[Updated July 2021] The Evolv Bandit Lace is no longer available.
View other detailed product reviews from Rock+Run
Check out our Climbing Shoe Collections
Evolv Bandit Lace Climbing Shoe Review, by Greg Chapman.

The Fit
With a flat profile, semi asymmetrical last and medium level of rigidity the Bandit Lace embodies the all-round rock shoe. Having quite a broad forefoot, I did find the toe box a bit narrower than is the average and as such it did pinch a little straight out of the box. Fortunately however, due to a fairly soft compromising upper the shoe does give pretty rapidly and after just one full session down the wall the Bandit had easily accommodated the girth of my foot and the pinching sensation soon disappeared. This narrowness is due in part to a sharp angle of curve on the outside edge.Materials & Features
The Bandit retains quite a 'pointy' feel, a prominent feature of many earlier Evolv models. Unlike other previous Evolv models I've tried, I again found the shoe adapted to the shape of my rather blocky fore-foot, and soon felt much more akin to a Five Ten Blanco (albeit far less rigid); a shoe it felt nothing like out of the box. The heel is excellent, being both well featured (i.e. encompassed in rubber) and for me very well fitting. In my view, the key attributes to a well fitting heel are no dead-space and a secure fit, and in both regards the Bandit Lace ticks the box. Obviously, how well you get on with a particular heel design depends greatly on the shape of your foot. I am fortunate in that I have quite a bulbous heel which generally fits rock boots well, so the Bandit Lace's rather spherical heel cup hugged my foot to perfection. If you do have a lower volume heel you may well find a contrary fit. The tensioning of the rock shoe heel (achieved by the slingshot rand which goes around the back of the Achilles and under the arch of the shoe) is cause for concern with many users, in that they find some boots to be quite extreme in this regard and thus painful. Evolv have not overly tensioned the slingshot rand on the Bandit Lace and as such it offers quite a relaxed fit when compared with many comparable technical models from other brands, making it a viable shoe for those with a sensitive Achilles tendon. Lastly to the arch of the shoe, which I found to be quite low. If you have a high arch, as I do, you may notice that the Bandit's do not contour to the base of your foot as well as some other models, however I did't find this compromised the performance of the shoes in the field and was less noticeable the more they wore in. As with all Evolv shoes the Bandit Lace is constructed entirely from synthetic materials, making them less prone to stretch and also vegan friendly. The upper is a synthetic suede-like material called Synthratek, whilst a micro fibre lining helps maintain the shape of the shoe as well as offering a plush comfortable point of contact with the skin. A full length 1.5mm midsole gives a decent level of support when edging, however this is certainly one of the softer lace-up shoes I've used in recent times. The lace closure is excellent and if you are thinking of migrating from Velcro to lace up shoes, then the Bandit Lace offers one of the easiest, best cinching speed-lace closure setups I've seen (tip: tie knots in the ends of your laces, they're so slick the laces pull through quite easily). The Bandit Lace incorporates both Evolv's TraxXT (on the front of the shoe) and eco-Trax (the arch and the heel) rubbers into the sole unit. TraxXT rubber is the full spec stickiest compound available from Evolv, where as eco-Trax is both partially recycled (incidentally, Evolv are thus far the only company to use recycled 'Green' rubber) and also slightly harder wearing, whilst compromising a little by way of traction. Personally, I noticed no discernible difference between the performance of the different parts of the sole unit and overall thought the rubber seemed as good as anything from other leading brands. The build quality also seems very good and speaking as a retailer we see very few Evolv warranty returns.Summary
Overall the Evolv Bandit Lace is a great all-round lace up climbing shoe, ideally suited to those with narrower feet, who like flat profiled shoes which break-in quickly and/or want a single shoe to cover a number of disciplines, oh and of course vegans. So has this become my go-to rock shoe? Well in truth I have a number of go-to shoes (for varying styles of climbing), but in terms of a general purpose bouldering and routes shoe the answer would be an enthusiastic yes.
View other detailed product reviews from Rock+Run
Check out our Climbing Shoe Collections