Since wearing the Scarpa Instinct Slipper boot I have noticed the shoe has changed a lot through its climbing life. Here are some thoughts on the shoe.
When brand new, the boot is noticeably good on small edges and on steep climbing. The edging aspect is ideal for British limestone climbing and helped me in ticking a couple of hard climbs at Malham and Kilnsey last year. It is also useful for steep indoor climbing. The turned down nature of shoe helps in keeping more tension through your feet when climbing on steeper ground. I used this shoe when I did Sean’s Roof (8a+) in the Peak District and they were definitely very useful in helping me get to the top of the climb.

As the shoe begins to wear in a little more along its climbing life the stiffness of the shoe begins to gradually go and it becomes softer. This does in turn slightly decrease the performance of the shoe on edges, however, it does make smearing and standing on slopey footholds easier due to the increased flexibility and surface area that the shoe can get onto the foothold. Recently I have been competing a lot and the nature of competition climbing involves a lot of confusing volume climbing where standing and trusting your feet on volumes is important. For this reason the Scarpa Instinct Slipper has been my choice when having to tackle said climbs in a competition.
As the shoe softens the performance of the heel is affected as it can slip off the heel yet this is a trait common in all brands of climbing shoes that design slippers. One thing I have noticed with the shoe is that as the heel hook performance seems to decrease their took hooking performance increases, because the boot has flattened out and become softer it is easier to pull back with your toes and get more purchase off them when using power toe hooks.
The rubber on the shoe remains sticky and the fit remains tight, snug and comfortable. I would recommend this shoe for mid-high level climbers.

Available at the depot shop