Dynafit AT boots: Pros/Cons?

[iskibc]

My Lowas are falling apart and I need a new pair of AT boots. STP has a decent deal on several Dynafit models right now. Anybody have much experience with Dynafit boots? Pros/Cons?

Similarities between other brands?

Thanks.

[Sphinx]

Generally: light and soft.

Well made and durable.

I have a decade old pair of TLT4s that are great in corn and powder. Their fit is boxy. No comparison to my Denali XTs as far as skiing ability goes.

[Idris]

Waiting and hoping the new Aero 4 (sorry this won't be much use if your looking for a deal) due out this winter is as good as it's suposed to be.

[cj001f]

Spend the extra $100-$150 on the Garmont/Scarpa model you want from telemark-pyrenees or Barrabes. They are more Euro touring (light and soft, as said by Paul) than whats available elsewhere. Only caveat is their range has Dynafit compatibility for all boots, not just select models(surprise!)

[ski_rick]

The Dynafit boots have really low cuffs and definitly are on the soft side. You might check out backcountryoutlet.com. They've got a bunch of stuff on sale, including Lowas

http://www.backcountryoutlet.com/out...ing-Boots.html

[cj001f]

The Dynafit boots have really low cuffs

Some, not all.

[Ireallyliketoski2]

I ski the dyanfit TLT 700's and have found them to my liking, of course they have been my only AT boot so I don't know what to compare them too. They are light, hike very well, and ski very well too, a great all around boot.

[pde20]

I almost started a new thread, but I guess this is the most recent and relevant to my questions.

Bought dynafit comfort bindings. Have been eagerly awaiting the dynafit freeride aero given the reviews I have read and the claims of dynafit/life link. Went to Bent Gate in Golden, CO yesterday and tried them on. They are moon boots. I flexed them all i wanted (or didn't want) and they felt very low in the cuff. Tried them on next to Mega rides and there was little comparison with Mega rides feeling a lot more solid.

Does this make mega rides the defacto winner of the dynamfit compatible burly boot (oxymoron) category?

The only things left to test are the Matrix and this mystery candidate from europe, not avilable in the states this year as far as I can tell:



http://www.telemark-pyrenees.com/sho...oducts_id=2108

Who has skied the matrix? Is it just a slightly beefed up laser? Any euros skied or tried on the spirit 3? I have a hard time believeing that any 3 buckle boot is going to perform as well on the downhill as a four buckle, but I would love to hear opinions on how these two scarpa models compare to the mega ride and to one another.

For info, I am coming from Denali XTs which have been solid donwhill performers and fit well for me, so wouldn't mind sticking with scarpa.

[cj001f]

Lou Dawson just got a pair of the Freeride Aero, it's viewable on his homepage (which I will link too, not reprint)
http://www.wildsnow.com/

[pde20]

Lou Dawson just got a pair of the Freeride Aero, it's viewable on his homepage (which I will link too, not reprint)
http://www.wildsnow.com/

I could not agree any less with his assessment of this boot. The shell height was very slightly less than a Garmont Mega Ride, and liner was a touch lower as well, at least on my feet when compared side to side. Anyone who is coming from any alpine boot or even a stiff AT boot like a Denali or Adrenaline I think will find these not be the opposite of beefy...perhaps tofuy.

Lou is still the man, but go try them on before you jump on board.

[cj001f]

Lou is still the man, but go try them on before you jump on board.

I'd have to find them in a store first. All the reviews I've seen claim them to be the beefiest Dynafit boot. Not that they're always honest, but they have skiied the boot.

[pde20]

I'd have to find them in a store first. All the reviews I've seen claim them to be the beefiest Dynafit boot. Not that they're always honest, but they have skiied the boot.

Beefiest Dynafit boot may well be true, but it seems to me that is like saying Ricky Martin was the coolest member of Menudo. The guys at Bent Gate, which is a pretty fine backcountry shop, said that Life LInk/Dynafit has had a lot of trouble getting their stuff distributed this year...they only had a few sizes but were expecting more in November, so maybe your local shop will have them available soon.

[cj001f]

Beefiest Dynafit boot may well be true

beefiest Dynafit compatible boot.

Pistehors has a Spirit review
http://pistehors.com/backcountry/wik...carpa-Spirit-3

[pde20]

beefiest Dynafit compatible boot.

This is the statment I take issue with. True, I have not skied the boot, but in a side by side in store test with a mega ride I found that statement to be false.

Pistehors has a Spirit review
http://pistehors.com/backcountry/wik...carpa-Spirit-3

Yeah, I saw that pistehors review...makes it sound like is burlier than the matrix for sure, but still hard to get a sense of where it fits in. Maybe I'll see if Scarpa US will answer questions about them even though they arent' distributed here.

[Jonathan S.]

"Who has skied the matrix?"
- My quiver of alpine boots includes Nordica Dobermann, Scarpa Matrix (with Flexon Comp tongue), and Dynafit MLT4 (heavily modified to make it actually skiable, yet still absurdly light). Overall, I've been very happy w/ the Matrix in just about every backcountry condition, and use it for lift-served trips out west too (since I don't want to drag along the Dobies on the plane), although I weigh only 145lbs.
"Is it just a slightly beefed up laser?"
- Maybe call it "slightly to moderately" beefed up? I spent lots of time trying it on side-by-side with the Garmont G-Ride last year. Very different boots, but seemed to be exactly as stiff (at least in forward flex). Last year the MegaRide was supposed to be softer than the G-Ride (though I never did a side-by-side test), although this year's Mega is rumored to be tweaked to be almost as stiff as the G-Ride. This year's Matrix is supposed to have a stiffer lower shell. The walk/ski switch is a different color, although I'm not sure it's a different design at all. (And I happen to think that last year's shell colors are a really cool mango, whereas this year's colors are a gross orange/yellow mix.)
Stiffening up the Matrix even further with a Flexon tongue is very easy, and it makes a very noticeable difference. By contrast, retrofitting a Flexon tongue onto the Mega is possible, yet more difficult.
The Spirit 3 seems to add the same amount of stiffness (and weight) onto the Matrix as the Matrix did onto the Laser. If the 4-buckle Dynafit seems to be a disappointment (despite what Lou says), then best bet would probably be to get a Spirit 3 from telemark-pyrenees.com and retro on a Flexon tongue. (With the $200 you save by ordering it from t-p, you can probably afford some old Flexon tongues!)
Overall, I think the buckle count is becoming a bit odd, w/ all the generalizations about "3-buckle" boots (which would include both the Spirit 3 and MegaLite) vs. "4-buckle boots" (which would include both the MegaRide and Denali TT).

[pde20]

This from customer service at Scarpa North America:

"As far as the Spirit 3 is concerned, the current Scarpa distributor has elected to not import this model for the US market. We plan to import the Spirit when we take over distribution for North America in April.

As it has not been in the country, I am sorry, but I cannot tell you exactly how it compares to either the Matrix or Denali, but I hear it is dual-density and fits right between the two. The really cool thing is the buckle system- it spreads forces over more area than current buckles do.

If you want a pair, April will be the soonest, but more realistically, next fall we will have dealers stocking them."

Me thinks that the Spirit 3 looks intriguing...beefier than the matrix, with a little Frankensteining perhaps it is the one. Acutally, the tongue of the spirit looks to be pretty unique, the strap seems to go through it? Not sure how that would jive w/ a home brew tongue.

And Jonathan, thanks for the good input. Are flexon tounges really that hard to find? Such that you would pay $200 for them? Damn.

[Meathelmet]

Stiffening up the Matrix even further with a Flexon tongue is very easy, and it makes a very noticeable difference. By contrast, retrofitting a Flexon tongue onto the Mega is possible, yet more difficult.

Lets see about that...

I´m getting my megarides back in couple of days.

Here i have ready and waiting 2 different Flexon tongues.

-Soft Black-Silver one.
-Stiff Yellow-Purple

They both have the metall clip instead of the square hole, so i might need to drill/rehole the tongues to make them fit in the megas.

Pictures of the pretty FrankenBoots promised as soon as i get my hands on the boots.

Btw, have anyone turned around the toe-buckle on the 04-05 megas?
Like they have now on this years model?

[Jonathan S.]

"Are flexon tounges really that hard to find? Such that you would pay $200 for them? Damn."
The price range for acquiring flexon tongues seems to be from about $50 new (or so I've heard) to $0 for used (when acquired by sifting through a massive pile of discarded boots with stagnant water that seemed to be an attempt to breed west nile virus, not that I'm necessarily implying I'm that desparate, but...).

Also, re Mega retrofitting, I'm just going on the pictures I've seen of different attempts: certainly is possible, although they needed more skill & work than was necessary for my Matrix retrofit.

[Jonathan S.]

"Acutally, the tongue of the spirit looks to be pretty unique, the strap seems to go through it? Not sure how that would jive w/ a home brew tongue."
- That feature seems to be the same as on the Matrix (or maybe just beefed up a bit more). That is, the buckle strap (or whatever you call the "male" end) coming around from the medial side is reinforced with plastic that is connected the upper cuff. So no problems with retrofitting on a new tongue. (The ribs on the Flexon tongue even mesh better with the middle buckle than the ribs on the original tongue.)

[sanjuaner]

The 4 buckle Dynafit Aero skis much stiffer than the Matrix or the Denali tt and xt. Did you try the 3 buckle version? Quite a different boot. I tried the 4 B Aero and went back to my Matrix boots on Dynafit Freeride 10.0 Carbons.

[pde20]

The 4 buckle Dynafit Aero skis much stiffer than the Matrix or the Denali tt and xt. Did you try the 3 buckle version? Quite a different boot. I tried the 4 B Aero and went back to my Matrix boots on Dynafit Freeride 10.0 Carbons.

I'm confused by your response. so, you are saying that the Aero Freeride (4 buckles) skied stiffer than a Denali? So you went back to a matrix because the Freeride aero was too stiff? My goal is to find the stiffest,most skiing oriented Dynafit compatible boot, that doesn't sound like your criteria.

The Dynafit Freeride Aero with 4 Buckles that I put on yesterday was an absolute bag of jelly on my feet compared to my four year old Denali XTs. The only conclusion that I can draw is that either I am so retarded that I was manipulating the "walk" and "ski" lever improperly and not locking the cuff down (despite the reassuring clicks I kept hearing) or we are talking about different boots. Damn it, now the self doubt kicks in and I will have to go try them on again with my Denalis side by side. Bastard.

[sanjuaner]

Yeah, I'm saying the 4 buckle Freeride Aero was a liitle on the stiff side for me. Size 12 foot, 197 lbs, backcountry 80-100 days a year, lift skiing 5-6 days per year. My Denali's were great, but then I went back to Dynafit bindings. I've skied the Matrix since the early prototype pair 2 years ago and will probably ski it until Feb when the Spirit protos show up here.

I thought the Freeride was a notch stiffer than the current Denali, very similar to the current Adrenaline and Tornado. All about one notch more than I like.

[Jonathan S.]

"The only conclusion that I can draw is that either I am so retarded that I was manipulating the "walk" and "ski" lever improperly and not locking the cuff down (despite the reassuring clicks I kept hearing) or we are talking about different boots."
- Here's another possibility (not that I'm trying to downplay your public confession to possible 'tardo tendencies): look at the picture on Lou's website, then look at the picture at either life-link.com or dynafit.at (the latter two seem to be identical). I think Lou might have a redesigned beefed-up version, whereas the company websites show earlier versions. Maybe it's just the angle of the photo, but the two upper buckles on the company website are almost flush with each other, looking like a desparate attempt to take a medium-sized upper cuff and retrofit its beefiness with another buckle. By contrast, the upper cuff on Lou's boot looks much taller, with lots of space between the two buckles.

[sanjuaner]

the difference in those photos relates to the size of the boots. Run down to the shop and check out the spacing difference between the size 26 and the size 29. Noticeable. Lou's boot is a stocker so far.

[Jonathan S.]

the difference in those photos relates to the size of the boots. Run down to the shop and check out the spacing difference between the size 26 and the size 29. Noticeable. Lou's boot is a stocker so far.

I stand corrected - so much for my attempt to defend Lou's judgement. (Although I'll have to take your word for it, since running over to the nearest Dynafit boot dealer is going to be quite a workout as the east cost hath none.)
Although (see, I can't quite give up yet on defending Lou), is it possible that they scaled down the shell height excessively on smaller sizes? Typically an upper cuff spans two full size runs. So, maybe someone trying on the smallest size run that has a bigger cuff might find the boot pretty beefy, but someone trying on the large size that has a small cuff might find the boot noodly?!?