Since our testing period, La Sportiva has given this shoe some more understated colors. See the current shoe in the image above, but rest assured that nothing has changed in the design or materials of this Top Pick award winner.
March 2019 This Product
La Sportiva TX4 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Awards |  |  | |  | |
| Price | $119.25 at Backcountry Compare at 3 sellers | $134.25 at Backcountry Compare at 3 sellers | $119.25 at Backcountry Compare at 3 sellers | $149 List $149.00 at Amazon | $159.95 at Backcountry |
Overall Score  |
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| Star Rating | |||||
| Pros | Awesome balance of hiking and climbing abilities, great support | Stiff for edging and standing in aiders, light weight, excellent climbing ability, good hiking support | Excellent for climbing, light and compact, comfortable | Precise feel for climbing, supportive, durable | Comfortable for hiking, good climbing performance, high quality construction, multiple insole width options |
| Cons | Relatively heavy and bulky | Narrow fit is a problem for wide-footed users, major durability concerns | Not the best for long distance hiking, not much support | Heavy, thin sole makes hiking less comfortable, stiff leather upper | Mesh upper offers little support, toe box a bit sloppy, on the heavy side |
| Bottom Line | This model combines high performance with the ability to handle big loads | This shoe can do it all, from precise climbing on mid-5th class terrain to rugged hikes to long aid climbs | These shoes climb great, hike pretty well, and disappear into a pack while climbing | A great all-round approach shoe that is supportive and great for climbing and comes at an attractive price | These shoes hike and climb well, and are a top contender for users with wide feet |
| Rating Categories | La Sportiva TX4 | La Sportiva TX Guide | La Sportiva TX2 Evo | Scarpa Crux | Salewa Wildfire 2 |
| Climbing Ability (30%) | |||||
| Hiking Comfort (25%) | |||||
| Support (15%) | |||||
| Weight and Packability (15%) | |||||
| Construction Quality (15%) | |||||
| Specs | La Sportiva TX4 | La Sportiva TX Guide | La Sportiva TX2 Evo | Scarpa Crux | Salewa Wildfire 2 |
| Outsole | Vibram Mega-Grip with Trail Bite heel | Vibram Mega-Grip | Vibram Idrogrip | Vibram vertical approach | Pomoca Speed Mtn |
| Upper Material | Leather | synthetic TPU, PU | Recycled knit, PU toe & heel | Leather | Recycled mesh |
| Weight (per pair) | 26.2 oz (size 9.5) | 29.8 oz (size 13) | 26.4 oz (size 13) | 27.2 oz (size 9.5) | 31.5 oz (size 13) |
| Width Options | Regular | Regular | Regular | Regular | Regular, Narrow |
| Mid Height Available? | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Midsole | Traverse injection MEMlex | Dual-density compressed EVA, TPU Torsion Shank | Traverse lite injection MEMlex with co-molded TPU shank | EVA | EVA |
The heaviest shoe in La Sportiva's Traverse X series, the TX4 is a great hiking shoe that happens to climb exceptionally well. The wider-than-average-Sportiva toe box makes for a comfortable approach to your next adventure, be it deep in the backcountry or just a stroll through the woods to the sport crag. Thanks to some sticky Vibram rubber and just enough stiffness, the TX4 can still handle some low angle slabbage and easy crack climbing should it stand between you and the technical climbing.
Our testers are psyched that a comfortable hiking shoe can still climb almost as well as the stiffer, narrower models out there.
The sensitive "climbing zone" located at the toe of the TX4 makes it easier to feel smaller edges down to a quarter of an inch, and the shoe is just stiff enough to make use of them. This model doesn't edge as well as our Top Pick For Climbing, but we felt more secure edging in these than many other models.
The TX4 smears at least as well as the other sticky rubber shoes in our selection, except for the Five Ten Guide Tennie, with its super sticky Stealth C4 rubber. Due to the TX4's hiking comfort, this shoe was our lead tester's favorite shoe for scrambling easy routes in Tuolumne Meadows, the TX4 handled low fifth class slabs with ease, while still offering loads of support and traction for bombing down hills on the way to the next objective.
In hand cracks and flares, the TX4 doesn't perform as well as the super stiff Guide Tennie or the Boulder X. But, it's still stiff enough to stand on as you shove your leather protected dogs in low angle cracks from two inches on up. Plus, the tongue is padded and will keep your feet comfy, even after hundreds of feet of crack torquing.
The TX4 is our tester's favorite shoe for long approaches with heavy packs. The lacing system offers the same heel wrap around style as the La Sportiva Mythos climbing shoe.
The result is a highly adjustable system that allows you to dial in the tightness of this shoe easily, all the way down to the toe. This means you can cinch it down for more security when venturing into technical terrain, but still keep things loose higher up on the shoe if you've got high arches and high volume feet. We enjoyed the full toe box at the end of long hiking days when our feet started to swell and found them more comfortable than narrow shoes. The Traverse injected MEMlex midsole kept our testers stable and comfortable as we descended hundreds of feet of talus and scree in the Sierra. A visual inspection of the sole reveals the fattest lugs of any shoe in this review, providing superior traction in slippery mud and ball bearing-like gravel.
When you're carrying big loads into the backcountry, to the base of El Cap, or for guiding, support is key, and the TX4 offers loads of it.
The stiff midsole comes in close to the top of the competition. Combined with its hiking comfort, we feel this is the best approach shoe for carrying heavy loads into the backcountry, and if it still doesn't have enough support for you, you may need to be wearing a heavier hiking boot.
If the TX4 has a weakness, it's weight and bulkiness, earning it a middle of the road score in this metric. Weighing in at 26.2 oz, this shoe is not as comfortable or light on the back of our harnesses as the ultralight and lower profile models.
However, the comfortable and supportive TX4 is still lighter than some less supportive options. Easily clip-able loops on the heel of these shoes make for secure clipping when it's time to rope up and put on actual climbing shoes. We had some questions about the durability of the pull tabs, as they are apart of the ankle lacing system and stretched out the more we used them, but after hundreds of times of pulling them off and on, the pull tabs haven't broken.
The TX4 sits solidly in the middle of the approach shoe price range, but we believe that this versatile, durable, all leather shoe is a killer value. It kept our tester's feet comfy after long slogs and hours standing in aiders so that they could use their feet for nobler pursuits, like free climbing.
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