Thread: Review: Full Tilt First Chair

I got these at the beginning of the year, probably put 30 days on them.

Boots: 27.0 Full Tilt First Chairs
Me- 140#, 5'9"

I havent seen many reviews on boots, so I will skip all the fit stuff and go straight to performance.

Skiability: They ski awesome, super rigid and the power transfer is great. I was coming off a pair of beatered garmont adrenalines to these and am stoked how much better my skiing got.

Durability: This is mainly why I wrote this review. The boots skied great, but had a surprising number of failures on them. I am not a big guy, and I normally dont break stuff, especially boots.

The first thing that broke was one of the rear shims that adjust forward lean. I had the biggest one in there, and after a hard impact it blew up inside that piece above it, scratched the hell out of the plastic. I took the boot apart and replaced it (which is the plus side of these boots, almost everything is replaceable) and it is still usable, but I was just surprised.

The next thing that "broke" was the middle buckle on my right boot. It didnt really break as much as it bent in half. The middle part went upward, forcing the outside down so I was unable to latch the boot. The buckle had to be replaced. I have no idea how it bent, but I am guessing that it just happened from pushing on the buckle.

Overall, the boots sometimes seem like they ice up, and the buckle slider system doesnt always hold super well when you are trying to buckle it down. This scares me when dropping in on big exposed lines.

Bottom Line: These boots do ski very well. I dig the adjustability, and when they are working they are awesome. I know that these incidents with durability are not isolated, as my coworker with the same boots (Konflict) has had similar issues. Just kind of wanted to post up this review to show that while full tilts might be really good, they are not necessarily perfect.

try dalbellos then, very similar fit and idea, i've beat the hell out of mine for probably 100 days already this season, touring, hiking, resort, and have experienced nothing but very minor wear.

I got a pretty good deal on those fulltilts, but yeah, the buckle system looks more bomb on those kryptons. But I wouldnt buy new boots, I just wanted to point out that these things do have some flaws IMO.

How's the lateral stiffness vs forward stiffness?

I'm skiing in salomon gun and I'm thinking about switching to something new. I only want a touch more forward stiffness, but a ton more lateral stiffness. Seems like a tough thing to find.

me: 5'11" 165 lbs

i love my konflicts. way lighter than dalbellos. no issues for me after 2 seasons.

lateral stiffness is as good as any boot out there. forward flex can vary depending on what flex tongue you choose. i have an 8 and i added an intermediate booster strap.

its at least comforting to know that full tilt offers tons of small replacement parts and most repairs are easy.

exact same thing that happened to your middle buckle happened on my seths, right boot also.

Originally Posted by XtrPickels

How's the lateral stiffness vs forward stiffness?

I'm skiing in salomon gun and I'm thinking about switching to something new. I only want a touch more forward stiffness, but a ton more lateral stiffness. Seems like a tough thing to find.

A race boot.

the gun is based closely on the X3/falcon shape (98mm) but you can get them in much stiffer flexes, and will be able to control the boot shape better with 4 buckles.

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or PM me

I am not trying to argue that this sort of thing will happen but just from my own experience on my season of close to 50 days on my Konflicts this year I have had no problems with any form of breaking or wearing on the boots. Being an agressive skier and weighing in at 240 lbs it is reasonable to say that they can hold up to some punishment. Also I noticed that when bootpacking it is possible for the lower buckles to come undone and then snow can be forced into the notch cut in the plastic buckle that is cut out for the release clip this makes it slide to the "loosest" position every time i tried to close it. This is easily fixed with a key, or a pole tip.

Just some thoughts

any thoughts on why they dont just use a more standard buckle system?

Broke both middle buckles off my FT's, but since I was bushwhacking, climbing over deadfall and hiking for 7 hours I don't attribute it to quality. What I do like is the fact I can replace both buckles for $60 and then just avoid the 7 hour bushwhack and I should be fine, but how tight are you setting boots? I am adding soccer pad to shin and hoping to not overtighten thinking it may help

Originally Posted by mightyduck

any thoughts on why they dont just use a more standard buckle system?

Some of the newer FT's do. I believe the older buckles are the same ones that were used on Raichles, which is essentially what full tilts are.

Originally Posted by mightyduck

any thoughts on why they dont just use a more standard buckle system?

The plastic buckles are very light and the cables are to interface with the ribbed tounge. Yes, they aren't the most durable, but once you learn to treat them right, they are OK.

The lower end boots use the plastic buckles. Metal is where its at, and is used (IIRC) from the konflict up.

I'm sure this is known by most people on the board, but PSA: all of the original FT boots (circa 2008) used plastic buckles. If you're buying used, it's something to know. I don't have ton of days on mine (and I'm pretty easy on my gear), but the plastic ones have held up thus far.