Dynafit compatible burly AT boot fit

[Spats]

I tried on three AT boots. All had uncooked thermo liners.

Scarpa Spirit 3
Garmont Megaride
Dynafit Aero Freeride

Volume, least to greatest:
1) Aero. Small all over. This feels like a Lange alpine boot, overlap shell and all. Not for people with wide feet...I'm not even a C and it was tight. Volume top to bottom is very low, too: if you have a tall arch your instep will get crushed. I can't imagine anyone having room for footbeds in this thing.
2) Megaride. About a C width, more room top to bottom than the Aero. Still smallish in the heel pocket. Enough room for footbeds unless your foot is tall.
3) Spirit 3. This has the usual Scarpa AT thing where the bottom of the shell slopes inward, so it squeezes your foot even though there's tons of room. Put in a footboard or two and you have a solid D-E width. Absolutely gigantically huge above the foot. Big in the heel, too, although the instep buckle helps.

Stiffness, least to greatest:
1) Spirit 3. Not by much. It's not a noodle by any means, but the tall cuff makes it feel less stiff than it is.
2) Megaride. Definitely stiffer, but it's not a night and day difference.
3) Aero. This is alpine boot stiff. You could blindfold me and tell me I was in a midrange Lange.

Weight, least to most:
1) Megaride
2) Spirit 3
3) Aero
None of these boots are light, but the Megaride weighs a little less than the Spirit, and the Aero weighs maybe a little bit more than the Spirit. I don't think the difference is a deal-breaker...if you're watching ounces that closely, you want a different type of boot.

Walk mode, worst to best:
1) Aero. The walk switch helps a little, but it still feels almost like walking in alpines, just with less slippage. Not my choice for long stretches on foot.
2) Megaride. Huge difference...much easier to walk. The cuff bends backwards a lot more than the Aero and it's much less stiff in walk mode.
3) Spirit 3. Easier than the Megaride, but not a huge difference. Both work pretty well.

General:

The Aero has noticeably more forward lean than the other two.

If you want your AT boots to feel like alpine boots, the Aero is your choice -- if you can get your feet into them. It's very solid, feels well-made and well-finished, and I think it's the best-looking boot. You will sacrifice ease of walking, though it's better than your alpines. I wanted to try on more Dynafit boots, but that's all they had.

If you've got a low volume foot, Megaride. If you've got a high volume foot, Spirit. In my opinion, they're not different enough in weight or flex for that to override the radical difference in fit.

Hope this helps.

[Arno]

Interesting post and very well timed for me. Off to Chamonix this weekend and some burly Dynafit compatible boots are on the shopping list. My alpine boots are Atomics which are snug but fit very well and, on that basis, I've had the Aeros recommended to me. The question is whether the discomfort from walking is enough to put me off. I do have some quite long days planned for them.

Anyway, I'll report back on my findings

[XtrPickels]

Spats- any change to choice in Aero shell size? I had the complete opposite experience and I'm now wondering if I ought to have sized down or if they brought out the wrong shell size. I felt like I was swimming in that boot and Garmont's felt alot better.

[edg]

This may be an odd question but... Coming from a T2 and T2X on tele to a Matrix on dynafit - what'll be new?

(Bear in mind I have never skied alpine bindings on snow...)

edg

[wilcox510]

Interesting, I tried on the Dynafits a year ago and thought they were pretty high volume, not as huge as old Dynafits, but still pretty big. Werent they supposed to lighten those things up this year? Did they actually change them?

[sar13]

Spats - Have you tried on the Matrix? To me it felt very low across the instep which is a common problem for me. I had the same problem in the Lasers but not the Denalis. I went with the Megas for this reason.

It sounds like your impression of the Spirits is more like the Denali fit.

Yes or no?

[marshalolson]

thanks spats... super good info. appreciate it man.

[summit]

good info

[uncle crud]

Spats, that's great comparo info. I got the MegaRides 3 seasons ago from a local gear shop that had Scarpa & Garmont and there was no way the huge-volume Scarpa would work with my very Lange-like foot. I've had to do a good bit of modding to get me MegaRides to work for me. The internal height of the shell is the biggest problem for me, my feet are low-volume over the instep and I had a hard time getting good enough closure of the shell to make skiing feel even remotely precise.

Sounds like the Dynafit Aero is a good boot for my foot. Now if I can just dump the MegaRides on someone!

Did you examine the Aero's shell and walk-lever mechanism to see if there was any way to improve the walking mode?

[Mulletizer]

So, does the Spirit 3 have a second tongue? You mentioned it is pretty soft-flexing; the Spirit 4 has a black stiff one that adds a lot more beef - stiffer tongue than any other AT boot I've seen. Would be a very easy mod if it isn't included.

[wilcox510]

Mulletizer - I think you compared the stiff Spirit 4 tongue to a Krypton tongue in another thread. Is it similar to the soft Krypton tongue, or way stiff like the stiff Krypton tongue?

[Spats]

Each boot was shell fit from 1.5 to 1.8 fingers, so I was properly sized. All boots were this year's model: 06-07.

This put me a half size bigger in the Megaride and a full size bigger in the Spirit than the Aero -- although the Spirit was the loosest shell fit, a size down would have been tight, and it wouldn't have done anything to the width or the gigantic volume atop my foot.

Subjectively, the Dynafit was the best-quality boot. The liner was beautifully made and the shell feels like it's been carved from metal. The Garmont is a strong second place. The Scarpa is still a very good boot, and only suffers by comparison to the Dynafit...the overlap is kind of fiddly to get right, it creaks a lot when you walk, and the two glossy shades of tangerine are very early-90s.

XtrPickels: Either you were given the wrong shell size or you're comparing to some other Garmont boot. I only tried on the Megaride, and the Aero was much tighter everywhere.

edg: no idea, I've never tele'd.

wilcox: no idea, didn't try on last year's.

sar: haven't tried on Denalis so I can't comment. I'm sticking to Dynafit compatible.

uncle crud: no idea, I didn't have that much time. I think it's just the inherent stiffness of the boot. The Aero is very, very solid.

Mulletizer: I didn't see an extra tongue in the box.

[shirk]

I had a different feel between the MegaRides and Spirit 3 on stiffness.

With a MegaRide on one foot and Spirit 3 on the other I stood and walked around the shop for 15 minutes. The MegaRide I could flex like a ballet slipper, knee was way way out over my toes. With the Spirit 3 it was a much stiffer feel, more progessive, knee not nearly as far out on the toes.

There was no extra tongue in the box, but it's the same new design tongue on the Tornado's and Spirit 3 and 4. Slap the black stiffer tongue on there and it would be even stiffer on the forward flex. No hunting for used Flexon or Diablo tongues or mod work would be needed.

I also really liked the taller cuff on the Spirit three, when I would fully flexed out on the MegaRide it felt like it would going to cut me off mid shin.

My regular alpine boots are Nordica Beast10, I am 6foot, about 175.

[upallnight]

megaride with stock tongue is soft, soft, soft.

that said, i felt i was swimming (relatively) in my Aero FRs and the megarides are a much lower volume fit. both were 05/06 models, but i just point it out as my experience differed from that of Spats (good post, btw).

the Aero FRs are significantly heavier. their stiffness is primarily a function of two wings in the boot that limit flex altogether and cause the whole boot to deform if you want to flex past this point.

[Mofro261]

Good info.

Coincidently, I tried on both ther Aero and the Megaride yesterday at Pro Ski Service though didn't submit them to as much rigor as you did. For my low-arch wide box 26.0 foot, the megaride felt like a much better fit, and the Aero was quite narrow. It had the effect of jamming my toes forward and leaving room in the heel pocket, with a lot of pressure on the in-step.I felt I could have gone down 1/2 size if it weren't for my toes being crammed to the front. Coming from only skiing in ~stiff DH boots (still in a Technica ALU-Icon Comp, anyone have a line on liners in a 26.0?), both boots seemed really sloppy but the Aero a bit less so. The Aero was a bit heavier and stiffer of the two.

However since both come with thermo fit liners, I was told that the un-molded fit in either boot was pretty much meaningless to how it will fit once properly molded.

[Idris]

Just spent the money on the Aero Freeride - Ouch, must be the most expensive AT boot in Footworks. They ended up swaping the skiiny thermo liner for a much thicker stiffer on for nothing though.

Skiied them for the first time today. Compared to my modified Lowa Stuka Evos it was night and day. no problem pushing my rockboards (180 explosives) around. No slop at speed, plent of lateral stifness in the bumps. A

Not as stiff flex wise as my Richlee F1's but not far off. I'd say they were stiffer than a lot of alpines outr there. The walk mode isn't fantastic, but the sole is very rockered. This makes a night/day difference from the Richlees. I think I will have only one pair of boots this season, not 2.

[wilcox510]

Idris - so what liner did you end up with?

[Idris]

Idris - so what liner did you end up with?

Palau Stiff/thick (12mm) thermoformable - They are the light/warm, thick liner of choice here. Not as volume filling as foam, but world lighter and warmer, both of which you need in an AT boot, also 110Eu less in cost.

FYI Spirit 3 & 4, Megaride, Dynafit Aeros and Matrix availble on the shelf in most stores here.

[Arno]

Well, I went with the Spirit 4s. The thing that made the difference for me was the walk mode - spent some time walking around the shop with an Aero on one foot and a Spirit on the other.

Spent some time discussing why the Spirit 4 rather than the Spirit 3. Scarpa's literature on this isn't very clear but it seems that the 4 is PU and the 3 Pebax (think that's the right way round) so better downhill performance results. I know there's an extra buckle on the 4 but IMO it's in a place where it doesn't do very much for you.

By coincidence, I bumped into Idris by the screwdrivers in the Grands Montets lift station (a Euro-Maggot hang-out if ever there was one) and he agreed to ski with me despite my rather co-ordinated lime green apprearace . Very enjoyable morning dodging rocks, finding some nice powder turns, and putting new kit through its paces.

He also came to my rescue when I realised that having got my dynafit bindings on, I had no idea how to get them off . So thanks to Idris for patience in the presence of extreme jongness

[summit]

I havent found any stores near me that have any dynafit compatible boots at all

[pechelman]

if youre a size 27ish, you're welcome to try on my freeride aeros anytime.
just let me know and ill bring them with me to summit co

[Hugh Jass]

Super informative thread, Spats.

Probably good to point out again that his experience is based on three competing 06/07 models. Sounds to me like changes have been made from last year's Megaride and Aero, and of course the Spirit 3 wasn't available.

FWIW, my 06/07 Megarides feel as stiff as 05/06 Adrenalins, at least longitudinally. I'm sure there is more plastic in the Adrenalin for improved lateral stiffness.

I have a narrow, low volume foot attached to embarassingly skinny calves. The MR fits me very well, although I haven't tried on 06/07 Scarpa or Dynafit boots.

[ccl]

I skied in the MegaRides (1st year model) for 2 seasons and switched to the Spirit 3 this season. I think the Spirit 3 's are a much better performing boot, both for touring and skiing. So far I have about 25-30 days on them in about every condition.

I have a narrow, low volume foot and getting the fit dialed has been tricky. About 3/8" of foam underneath the liner tapering towards the toe did the trick. Even the MegaRide was too high volume for my toothpick foot.

They are stiffer than my old MegaRides, but the biggest difference for me is the increase in forward lean. The MegaRides are just way too upright, even in the forward most position. The Spirit 3 can be dialed way, way forward. In tour mode they have more flex than the Garmont.

I bought a pair of Tornado tongues from Scarpa USA for $20, these fit into the Spirit 3. With these tongues the boots are the stiffest AT boot I've been in since alpine boots. I'm sure this combination is the stiffest Dynafit option out there. Too stiff for me. They ski great but tour like shit, and my shins get sore trying to flex them forward while touring. Shin bang in an AT boot? Crazy. Probably almost as stiff as the Tornado except for the Pebax shell difference.

I don't know if they've changed the Aero this season, but they are nearly a pound heavier than the Spirit 3 and MegaRide.