Both La Sportiva Finale and Tarantulace are designed to correspond to anyone from beginner to intermediate level, and are likely to be great picks if you’re one of them – but I WOULDN’T recommend either of them to any advanced AND competitive climber.
In summary; if you’re a complete newbie or aren’t planning to get serious about climbing, then go for the Tarantulace. Otherwise, get the Finale.
This is also stated by La Sportiva themselves here in their visual climbing shoe guide.
All the differences between these two shoes can be simplified as follows:
- Finale offers superior edging performance, more durability and fits tighter
- Tarantulace offers better grip (and hence smearing) and is more comfortable
You can see this here in La Sportiva’s own comparison chart.
Overview
TOE BOX
I can definitely say that one of the most important parts of the climbing shoe is Toe Box. The toe box contains our toes which give us to do the footwork. Knowing the toe box is important to developing proper footwork.
As you can see in the figure below, the toe box consists of three parts. In short, if we talk about these three parts:
- Front: As you can tell from the name, the front of the toe box is called a front. It provides us to do some footwork which is called frontstepping. It is the most basic move.
- Inside Edge: When you place the inner edge of your toe box on a foothold, it is called instepping. The inner edge of the toe box is a little bit straighter than the front part. One of the efficient ways the increase of shoe contact with the surface is instepping. It also provides us to decrease our chances of slipping off.
- Outside Edge: Using the outer edge of the toe box on a foothold is called backstepping. Backstepping uses our three smaller toes when instepping uses the side of our big toe. As you can see on the photo of the climbing shoe below, the outer edge of the toe box is a little bit more curved than the inner edge which causes to make backstepping less stable than instepping.
The other thing that we have to mention is asymmetry. The asymmetrical design is used to push the toes forward, especially the big toe. It provides our toes to generate extra power on smaller footholds that means we can stand on a smaller edge and push ourselves up easily.
If we evaluate the shoes according to asymmetry, here it is;
- Tarantulace has a low asymmetry toe box which allows to toe area a lot rounder and comfortable.
- Finale has a medium asymmetry toe box which is less round and uncomfortable than Tarantulace but better than overhanging routes.
HEEL
Tarantulace has the two pull straps which give us to allow easily to fit the and deeper in the shoe. Tarantulace isn’t an aggressive shoe. It’s designed for beginner climbers and that design made to the heel fits comfortably. This doesn’t mean slip inside the shoe either. Also having a lot of rubber on the heel provide a solid grip.
On the other hand, Finale doesn’t have a two pull strap but the heel strap tension has been enhanced to comfort which is good for beginner climbers. Similar to Tarantulace, Finale also has a lot of rubber on the heel.
Tarantulace loses some point in performance because of comfort. Comfort takes a few things. The few things you can’t get as much efficiency as Finale. Like heel hook. The heel hook is one of the fundamental climbing techniques. You can watch the video, how to do a proper heel hook.
Finally, it’s possible to do heel hooks with Tarantulace. Just, don’t expect a good heel hook like Finale.
COMFORT
Climbing shoes don’t offer as much comfort as street shoes because of the nature of climbing shoes. First, it’ll hurt even if you buy the most comfortable climbing shoes in the world. So, the first thing climbers look at a climbing shoe isn’t the comfort. Of course, climbers don’t completely ignore comfort. Especially, beginner climbers to intermediate climbers.
Both shoes offer comfort and it’s a great opportunity for beginners to intermediate climbers to climb more and improve themselves. You know the best way to improve is to climb more and more and as I said these shoes give you the chance to climb longer.
Tarantulace is one of the most comfortable climbing shoes for beginner to intermediate level climbers. But, Why?
The upper part of both shoes is made of unlined leather which provides a better tightness and comfort to the shoes’ precious fit. Both have lace-up closure and this allows us to adjust how the shoe will fit on our feet. Of course, the lace closure system isn’t a system that everyone would prefer. It needs a little bit of effort to take off and on according to velcro.
So far now, both shoes offer similar features for comfort. What’s the exact difference between Tarantulace and Finale?
We have to look at more specific features to decide which one is more comfortable.
Tarantulace is the flattest models in its line. Finale isn’t an aggressive shoe but a little bit downturned and it gives us an uncomfortable feeling. That’s the main feature why Tarantulace is more comfortable.
As a result, during the long climbing sessions, the climbing shoes will be on our feet and in these conditions, it’s a great benefit for us to make the climbing shoes give us a comfortable feeling as much as possible.
BREATHABILITY
An unquestionable fact that our feet have a significant value while we’re climbing. So, breathable climbing shoes are the key to our foot healthy.
Usually climbing shoes are taken off after climbing so that the feet can rest, sometimes we could dive into another challenging route and again and again without taking shoes off. Sometimes we don’t even wanna take it off, especially if we’ve got shoes like Finale and even more comfortable Tarantulace…
In climbing shoes, the top of the shoe is an important factor in breathability. The material used and the design of the upper ensure breathability and prevent overheating.
So, What about La Sportiva Finale and Tarantulace?
I can say right now that Finale’s breathability is better than Tarantulace, but why?
The upper material of both is unlined leather but Tarantulace also has synthetic overlays. OKAY… It sounds like Tarantulace got something, right?
BUT… What if I tell you guys, Finale has a surprise… THE CENTRAL PERFORATED PANEL. That panel has been enhanced to provide better breathability and guys, that’s the key part for why finale is better breathability.
Also, THE TONGUE. Yes, Finale’s perforated tongue has lined absorbent material that provides the moisture can get out of the shoe easily.
Wait… That’s not over. It doesn’t mean that Tarantulace’s breathability is dud. The lined of tongue keeps moisture away.
Many users said that their feet didn’t overheat, while a very small part was saying that their feet are overheated, perhaps that little part of users didn’t wanna take their climbing shoes off because they found very comfortable.
DURABILITY
Climbing shoes are among the climbing types of equipment that are prone to wear due to conditions of use. Of course, I’d like it to go like a chalk bag for a long time but unfortunately, the conditions don’t allow.
Material… Material… Yeah, that’s what we’re going to investigate for both shoes.
We’ve already known that Tarantulace’s upper is an unlined leather with synthetic overlay and Finale’s upper is an unlined leather. The leather provides durability to the shoes and gives waterproofness. BUT, synthetic overlay… It gives leather some reinforcement and creates a more stable upper. Okay, one point to Tarantulace…
Another part that provides durability is our unique friend Outsole which is frequently subjected to impacts, pressures, smearing, edging, and etc. You’re the man outsole, really I appreciate it to you. You have a really hard job.
The outsole of both shoes is made of different technology. Tarantulace’s outsole is made of Sportiva’s FriXion RS rubber which gives you A SOLID STICKINESS and OPTIMUM DURABILITY. Finale’s outsole is made of The Vibram XS Edge rubber which gives you AN EXCELLENT GRIP and BETTER DURABILITY than Tarantulace has.
OUTSOLE
We’ve talked about a little bit of our unique friend outsole in the previous chapter. Now, we’re gonna dive into deeper, more technical things about the outsole.
What we’ve got is Tarantulace with very sticky FriXion RS rubber which is 5 mm thick, on the other side is Finale with edging beast The Vibram XS Edge which is 5 mm thick…
FriXion RS is a technology that is designed and built from a variety of compounds and made of sticky rubber for maximum performance. Having a sticky rubber gives us to better grip and smearing. The stiffness of the outsole is adequate for supportive to climb better precision.
The Vibram XS Edge is designed for edging and durability. But, What’s edging for who don’t know is basically sometimes a foothold is small and your climbing shoe doesn’t fit on it. What we have to do is using our big toe area of our climbing shoes to steady ourselves or power to next move with the big toe and you’re edging.
Another technology Finale has is P3 Permanent Power Platform. What is P3 Permanent Power Platform offering us is helping to provide power to the sole. It’s about the randing system which maintains the shape of the shoes’ ( as I’ve mentioned Finale’s down-turned shape). The randing system provides to the shoe to be more aggressive and which allows for better performance.
STABILITY
Both shoes have the same closure system which is lace closure. This gives the shoe stability and allows the fit to be customized. The lacing system isn’t as quick as the velcro closure system but thanks to the lacing system help us to provide a snug fit which is an important issue.
When I said the same closure system I was talking about lace. The difference between the lacing system of Tarantulace and Finale is Tarantulace has a quick pull lacing system which means you can wear Tarantulace faster than Finale.
Also, Finale’s heel strap tension has been reduced to enhance comfort which gives us stability during the climbing sessions. Good boy Finale, one point to Finale.
THE VERDICT
Both shoes are made an ideal model for beginner level to intermediate level for outdoor and indoor climbing.
Both of them have some advantages and disadvantages. These models are snug-fitting, comfortable and also easy to put on.
Searchin for ideal climbing shoes for our feet is quite rough.
First, you need to decide what you wanna from climbing shoes. Comfort? Yes, Tarantulace is the best comfortable shoe within this versus. Performance? Finale is definitely more all-round shoe.
What about style? Both shoes are one of a kind in their family.
I know, making a decision is hard. My recommendation is to start with La Sportiva Tarantulace if you are new to climbing but if you already are doing climbing a while, try La Sportiva Finale.
Just climb as much as you can and the challenges on this journey won’t scare you.