
  • Sensitivity – 8 out of 10
  • Pockets – 5 out of 10 
  • Comfort – 5 out of 10

How Well Does the Five Ten Hiangle Climbing Shoe Actually Perform?

It’s a Sensitive Shoe

A combination of soft shoe with the rubber soles made from C4 Stealth are what makes the Five Ten Hiangle climbing shoe more sensitive than most other stiffly made shoes and why its able to get the best of both worlds.

Good Downturn

Since the shoe has a decent downturn, its great if you are climbing on overhangs that will make you lean backward a little awkwardly. To get a hold on these backward sloping cliff faces, you’re going to want a shoe that has a good rigid curve in it so that you won’t be using so much foot muscle to stabilize yourself on tough holds. 

Also, the climbing shoe is built similar to a slipper, so when you get the shoe on, it fits pretty well on your foot, making it that much more sensitive to hard to feel ledges.

Loose, Then Tight Heel Cup

For some reason, the heel cup of the climbing shoe gets loose, then tight again depending on what angle you are positioning your foot at. This isn’t a huge issue, but its still detracts from confidence in the shoe when climbing and heel hooking might be an issue at times. 

Not The Best at Edging, But Not the Worst

Even though the Hiangle is a stiff shoe, it’s still not stiff enough to be really great at edging. The material that allows them to be soft combined with it’s low thickness ends up working against the shoe when attempting to edge well. 

It still has some qualities in edging however. The shoe isn’t as pointed as some other climbing shoes designed for good pocket use, so the more round toe of the shoe gives it the ability to get a slightly better hold on tough edges than others. The round quality of the toe isn’t really that round, but its more than some other shoes. 

Its midsole is pretty thick as well, so that gives it a little more ability to edge not only with your toe but also the sides of your climbing shoe. 

Is the Five Ten Hiangle Climbing Shoe Comfortable?

Comfortable and functional

 You have to keep in mind that this is still a rigidly built shoe with a pretty curved downturn. That being said, it still provides a whole lot more comfort than most climbing shoes with this much downturn. 

You should be able to wear this shoe no problem after multiple sessions and still be able to keep going. 

But probably after about the third or fourth pitch you will start to feel the shoe wearing down your feet. There are a couple other shoes that have similar downturn and are comfortable for an even larger number of pitches, say, five or six. 

These multiple pitches that you can take with the Hiangle also include rests in between. So technically its not an all day comfort climbing shoe, because then you should be able to wear it non-stop through all of the pitches. This isn’t really the case. But it still gives great comfort with some rest. 

Wide Footed People Beware

If you have wider shaped feet, what you’re going to have to do is size up a good bit in order for this shoe to be comfortable enough for you. Narrow footed people shouldn’t have a problem and If you have longer than average feet, you should also be pretty comfortable. 

Longer Break in Period

You might have a little trouble breaking this climbing shoe in, which might make people not believe that it is a really comfortable shoe. But since it is built stiffly initially, you’re just going to have a little bit of a harder time feeling really comfortable until you’ve broken it in well. 

A heel tab at the back of each shoe can be felt for a while, so this is one of the things that may make you complain that it isn’t a comfortable shoe. But after a while, you will start to notice the heel tab less and less. 

The leather is one of the main things that helps this shoe conform to your foot over time. 

It also has a more rounded toe, even for a shoe that has this level of downturn. This gives your toes more room instead of being scrunched up into a claw.

Does the Five Ten Hiangle Climbing Shoe Have Good Fit?

Size Up

As with all climbing shoes, you’re going to have to size up a good bit for it fit well for you. This isn’t anything new, and once you find the right fit, you’ll be glad you did. It may take a couple of tries to get the sizing correct along with the break in period, which with the Hiangle is a little bit longer than other climbing shoes.

Eventually this shoe will conform and stretch to fit your foot, so it’s a good idea to get a shoe that is more snug than you would like it to be at first so that when it does stretch it will actually be a perfect fit. 

The wait time for breaking in your climbing shoe will probably be about 5-6 hour or so long pitches. This will give you plenty of time to find out if you actually got the right size so you won’t be too quick to judge how comfortable or uncomfortable the shoe really is. 

Adjustable Velcro Strap

Also, since it has a velcro system to adjust the tightness of the shoe, it fits more to your specifications. You can use the straps to loosen or tighten so that even during the break in period you will have flexibility.

That being said, there is only one velcro strap available. Sometimes this makes the shoe more difficult to get on because it restricts the opening a little bit. Since the single strap is responsible for tightening the entirety of the shoe, it overdoes it since its near where you put your foot.

If there were two straps, they wouldn’t be as wide as the Hinges single strap and would work together in tightening the shoe. It’s still really great to have the velcro strap because of it’s high adjustability, but two straps would have been better. 

However if you have two straps you have to worry about if one strap will wear out faster than the other due to simple wear and tear and how you climb, or how well one strap was actually made compared to the other strap.

Does the Five Ten Hiangle Climbing Shoe Have Good Value?

Cheaper Than Other Downturned Shoes

The Hiangle is actually one of the cheaper climbing shoes that have a moderate to aggressive downturn. It comes in at a lower cost and actually has a couple of cool features which makes it a pretty good value for money shoe. 

The features aren’t killer, so be aware this is a middling shoe in most areas, but it performs well for what it’s supposed to do, but it probably will not go past those basic features and be ranked higher than some other climbing shoes on its features alone

It’s still going to be a lower performer than some other shoes with similar downturns, but if you are going to be using this shoe more so for gym climbing or quicker sport climbing, it will serve you really well and therefore still have great value for money. 

Heel Rubbing May Be a Problem

Though it has great value for money, the Hiangle climbing shoe has a couple of problems, the main one being the heel. You may experience a good amount of chafing in the heel as it tends to rub the back of your foot a little bit raw. This is the most frustrating when heel seeking as you want as little movement in your heel as possible. Not everyone has this problem with the shoe, but be aware that it has happened and can be a little annoying after a while. 

This is a good reason why you will want to spend as much time as you can in sizing your shoe correctly, because if you get it even a little off, this common problem will more likely happen to you. So make sure to take the sizing as seriously as possible. 

Also, if you get the blue color style of shoe, the colors tend to run if you wash them or get overly sweaty in the shoe, and that can end up turning your feet a dark blueish color. It wears off and washes off pretty quickly but it still an annoying thing to deal with. 

Pros and Cons of the Five Ten Hiangle Climbing Shoe

Pros

  • Good value
  • Great rubber soles for grip

Cons

  • Tough to put on
  • Heel cup

How does the Five Ten Hiangle Climbing Shoe Compare?

1. Hiangle VS Skwama 

For the most comfortable shoe possible with the most amount of downturn, you may want to go with the La Sportiva Skwama. It’s going to be more comfortable than the Hiangle, but they are also going to be pretty much the same when it comes to how well you can edge. 

The Skwama is almost double the price of the Hianlgle, however, so this makes the Hiangle a little better for money for value since it still pairs the downturn with its pretty good comfort. 

2. Hiangle VS Futura

Sensitivity is going to be higher with the La Sportiva Futura than with the Hiangle. And even if you get into spots with the Futura where it’s almost too sensitive, you will be able to work on your footwork a little bit and begin strengthening that area of your climb. 

The Futura is definitely not build for edging, however, so the Hiangle definitely comes in first place because of that. Also, the Futura is almost double the price of the Hiangle so there is your value for money. 

3. Hiangle VS Miura 

The La Sportiva Miura is one of the best climbing shoes at edging. The Miura has one of the best builds for being able to get a hold on those smaller, hard to get to edges of the rock face. It’s definitely a good bit better at edging than the Hiangle. 

The only area where the Hiangle is better than the Miura is price, but there definitely is not as big of a gap as other similarly built shoes. It’s only about $50 more than the Hiangle. 

4. Hiangle Vs Comp

The La Sportiva Solution Comp is much better at pockets than the Hiangle. It has a much longer toe enabling it to go farther into the pockets in the rock face and give great support. 

The Hiangle has a much shorter toe so you won’t be able to get as much purchase in those pockets. 

The Hiangle is still much better at edging than the Comp and will be be able to perform better on tougher climbs with smaller ledges.

Also, the Comp is just way more expensive than the Hiangle.

What’s the Verdict on the Five Ten Hiangle Climbing Shoe?

Very Affordable

This shoe is super affordable for its performance and comfort. Most other shoes with similar builds are just so much more expensive.

Versatility

Gym climbing, sport climbing, and boulder climbing are all climbs that work super well for this climbing shoe.

Not Better Than Similar Builds 

It’s not a shoe that totally outperforms other climbing shoes, but it scores pretty well on most of the metrics. If you are looking for a shoe that won’t break the bank but will also perform well, the Hiangle is a really good choice.