The All-New Ocun Jett S is an Affordable Gym-Climbing Beast
My buddy Brandon Fields and I may not be the best testers for the single-strap-closure Ocun Jett S. This bouldering/training slipper’s long, narrow, pointy last is designed primarily for slender Egyptian feet, while Brandon and I are both Roman-footed Hobbits. But we are the testers you got—and, fortunately, these shoes stretch to conform to all feet—so here is my review.
Field testing
I did most of my testing in the gym, where I’m rehabbing after a hand surgery, on smooth, plastic holds, mostly on roped climbs but with some bouldering. Brandon tested on the MoonBoard, gym boulders and routes, and outside on moderate granite sport climbs. Both of us have been testing for three or four months consistently.
What’s interesting, is that we both, from day one, began defaulting to the Jett S as a gym-bouldering and low-intensity-mileage shoe: It is extremely comfortable, slides on and off well thanks to the supple upper, stretchy tongue, and big pull tab, and is light enough (15.6 oz per pair) to remain fleet and agile even as your feet get hot, sweaty, and tired during long sessions. “This is in the top five most comfortable shoes I’ve worn,” wrote Brandon in his testing notes. “This is its standout feature—at no point did I get hot spots, pinching, fatigue, or discomfort.”
The Jett S is generally soft and flexible, but then the toebox—just the tip, really—is stiff. Paired with its dolphin-nose-pointy shape, this made it aces for driving into “innie” jibs (the kinds with dimples) and pockets, as well as for meat-and-potatoes edging and even some micro-edging. I used them on roped, techy face climbs up to 5.13-, noting the best performance in the vert-to-30°-overhanging angle. The Jett S also has enough downturn for steeps, and I used it on gym-set bouldering walls to 40° overhanging and the Tension Board 2 up to 35° overhanging to good effect, using the long toe to pull my hips in and drive hard, especially through low feet where I could get the most out of the toe length and flattish last.
Both of us noted slippage on smears and, ironically, big holds. As Brandon put it: “The shoe is best at edging and pockets on textured holds, but leaves something to be desired on large, slippery holds and smears.” Maybe it’s the semi-stiff sole rubber, maybe it’s our middle-aged gym-bro “footwork,” or maybe it’s the shoe being so pointy. My suspicion is that someone with an Egyptian foot would experience this less, as they’d better fill out the shoe tip. For a side-by-side comparison, I wore them on a 5.12+ slab auto-belay, an 88-degree route that relied heavily on volume standing and smearing on those miserable disk holds. The route felt much easier in a softer, blunter pair of shoes from another brand, while in the Jett S I got up it, but often felt unstable on the smears and got pumped—on a slab!
Sizing
I’m a street-shoe 10 and wore a US men’s 9/European 42 in the Jett S, while Brandon, a street-shoe 9, wore US men’s 8/European 41. I think—think—I could have come down a half size for more precision, but that would have meant sacrificing comfort for those long bouldering sessions or cruiser mileage on 5.10–5.12 routes. Brandon felt his fit was a hair loose too, but added, of that extra room and give, “I frequently found myself with a similar feeling to standing around in my house in slippers, but in a good way!”
Basically, if you have long, narrow feet, you can size aggressively for a performance fit, but with medium to wide feet you may not want to, or your heel won’t drop all the way down. The good news, again, is that the shoes are so supple in the uppers and the tongue is so stretchy, with so much material, that the shoes will spread out laterally. (The one ding with having so much tongue material is the mesh can bunch up and get pinned when you don the shoes, requiring you to slide a finger under to iron it out.)
Durability
For both Brandon and I, the Jett S has held its shape and last, with minimal stretch. Noted Brandon, “After weeks of testing, the shoe has barely changed. This seems great for people who do large volumes of lower-angle climbing.” The only wear issue I’ve noted started almost immediately, with some minor delamination at the toe tip, with the sole peeling off the rand on one shoe. A friend I showed this to in the gym who climbs in Ocuns said he’d experienced it with some of their other models too, and posited that it came from too much tension during manufacture. Regardless, I tacked it down with some Gorilla Gel and it’s been basically fine.
Hooking and Scumming
For hooking and scumming, we both gave the Jett S 6s and 7s out of 10: so, better than average—and for those who like lots of squish and feedback with their hooks and scums, those figures might be closer to the 8s and 9s. The heel spreads out nicely, especially on sharp or ridged holds that press into the rubber, and the toe-scumming patch is huge and sticky, thus easy to glom around corners and onto larger features. I really liked the Jett S for compy bouldering, despite its middling reliability on smears. On the slabby bouldering wall at Movement Boulder, with a very parkour-y set, these light, grabby shoes got the job done on the weird, modern footwork.
Pros
- Light and comfortable—great for bouldering, boarding, and long-term wear
- Notably precise on innie divots, pockets, and jibs
- Despite a narrow last, the shoes spread well laterally to accommodate wider feed
- Above-average hooking and scumming
- Durable and affordably priced ($129.95 at REI) in an age of $200 rock shoes
Cons
- Slippery smearing
- Toe-tip delamination
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