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+1 on barrows setup. I found in most conditions without the tongue and having some foward flex these boots are close to my ideal.
That said I did a companion rescue course this week and coming back on the groomers for the first time with these boots i was wishing for front boot to be a bit stiffer,an easy fix.

aw yeh the lean bar seems to be all good with just the 2 rivets... i ended up putting the tongues back in, feels like a better drive on the toeside.
custom fabbin of the bar seems to be the ideal solution, nice work vapor
im thinkin of glueing a bit of high density rubber (2mm) onto the bottom shelf of the slot to give a touch more lean with a bit of dampening.

First off I have to give big thanks to Barrows and everybody else that posted personal experience w/the TLT 5. I just got a pair of these in mondo 27 and a set of burton race plates that I direct mounted to voile plates. The only mod that I have done to the boot so far is removing the power strap and removable tongues and holy smokes these ride extremely well. I have toured with them for 2 days so far with each day being around 5000 total vertical. The touring is so much better and the reference of these being built around a pair of running shoes on the dynafit site is so true when touring. Riding is not too different at all compared to my 2008 Driver X's and the only stance change that I did was to set my back foot to zero.

Direct mounting the burton race plates to the voile plates ended up being much easier than thought as well. I just had to file out the two sets of outer holes on the stock voile plate and boom! that was that. I also used the shims under the heel plate to achieve more forward lean.

All in all I am stoked that I took the leap w/hard boots and can't wait for more days out in them.

cheers

JK

what are your guys thoughts on the sizing of these things? i.e. if you wear a size 26 in scarpa would you size up or down?

Read the whole thread to get other's ideas on sizing. This boot has a very close, very anatomical fit. Scarpa, in comparison, is more of a bathtub. A great deal of the TLT5s fantastic performance is due to the close fit, and low bulk of the boot shell-but because of this, one really needs to try them on to be sure of the shell fit.
I would not recommend ordering these without trying them on. That said, mondo size should be the same as Scarpa. If you are really considering purchasing them without trying them on, got the TGR forums and read the threads there in boots for more details on the fit.

25 mondo in F1 and F3, 25 mondo in TLT5.

thanks for the info guys. I pulled the trigger on some last night and I am stoked! hope I can go pick them up later today to try them on.

Big thanks to Barrows. After riding with him last season and booting up frozen spring couliors, I was really wanting something that works better with crampons and a more efficient setup for long tours.

I made the plunge and picked up some TLT5's. Got everything mounted just in time for a three day stretch. Put in about 12 miles on my setup and everything is working good. I have yet to modified the boots in any way except for removing the power strap, putting in a foot bed and not using the removable tongue.

Thanks again Barrows for all the help. Thinking of adding the heal lift in ride mode to see how that feels.

So far, I'm really happy. Now I'm wondering what to do with my soft boots.

This setup is so much more simpler. Fits more in line with Keep It Simple Stupid (KISS).

Not sure why I can't get this picture to rotate right side up. Was able to do this in the past and it looks right on Photobucket. Oh Well, you get the idea.

My experience with heel lift (everyone's preference is different):

I went ahead and lengthened the ride slot a little based on carpet testing before riding the boots. After riding them, I added heel lift to my back foot because it wanted a little more forward lean.

After riding a few more times, I decided to lengthen the ride slot to the upper rivet. I like the range of flex much better. Today I am removing the heel lift because I now have enough forward flex in the boot but the heel lift seems to be making heelside initiation a bit sluggish.

I also tried riding with the tongues in place today. For powder, as a lightweight, it made the boots stiffer than I like and I took them out. I might still prefer them in spring corn though.

Hey Buell, Thanks for the tips. Near the end of last season, we were riding the spring corn on steep slopes and I was having trouble with my heel edge. Barrows suggested I put more forward lean in my soft boots binding high back. That seemed to fix my heel side troubles. I was wondering if that was what the heel lift would do for me, add more forward lean.

As for the slot, I'm wondering if that will help with the toe edge. The last run of the day had my front foot burning a bit as we made our way through the "bobsled run" (tight trees where the trail gets packed out from everyone using it as the exit point). I think it might have been due to either my bad form as I tried to twist the board with my feet rather than my legs or maybe I just needed more forward lean? In general, I'm trying to take is slow with the boot mods.

As Barrows says, just do the mods, you'll like it. I'm trying to not just skip to the end but learn along the way.

I like the lean bar slotted for forward flex, and with just a smidge of heel lift on the rear binding. All of these kind of adjustments need to be considered along with your riding style and stance, different stances will result in different approaches being best. I am also running 2.5 degrees medial cant on both feet.
I ride with 30-27 degrees on the front foot, 15-9 degrees on the back foot, and 21"-21.75" stance width (at 6'1" height). I like a little (just 2.5 mm or so, a tiny bit) of heel lift on the rear foot because it puts my rear knee right where it wants to be, when the boot is neutral: that is when I am not actually flexing the boot forward. I have increased the slotting of the lean bar on the rear boot eliminating the top rivet (ala Mark, aka karkis), but have kept the front boot slotted only to about 1/3 of the way into the rivet-this way I get forward support on the front foot without having to go to the stiffer tongue.
I am considering another mod: cutting out the fixed split tongue, and adding in a Scarpa "Touring" tongue-which is a very soft hinged tongue. I have not done it yet, as this mod could not be reversed (although one could adapt many differnt tongues to suit).

It is all personal preference. The mods are done slowly. Mod a little, test, mod, test. Definitely test the heel lift. Having the heelside support in the right place for your own riding is really important.

Boots that are too stiff or not set up right will lead to bad form. Particularly to using the upper body to initiate turns instead of the lower body. For me, moding the forward lean allows me to bend my ankles and use them much more effectively to drive the board. Other AT boot riders prefer unmodified boots and are able to get enough flex.

Edit to add: Rebecca only has half the amount of forward lean slot removed that I do and she does not want any more taken out. It surprised both of us that she wants less than me because she is lighter and generally cannot flex boots as easily.

Earlier this year I tested a slight inward (medial) cant (smallest wedge on the F2 bindings) of the front and back bindings for both Rebecca and myself. We both really liked it and have kept it. On our alpine board and boots we do not use any canting (just a little lift) but I think with the body mechanics of the lower angles on the splitboard (about 25f, 15r) the canting really helps. As improved hardboot binding systems come out it will be interesting to see if and how they tackle this issue. It certainly helps to have so many hardbooters touring with Dynafit already.

I still need to ride them in more conditions but if the TLT5 is too soft without the plastic tongue and too stiff with it, I plan to grind down the plastic tongue until I get the flex I want.