Review Decathlon Simond Rock+ climbing shoes
In summary a pair of comfortable, cheap shoes that offer fairly good climbing performance but do lack a tiny bit in durability. Not the right tool for really hard or steep stuff but great as a middle of the road sport climbing and multipitch shoe.
How I use them
These are my go to shoes for sport climbs and also all day outings. I wear them for our weekly sessions at the local crag and also on multipitch climbs. My guess would be that for 90% of what I do in terms of climbing I use these (only for bouldering or DWS I switch shoes). I only use the shoes outside on many types of rock with limestone being the frequent.
Performance
Compared to other flat-ish name brand shoes (Boreal Silex and Scrapa Hilex in my case) these stack up well. The rubber is sticky (after one or two sessions at least) and works well on slabs. The sole is stiff enough to stand on small edges and in pockets.
However the rubber does not cover much of the upper part of the toebox and the heel does not hold the foot super tight - so toe and heel rock work but that’s not what these shoes excel at. My guess would be if you are climbing 7a and higher you are looking at other shoes anyways.
In terms of comfort these shoes mold well to the foot and can be worn over longer periods as well. I use a size 42 (my street shoes are 43 to 44) for reference.
Durability: I can use a pair for about six to nine months (with on average maybe two sessions per week plus some multi pitch days) before they lose most of their edge and small holes appear in the rubber around the big toe.
Construction and Quality
These are mostly flat with a bit of pretension in the sole (that degrades a bit over a few months of use). The upper is made of leather that stretches a little bit. The shoes are padded and even sizing down I can use them for a few hours almost out of the box but definitely after a few sessions. Two well done velcro strips are used as a closure system.
Price
Now for what is maybe the biggest plus: The list price of these shoes is 55 Euros and they are available for 45 Euros quite regularly on the Decathlon website. That’s almost half of comparable name brand shoes!
PS: I am of course not sponsored by Decathlon (in other words I pay for all the stuff I use) and this text only reflects my opinion.