Splitboard.com Forums

Hello,

I am thinking about new boots. Currently running Burton Ruler 11.5 and my new split is Heritage 161 w/ Blazes.

With my stance and set-up, there seems to be *some* potential for toe / heel drag that I'd like to eliminate for the steeps.

Malamutes look very nice, especially with the heel lock and good fit (when I tried them) and I am interested to hear comparisons with the F-series, as I hear the F can eliminate 1 inch or so from the length, which should take care of the toe drag.

My gut is that the F-series (if they fit well) can't be that much worse than the Malamutes, I haven't had a truly stiff boot for a while so I wouldn't lose much in this aspect, and I'd be winning the elimination of toe-drag, which I'm sure I'll appreciate a lot.

Thank you for any advice / opinion / experience you can share! Suggestions for other boots to try also welcome
Ivo

I just went through this same scenario and ended up getting the Malamutes.

F-series shave length by making the liner non-removable. So, if your doing multi-day stuff, drying could be an issue.

Something to be wary of with Solomon is that their sizing is euro so buying boots without trying them on is a bad idea. I wear a size 11.5 Burton boot and a size 10.5 Solomon. The footprint of my 11.5 Burton SLX is the exact same length as the footprint of my 10.5 Malamute.

Solomon liners mold better than the Burton liners if you need to punch out hot-spots and such. This was a biggie for me as I have gnarly frankenfeet.

Malamutes are stiff! Oddly enough, however, the stiffest boots I tried on were the new Nike boots. WAY stiffer than the Malamutes or the Driver Xs but very narrow.

My only complaint about the Malamutes is that the toe doesn't rocker up as much as the Burtons so it hits the board earlier when skinning.

The lacing system on the Malamutes feels sturdier than the Burton system and because it's all external you could fix it yourself in a bind if a lace breaks.

Good luck! If you've got narrow feet try on the Nike boots. I would have bought them if they fit.

maybe you can use the Voile toe plates to help with that.

I tried many boots this year (many lower end burtons, Driver x, dc judge boa, etc) and finally got the Malamutes, which are awesome for me!

F-Series may work for you, but you do need to try them on, as they tend to be a little narrower in the forefoot, with a little less toe box room than the Malamutes. As noted above, F-Series are a little harder to dry out than Malamutes. Additionally, the single boot nature of the F-Series boots makes them less warm than the Malamutes.
If they work for your foot, and you do not need a lot of warmth, the F-Series boots may be a really good choice for you.

Thank you all for the responses!

Based on what I read and Barrows' advice, I am pre-ordering the Spark Deeluxe from All Boards Sports
Ivo

Looking forward to a review of those Sparks boots!