Great quality shoes for an affordable price! Having that said, these shoes are a nightmare to purchase the correct size for! I wear a size 10.0(m) casual shoe and figured if i purchased a 10.5(m), it would be a snug fit, but they would be comfortable once they've been broken in. They were way to small though when they arrived, so I returned them in exchange for a size 11.5(m). I haven't received the new pair yet, but I expect it to be a much better fit. My advice would be to go a full size to a size and a half bigger for comfort. (It's very difficult to give good/solid advice on shoe sizing especially because these particular shoes size up differently for everybody. Some reviews say to buy a size smaller than you usually buy, and then others say to buy anywhere from half a size up to two full sizes up! In my opinion, buy the ones you think will fit comfortably first, then exchange them for a different size if they dont fit!)

Overall Impression:
This was a great, cheap, non-technical starter shoe for me that was a step up from the standard 'gym' shoe. I always recommend it to anyone who wants to seriously try climbing as a beginner. I would never recommend it to anyone with serious climbing experience. This is the perfect shoe for people climbing V3 and under and not meant for people in the high single or double digit V grades (even though Mad Rock claims it's been used to climb up to a V15). It has a great price point, especially for someone who might not be confident that they'll still be climbing in a couple months.

My use:
I used them 3-4 times a week when I first started climbing for both in and outside climbing. As a novice climber, I never had a complaint about them. It is a very non-aggressive shoe and I could easily walk around in them, sometimes I even hiked in them when I was climbing outside. I never wore through any part of the shoe and I would assume that you'll probably move on to a more advanced shoe before that ever happens. The shoe I moved on to, I also highly recommend: The Evolv Shamans

Technical Aspect:
Here's where I'll explain why it's a shoe meant for beginners.

The Rubber - Nothing too special. It gets the job done for the people who should be using it; people new to climbing.

The Leather Upper - Again, nothing too special. It's not very grippy, so it provides minimal help when trying to toehook. But again, the target audience for this shoe probably wouldn't be needing to toehook very often. The leather does stretch a bit, giving a little more room when it's fully broken in.

The Toe - This shoe has a very, very small, almost nonexistent rubber toe box. This, along with the less then ideal leather upper, makes toehooking in these shoes more of a challenge then the route that you're climbing.

The Heel - The heel is... actually pretty decent. It fits my heel very well and provides a significant amount of rubber to prevent any pain from pulling on a heelhook. Seeing as heelhooks are probably a step below toehooks on the difficulty scale and a step above foot switching, it's the first semi-advanced technique that beginners will start to use, so all that rubber helps a lot.

Final Thoughts:
So, you've just finished climbing for the third or so time with some friends. You really like the idea, the challenge, and the whole process that goes into climbing. You no longer want to use those smelly gym rentals but you also don't want to blow $180 on those super technical Futuras (my current pair, also highly recommend). Buy these shoes.

I ordered a full size larger from my normal climbing shoe size and returned it to go up a full size and a half. In defense of the shoe, I have wide feet, and my toes are long. Outside of running a bit small it appears to be a good shoe. I rewrite this review and let you know how they hold up in a few months. wish me luck. company claimed I failed to return the product and gave me a hassle with my refund.

I'll talk about the fit first. I have rather wide feet, and in running shoes I wear a US size 12 with a 4E width. Based on my previous experience with rental climbing shoes (Evolv brand if it matters) I simply got the next size up from my running shoes. The Drifters fit pretty well (albeit not perfectly, more on that later), not too tight but not too loose. A general rule of thumb with climbing shoes is: Are your toes comfortable? If yes, your climbing shoes are too big. Are your toes/feet painful? If yes, your shoes are too small. Are your feet mildly uncomfortable, but without pinching or pain? You've got the right sized shoe.

Comfort level wise, they're okay. The leather in the uppers allows the shoe to mould itself to the user's foot over time. No pokey interior stitching to annoy, and the leather upper is left unlined. Over time, the leather got a good stretch to it, making the fit a little better, and the comfort much improved. You're not gonna want to wear them all day, but you can easily keep them on between sends or while belaying.

On to what made them less than perfect! I mentioned earlier that I have wide feet. While the toe box and length of the shoe worked well for me, the balls of my feet (the widest part) slightly overhangs the sole of the shoe. Same with my heels. The leather uppers can stretch to fit across the foot, but the hard rubber sole can't. Also, the heel pocket isn't all that deep, and the overall shape is super flat. They do okay for edging (until the edge wears off to a nice gentle round...) but every time I wanted to heel hook I found myself toe-ing at the holds instead. Admittedly that may be due to a certain lack of skill on my part... Oh! Again it could be my questionable technique, but I didn't like these for slab climbing. The rubber seemed to go from sticky to slick relatively quickly, maybe a week or two. The rubber on the soles and along the edge seemed to wear out pretty quick, I've used these for maybe 4-6 months and already the edges on both shoes have rounded off (but then I go bouldering 2x a day 4-5 days a week so they might last longer for you).

Performance while climbing is fair. I've sent boulders as hard as V3 while wearing them. As mentioned, they're a bit slick for smooth slabs, and the lack of aggressive shape makes the heel hook harder to use well. Edging is actually pretty good, smears are so-so, the toe is functional. While I haven't sent V4 or V5 (yet!), I never felt like it was the shoes alone which held me back.

Conclusion: I'd say these are a decent beginner shoe. They'll take you from V0-3 with ease, and can likely be stretched to the V4 and V5 problem sets by a skilled climber. They are fairly comfortable to wear and use, and the price you pay is more than worth the shoe you get. For intermediate climbers progressing past the V3 mark, I'd humbly suggest investing in a more aggressively shaped shoe that will get you better smearing, edging, and hooking. For advanced climbers... you know better than this. Go get some Evolv Shamans and crush V12s and leave us climbing peasants to our V3s and flat shoes.

For the price, this is a pretty good shoe. I normally wear a 12 in men's, and I ended up getting the 14 in the Drifters. I wanted a shoe that was comfortable enough to walk around in the gym with for a couple hours at a time. By going two sizes up I definitely accomplished this, but I did lose a bit of dexterity on the wall. I haven't climbed outside with these yet, but bouldering can be hindered. Wall climbing, not so much. They just lack the tight, glove fit that I've had with other shoes. But hey, they're comfortable! Also, the bottoms aren't too sticky. These have more of a dense plate of rubber on the bottom as opposed to some grippier soles I've worn. Hopefully that will add longevity to these shoes. Overall, a good, comfortable shoe if you're not looking for a performance shoe.