For years, Scarpa’s shoe-design team under the leadership of maestro cobbler and Italian climbing legend Heinz Mariacher has knocked out one banger after another. The Scarpa Mago, Drago, Instinct, Chimera, Furia S, and Boostic have all been favorites of mine for years—and comprise some of the best shoes for sport climbing. Each model has unique attributes and subtle differences that distinguish them from each other, but they all provide unreal levels of comfort and performance. After almost a decade of continuously raising the bar, it shouldn’t be surprising that eventually a new shoe comes out that isn’t my favorite—and so it is with the new Scarpa Quantic, a slightly downturned, slightly asymmetric Velcro slipper with tons of support. Here’s my review:
- All-around edging performance for sport, bouldering, and gym.
- Lightweight and breathable mesh upper suited to sweaty feet and hot climbing.
- Velcro straps are a bit too bulky, especially over the top of the mesh.
Scarpa Quantic review
To be clear, the Quantic is certainly a cut above more than half of the climbing shoes on the market, and I’d take it over most other brands. It’s just not my favorite of Scarpa’s sterling lineup of climbing shoes. I found the Quantic to be a bit too stiff for my taste, which led to a lengthy break-in period. The thick straps made the shoe feel just a bit too clunky. And it feels as if the shoe is lacking some of the more aggressive tensioning other Scarpa shoes have, which delivers the brand’s key suction-cup fit, especially around the arch of my foot. There was too much dead space around my foot.
The Quantic feels like stripped-down model of a higher-end Scarpa climbing shoe, which makes sense, as it’s a bit cheaper than others at just $169. It’s hard to call that price “budget-friendly” when there are other truly budget climbing shoes out there that come in around $100—but it’s still $40 cheaper than some of top-line Scarpa shoes.
Breathable and Light with Edging Support
The Quantic has a mesh tongue and a synthetic microsuede upper that makes this shoe very breathable and suited to summer climbing. I’d bring this shoe for moderate routes anywhere in the summer, or even use them as a deep-water solo shoe.
The support under toe makes the Quantic a really powerful edger on vertical climbs. That said, the rubber patch for toe-hooking always rubbed my big-toe knuckle when really edging hard on steeper routes, but this got better as I broke in the shoe.
I’d recommend this shoe to people with wider feet, who want a less-aggressive downturned shoe, whose feet get really sweaty and/or they climb in hot places, and who don’t feel like spending over $200 on something more high-performing like the Scarpa Boostic. If you’re in this category, I’d also recommend checking out the Scarpa Arpia, which delivers a similar level of performance as the Quantic but is also a bit more comfortable, albeit less breathable, in my opinion.
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