Black Diamond Focus - Women's Review

Performance Comparison

Finding flow in the Focus.

Photo: Eric Bissell

Comfort

Any shoe that scores well in this metric must first be sized appropriately. Take it from us — it's easier to get a different size than cram your feet into too-tight shoes, hoping they stretch out while feeling grumpy at the crag all day because your feet hurt. This is especially important with the Focus as we found the sizing to be fairly off in comparison to other brands. We ordered a full size up from our street shoe size — an 8.5 rather than a 7.5, which was still hard to get on. In European sizing, this means that we bummed up from our usual 37 to a 40 and still felt like these shoes were right on the edge of too small.

The indentation on the sole that provides a downturned shape to the Focus also made them fairly uncomfortable on lower-angle terrain. There is little to no give in the sole of these shoes.

Photo: Eric Bissell

In addition to the confusing sizing, the shoes, in general, were not very comfortable. The combination of a fairly aggressive downturn plus a seriously stiff sole made the Focus pretty uncomfortable at first. The fit improved after a few pitches but still squeezed our feet across the toe box in a way that made us grasp for the Velcro straps the moment we clipped the chains and said "ready to lower".

Sensitivity

The 4.3mm of Black Diamond's proprietary rubber creates a substantial platform between your toes and the rock in the Focus. The stiffness of the sole, paired with the Force rubber makes for a shoe that lacks sensitivity. Some folks are used to climbing in this style of shoe, but honestly, the Focus felt more like a Hobnail mountaineering boot than a climbing shoe at first. Over time, we learned to trust the Focus more, but overall, these were not our favorite shoes for slabs, smears, and delicate footwork.

Edging

The stiffness and thick rubber soles that make the Black Diamond Focus fall short in the sensitivity realm make them a machine in the vertical world of edging. Unfortunately, their stiffness and lack of sensitivity made us a bit nervous about trusting our feet even when standing on an edge. Once on a foothold, these shoes are confidence-inspiring, but their stiffness makes it hard to commit to small holds.

The thick rubber soles on the Focus made it hard for us to trust our feet on small holds such as this one.

Photo: Eric Bissell

Crack Climbing

The general discomfort we had in the Focus didn't bode well for their ability to perform in cracks. Hand cracks and wider were painful due to the downturn and tight fit across the toe box. Additionally, the stiffness and lack of sensitivity made finger cracks challenging and terrifying — as we couldn't get our toes wedged in far enough to inspire much confidence.

Pockets

Though they are downturned, the Focus's are not tapered in the toe box, which limits their performance in this metric. We found that a softer, more tapered shoe works better on steep pocket climbing.

On this moderate pocket line, the Focus was a sufficient tool for the job, but any route requiring more precision a less-stiff shoe may be a better call.

Photo: Eric Bissell

Ease of Use

Two Velcro pull tabs and a tongue that opens up make the Focus easy to get on and off.

This little pull tab seemed like an unnecessary addition to the design of these shoes.

Photo: Eric Bissell

One small feature that felt superfluous to us, and has appeared on the latest models from other brands is a small pull tab on the tongue. This tab wasn't super useful to us, but perhaps this is just personal preference.

The knit tongue was comfortable and a nice way to switch up the materials used in the construction of the Focus.

Photo: Eric Bissell

Value

With a price tag that lands them adjacent to the top models from other brands, the Black Diamond Focus is an investment. For us, the rubber and overall design of the Focus were not up to snuff in comparison to our award winners from other brands, and thus these shoes feel a bit over-priced.

Conclusion