A few months ago I reviewed a couple of climbing shoes by Cypher. I was very happy with the Prefix model and very disappointed with the Rubik. I encourage you to read the whole thing here. Since then some new information has come to light which I think is important to share: The Rubik climbing shoes perform well on plastic.
This may not be the best comparison, as when climbing indoors I tend to wear an old and often mismatched pair of beat up climbing shoes that has exceeded their useful life on rock. I find they're adequate for practicing moves and this spares my good rubber for the real thing outside. Since I’ve not been at all happy with the enigma HP rubber on rock, but find them comfortably snug to wear for prolonged periods, I started using them indoors this winter. The rubber sticks very well to plastic climbing holds. Probably better than any of my other (new or decrepit) shoes with various Stealth, Vibram and unknown rubber formulations. After abrading some of the soles this off-season, I wonder if they’ll be any more sensitive or gain better friction to be practical for use on real rock.
