Butora Acro Review

Performance Comparison

Edging

Edging is the Acro's strong suit. Their high tension rand keeps the big toe snug and secure at the power point. Combine that with a stiff midsole, and you've got a shoe that can handle the dime edges of dead vertical limestone at Wild Iris while remaining sensitive enough to feel divots and crystals on the quartz monzonite of the Buttermilk boulders.

Crack Climbing

Most climbers will size these shoes too tight to be running laps on cracks at Indian Creek or charging up soaring granite multi-pitch climbs in Yosemite, but if you encounter some toe jamming action on a sport climb or a shorter trad pitch, you won't be out of luck.

The toe profile of the Acro is narrow enough to wiggle your toes into the same cracks and pods that accept a 0.75 Camalot, and the rubber-covered upper helps add grip to your rand smear in flares and corners. Additionally, these shoes are wide enough to keep your feet relatively comfy in hand-sized cracks. While we didn't do any specific durability testing, the Acros showed no noticeable signs of wear after a few days of jamming.

Steep Terrain

A shoe's performance in steep terrain is influenced by the angle of its downturn and its capabilities for toe and heel hooking. The Butora Acro's aggressive downturn is helpful for keeping your lower body closer to the wall and less body weight on your arms. The top of the shoe is coated in rubber to enhance grip during strenuous toe hooks. We were less impressed with the heel. It features a steep forward lean that irritated some of our tester's Achilles tendons. Others complained about the heel cup feeling insensitive.

When it comes to steep pocketed terrain, the slim toebox and overall downturn are great for toeing in hard and cranking. These shoes also have an additional downturn right below the toe to improve their pulling performance. Our lead tester found he could pull in so well with this shoe without his feet popping that his hip flexors were aching after a long day of steep climbing.

Sensitivity

Although the Acro is one of the stiffer aggressive shoes we've tested, they don't feel like insensitive bricks. On slick Yosemite granite, our testers found that they could feel and stick to small bumps and divots, even in less than ideal summer conditions.

Comfort

These shoes run small, and we sized them the same as our street shoe size, resulting in a shoe that was great right out of the box for sport climbing and bouldering. However, we'd leave them behind on a multi-pitch route in favor of a more relaxed fitting shoe. We found we could crag all day with breaks in between pitches and never succumb to debilitating foot pain fatigue.

The German split leather upper feels soft and doesn't get as stinky as some synthetic shoes. The heel tension rand kept the heel in place during tricky heel hooks. Our lead tester, however, did notice some dead space on the sides of the heel. The elastic on top of the shoe is not very tight and won't keep the shoe on very well without the velcro strap cinched down, but this makes for easy on and off, especially for folks with high volume feet.

Value

We believe the Butora Acro is a great value and solid competition to the more expensive, time-tested favorites from Scarpa or La Sportiva. Butora shoes are made in Korea and feature a pressure treatment to prevent delamination. Its 4mm of Neo Fuse rubber is slightly thicker than average for all shoes, suggesting it could provide above-average durability.

Conclusion