The Atomic Ski Boot Thread

[onenerdykid]

We unfortunately can't make Formula plastic any softer than what is found in the F4/130 boots. The plastic that is in the 120 & 110 is a fantastic polyurethane (ether) material that is super damp, smooth, and progressive but not temperature stable.
The ShockStopper boot board from the Remedy will go into any Redster TX boot.
Fitting a ZipFit into a boot is possible, but it entirely depends on your foot's volume and how that interacts with the shell. I cannot fit such a liner into a CS/TX/Remedy, but many folks can.

[MCskid]

Nerdy, I’ve been cabrio for the last 25 years and have always hoped atomic would make one so thanks for the ar one! I am beyond psyched for that boot. I swore off overlap because of the crappy flex, my last pair was like a brick wall, tons of shin bang. But it sounds like overlap boots have come a long way in the last 25 years and the tx/remedy has me overlap curious. Am sure you’ve spent a lot of time in both, could you do an ar one vs remedy. And why I might want to switch back. Almost assuredly getting the ar one but you never know. Wish I could demo them both, then decide. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of any shop that demo’s boots, are there any(in Colorado). Thanks, Mike

[GoldenBC]

Before even contemplating which construction method speaks to you better, the shape of the boot should determine which one you get.

The AR One is the same shape as the Atomic Prime. So a medium volume boot. 100mm wide. Something like the Dalbello Lupo AX/ KryptonAX last if you’ve been in them.

The Remedy is a low volume boot. 96mm. Tighter than the Ultra. Picture the Krypton or Lupo 130c but without a ton of space above your foot.

They are not really interchangeable and the fit should be your deciding factor.

[onenerdykid]

MCSkid - I would echo the comments from Golden. Both boots are great, but both won't be the right fit for you (out of the box). I'll add that if you have an "AR One" foot shape, the Remedy can easily be made to fit. It does not take a lot of work to get a medium volume into a Remedy. But, the opposite is not true; if you have a Remedy foot, going with the AR One won't really work for you.

[HukuTa_KydecHuk]

MCSkid - I would echo the comments from Golden. Both boots are great, but both won't be the right fit for you (out of the box). I'll add that if you have an "AR One" foot shape, the Remedy can easily be made to fit. It does not take a lot of work to get a medium volume into a Remedy. But, the opposite is not true; if you have a Remedy foot, going with the AR One won't really work for you.

@onenerdykid if I have a near-perfect fit for Hawx Ultra out of the box - what should I expect from Remedy? Any areas that are significantly different? Well, except wideness obviously

[onenerdykid]

@Hukuta - if you fit into an Ultra out of the box, then you will most likely fit into a Remedy out of the box.

[alpinevibes]

@Hukuta - if you fit into an Ultra out of the box, then you will most likely fit into a Remedy out of the box.

I think you mentioned on the podcast that you lengthened the toebox on the Remedy compared to the CS. Would the Remedy toebox be/feel longer than the Hawx Ultra?

[onenerdykid]

Both boots in the stock configuration, the Remedy has more toe space.

[MCskid]

Nerdy/Golden, been in a Krypton with zipfit(forgot which one) for years. It fits great(no work needed), believe it’s a 98mm last, which is right between the 2. So possible my foot fits both? Also, ain’t there some pretty big performance differences between the 2?

[onenerdykid]

When a shell is too voluminous for your foot, the fit may feel comfy in the store but as soon as you go skiing, your foot will move around inside the shell. This results in a less precise boot, a less responsive boot and your liners to pack out faster than normal.

The Remedy is going to be a higher performing boot than most boots outside of pure World Cup race, so the bar is pretty high. I would definitely put the AR One up against any other 130-flex MV boot.

[CaliBrit]

So wait. Is the AR one being released under Armada brand?

[onenerdykid]

Yes, the Armada AR One. It's Armada's concept, vision, decisions, and budget for a ski boot. Atomic provided the R&D.

[MCskid]

How did the remedy end up with a bigger toe box than the ar? 4mm last difference seems like a lot. I did see some state that the ar was a ‘lower volume’ 100mm, so maybe it’s really a 99? And thanks for answering all my stupid questions, remember there’s no such thing as a stupid question, just stupid people asking questions!

[onenerdykid]

Remedy doesn't have a larger toe box than the AR. I was speaking about Remedy in comparison to Hawx Ultra.

Also, don't confuse volume and forefoot width. They can be related but they are referring to different things. If you have a lower volume 100mm boot, it doesn't make it 99mm. You can have a low volume 100mm boot and a high volume 100mm boot.

[CaliBrit]

Yes, the Armada AR One. It's Armada's concept, vision, decisions, and budget for a ski boot. Atomic provided the R&D.

They look pretty damn sweet.

[SnowMachine]

Ah, I feel like I type for nothing. Hahaha. Remedy has a slightly tighter forefoot (width) than a Hawx Ultra. I ski a Hawx Ultra RS every day (stock). I cannot ski the Remedy stock. I can definitely ski the Remedy with some minor work.

I will probably move from the RS to Remedy next year. There is a ton you can do with that plastic from a fit perspective. Cool boot.

The AR One has ALL of the potential for me to love it as a freeride boot, but the instep is crushing if you have a Hawx Ultra foot. Performance isn't as precise as the Hawx Ultra RS or XTD, but it has a great flex pattern and other than instep is very comfortable. I wonder if I could heat mold that shell and make it work. I work with a lot of guys that want a performance oriented cabrio (since Dalbello blew it). One of them said a intuition liner solved the instep situation, but that makes it an expensive boot. I've seen the fit compared to the Prime, but I think it is a lower volume boot than that.

As always, YMML.

[GoldenBC]

AR one is crushing your instep but not the Ultra? That isn’t the shel volume, it’s rather the buckle placemen, the liner, or point loading of the edge of the cabrio design.

I’m curious as to Matt’s comments on this.

[SnowMachine]

AR one is crushing your instep but not the Ultra? That isn’t the shel volume, it’s rather the buckle placemen, the liner, or point loading of the edge of the cabrio design. I’m curious as to Matt’s comments on this.

It is shell design or liner as far as I can tell. I skied them with the center (slingblade?) unbuckled. No change. 3 of us skied them with the same result. 2 more tried them on with the same result. One said it was better with his Intuition liners. Unfortunately he was a 27.5 and could not ski the boots without a punch. I tried them with Zips since Luke said be skied them that way. I could not get my foot into the boot with the liner in and could not get the liner into the boot wold cup style.

Of the three of us, 1 daily drives Dalbello Krypton, 1 Redster CS and 1 Hawx Ultra RS. Also curious what Matt thinks. I would like to ski that boot, but I will probably go Remedy next.

[MCskid]

Don’t like hearing that you can’t get a zipfit into an ar one and it’s hard to get a zip into the remedy.

[K1mJ0ngTr1ll]

I put my freeride zip in an AR1 no problem. Didn’t ski it but it fit fine. Also I took a Fischer zip and took out almost all of the cork when setting up my CS/Remedy and believe this is the way to do it. Fits nicely with a touch of slop but I can now slowly add cork to where I’d like it.

[MCskid]

Thanks for sharing Kim, that’s music to my ears.

[K1mJ0ngTr1ll]

Also, I wanna add that I’ve always been able to World Cup style into pretty much any boot with my ankle flexibility. I could easily see it being a pain if your ankle flexion isn’t there so I don’t wanna speak for snow machine and sound like an asshole lol.

[skimeow]

What kind of plastic is Formula and how does it feel qualitatively (dampness/rebound, etc.) compared to traditional PU ethers?

I am particular about metatarsal width (narrower is better) and instep height (higher usually better). How does the new redster compare to the old redster and the current ZA? What about remedy/TX vs ZR?

[onenerdykid]

Re: instep height on AR One - dimensionally it is the same as Hawx Prime, but since the shell construction and buckle configuration are different, it just interacts with your foot in a different way. Liner tongue thickness is what we use in Hawx Prime as well.

[onenerdykid]

Formula Plastic is a special type of polyurethane (ether) material. It's got a very smooth, damp, progressive feel to it that will be rather difficult (impossible?) to relay over the interweb. It does have a little bit of a different feel than the ether material we use in the 120 or 110 (i.e. previous CS materials). Different, not negative. Jonathan at Blister talks about this aspect of the boot in this flash review if you're interested in his take.