Vis-a-vis test: Scarpa F1 tronic vs Salomon MTN Lab

[verbier61]

skied Elan Alaska Pro 177 (stellar 1.1 kg AT ski, even a bit better than the Blizzard zero G 85 I've skied past week) with F1 tronic on one foot and MTN Lab on the other one.
For my nasty foot, F1 is still a bit cumbersome to dress, MTN Lab is pretty easy.
F1 walks way better. It's the AT boot closest to the "walk like a sneaker" concept, TLT6p included. And - for my foot - it never hurts.
This type of test, in my experience, needs a learning curve of about 30-40 min. In this time, skiing more slow and carefully, I've felt the largest difference BTW these two boots. In spite of the 300 or so difference in grams, the lateral stiffness is quite similar. Still believe that Scarpa did a very good engineering work in stiffening the F1 base. Just give a look by yourself. The 300g, though, make a difference in crud and crust, where the mass plays a relevant role.
By the end of a day spent skiing almost every kind of snow (powder, tracked, crud, groomed, ice, transformed...) the difference btw the two boots was reduced to (almost) nothing because of inevitable compensatory mechanisms.
In summary: F1 takes more time to dress, but walks way better. On light skis such as the alaska pro, the advantage of the MTN lab is when skiing crud, crust, heavy and generally speaking "bad" snow. Mass helps a lot there.
Both terrific boots, anyway.

[Island Bay]

Thanks Verb.
I'm surprised to hear that the Scarpa did so well in direct comparison with the Mtn Lab, which everybody has been so keen to praise.
Very curious to hear more if you put in more time on the F1.
Grazie!

[LeeLau]

Like verb I found the F1,Evo to be a ridiculously good downhill boot. Really opened my mind to what light boots can do

[verbier61]

Like verb I found the F1,Evo to be a ridiculously good downhill boot. Really opened my mind to what light boots can do

coundn't say it better. F1 has been unlucky because of the tronic issue, but is a stellar boot for its weight.
My only concern is the time I need to wear it because of my nasty foot, but otherwise I'd spend most of my ski days with it

[I've seen black diamonds!]

This is great to hear. Looking forward to trying some on in Italy next week.