Dynafit TLT8 Carbonio

[SkiNowWorkLater]

The TLT8s actually tour and ski really great; the big difference is that they fit a different foot demographic than the TLT6. If you always wanted to love TLT6s but they just didn't fit your high-volume foot, I think you will really dig the TLT8.

That said, I am selling my 27.0 TLT8s at a great price here because I have a TLT6 foot.

[ccl]

Echoing what SkiNowWorkLater said, I have a TLT6 foot and am also selling mine. I was hoping that an Intuition pro tour liner would take up the necessary volume but I couldn't get the fit I was looking for. Comparing the TLT8 Carbonio to the TLT6P, I don't think the 8 skis as well as the 6 with the tongue in (although it's close), and it doesn't tour as well as the 6 with the tongue out. You give up in both directions in order to not fiddle with the tongue. I ski an Alien RS regularly and just didn't feel like the 8 was a big enough step up in ski performance to justify it's big penalty in the touring department. The 8 has a way more restricted tour mode than the Alien RS, but so do most boots

[Jongle]

On advice of my bootfitter, I picked up a pair of TLT8 Carbonios last month to replace my old Atomic Backland Carbons (the old version with the removable tongue). I've put 7 days on them now so here are some initial impressions. TLDR: I like them.

For reference, my feet are 246mm (left) and 253mm (right) long and are 105-106mm wide. I have low-volume heels and ankles, so I have a tough time finding boots that fit my wide feet and large calves while also having good heel hold. The old Backland Carbons in a 24.5 fit me really well after heat molding the shells, punching for more width, and adding MV Pro Tour liners and Booster straps. After ~150 days the shell material is starting to oval out around the cuff pivots, creating unwanted play in ski mode, hence needing to find a replacement. I prefer snug-fitting touring boots and hate having slop or extra volume in ski mode.

The Carbonios felt pretty high-volume out of the box, but as another poster mentioned, this is largely due to the thin and flimsy stock liner. After swapping in a pair of MV Pro Tours the fit was much more secure, with good heel hold. The Pro Tours also eliminated a few weird pressure points I noticed with the stock liners. The Carbonios fit wider than the pre-molded Backlands but still needed punching for width. The length is good; I have about a 1-1.5 finger shell fit on the left and <1 finger on the right. Might need a big toe punch for more length on the right, TBD. Overall, I would say the fit is quite similar to the old Backlands, but the Carbonios are probably a little higher-volume through the toebox and lower-volume in the heel/achilles area.

The flex on the Carbonios is much stiffer than the Backland Carbons, but also less progressive. With the Backlands I could cinch the Booster strap up behind the tongue to create a really nice progressive flex, but couldn't quite get the same effect with the Carbonios. The Boosters weren't worth the extra weight so I swapped them out for Voile straps, which are lighter than Boosters but still have more elasticity than the static stock straps. Subjectively, I'd call the Carbonios ~20 points stiffer than the Backlands. They are actually close to my Hawx Prime XTD 130s in stiffness, although much less progressive. Many Carbonio reviews mention that they aren't burly enough to drive skis >95mm wide, but I have zero concerns about skiing my Bentchetler 120s and Line Pescados with them later this season.

The range of motion is better than Hawx Prime XTDs but doesn't come close to the Backlands w/o tongues, which are truly frictionless. That said, the Carbonio ROM is totally adequate for everything I'll use them for, including some long traverses, and the fiddle factor is way lower than the Backlands.

It took me a couple of tours to get used to the stiffer/non-progressive flex, but now I'm really happy with how the Carbonios ski. My heels are locked in and there's virtually no slop in the shells. I find I have to stay more balanced because the fore/aft flex is less forgiving than the Backlands, and this also makes them a little trickier to finesse at low speeds, while also feeling more stable at high speeds or in rough snow. I skied a couple of laps inbounds after a sidecountry tour yesterday and was surprised how little I had to dial it back, given that these are positioned for the fast & light crowd. Mind you, I'm not a big guy (5'7, 165lbs), although I ski aggressively.

Pretty stoked so far. I'll probably post an update after skiing them in a wider range of conditions and with some bigger skis. So far all my touring days have been on Line Vision 98s.

Weight: ~820g shells only, ~1150 grams with MV Pro Tours, custom footbeds and Voile straps.