AT boot durability (specifically dynafit zzeus)

[upallnight]

earlier this season, i picked up a new pair of AT boots. at the time, there weren't any reports on the durability of the dynafit zzeus, nor were there many reports beyond the cursory on their skiing and hiking capacity.

i've answered many questions on these in person, so i thought it might be helpful to post some stuff here. i'm guessing i'm probably among the people with the most time on this boot.

i started out the year on my modified garmont megarides and had 32 days (1 in october, then daily from november 4th on) on those until receiving/first riding the zzeuses on december 5th. i only mention this because it meant:
(a) i had my ski legs back for the year; and
(b) my memory of another boot was recent (i.e., the last time i rode them was not from 7 or 8 months prior).

since then, as of today i've put 143 days on the zzeuses... hiking, skinning, riding lifts, and riding helis.

skiing?
i'll keep it simple and say that i haven't looked back to my megarides at all. i sold those a few months back after hanging onto them as i thought they might be useful for early season or long tours. for the record, i think the modified megarides are a fine boot that work well when the rider relies more on technique than brute force, but i find that the additional stiffness of the zzeus at a minor weight penalty is a worthy trade-off. although i'm sure i'd complete a few tours marginally faster with the megarides, the performance of the zzeuses on the uphill is acceptable.

durability?
a picture speaks a thousand words. i'm attaching 5 shots to this post so you can see how they've held up.

a couple things to consider while looking at the images:
1) i clicked into marker dukes approximately 70 days. i tried to shoot a close-up of some minor deformation in the heel that occurred with dukes but not with fritschis or naxos. not a huge deal, IMO. i also used these with dynafits.
2) i think it was meathelmet who had issues with buckles 2 & 3 on a smaller sized boot. this was not an issue for me with 26.0 shells.
3) the soles have held up well walking through parking lots, on the tram dock, and hiking on snow, ice and over plenty of rock.
4) i used the AT soles the entire time. i simply felt that switching is a pain; that even if i'm riding inbounds, i wind up hiking and want the rubber sole anyway; and that switching frequently would possibly cause the thread to strip which would be a catastrophic boot failure.
5) the part of the boot with the most wear is the sole. not sure what dynafit charges (<$50, i'd imagine), but even if you went through one sole a year you could wind up with an essentially new boot.
6) i replaced the stock liners with intuitions on day #1. also, the booster straps are relatively new (~30-45 days?) -- so their wear doesn't match the rest of the boot.

my season isn't over; i will probably do another 25-30 days of hiking, so i can do a follow-up if they degrade materially.

without further ado, here are the pics. if you want to see any specific area that i didn't cover, let me know and i'll take a close-up.

[Skidog]

Looks like they've held up VERY well...

Looking forward to hearing the "final" report.

[MultiVerse]

Excellent update UpAllNight. I haven’t kept track of how many days on my ZZeus’s, but probably no less than three days per week (all on Dynafit) since the season started and they’re still going strong.

I also use intuitions instead of the stock liner, but the stock liner isn’t all bad because I believe it makes the boot stiffer (some may disagree, but either way, Dynafit’s intention was for the liner to increase the boots stiffness) whereas the intuitions are lighter and more comfortable.

[LeeLau]

Boy - that's impressive

[hoarhey]

Thanks for the comprehensive update, UAN, valuable contribution.
The boots look like they are holding up well.

I have these in mind for next year.

If you could have the added stiffness of the Titan at the same weight of the Zeus, would you be tempted?
Assuming that you knew what you know now and that you were at point of purchase again.

I've been told that the Titan is not any heavier than the Zeus, but don't know if this is true.
Lee, do you know?

I weighed Zeus 26.0 shell at 6.9 lbs per pair (3.1 kg)
Size 8.0 Intuition Alpine Powerwraps at 0.95 lbs per pair (0.43 kg)

Any chance you can make the pictures larger?

[Sinecure]

Any chance you can make the pictures larger?

Ummm. You know that if you click on them, they pop up into big versions, right?


They look like my Zzeus, which only got about 45 days so far, all in-resort.

[hoarhey]

Ummm. You know that if you click on them, they pop up into big versions, right?
They look like my Zzeus, which only got about 45 days so far, all in-resort.

Woops! My bad.
I guess I had my window at a reduced setting.
The picture auto-sizes to the window size.
No need to re-size pics.

[kidwoo]

I heart my zzeus bootz.

So glad the factors were out when ordered them and got the dynafits instead

[LeeLau]

whorehey i thought I already answered the question - delta is 50 g for the Titan over the Zzeus

[hoarhey]

Not my day apparently.
I checked and yes, you did already answer the question, ma'af.

[Cheesestoff]

I also switched to zzeuses this year, was on modded megas last year and am very happy with the change. Have about 15-20 days of touring in dynafits with them. I'm 5'8", 150lbs.
I'm able to ski far more aggressively in these boots and they provide a lot more support. I had one day inbounds with them and found they were good, just not as good as my langes. If the difference between the zzeus and titan is only 50g and all else is the same, I'd go with the titan for the potential one boot quiver.

The only issue i've had with mine is the plastic around the dynafit slots on the heel piece has cracked on both boots in the same place. Didn't affect skiing or the ability to click in/out. Dynafit has been awesome and is warrantying this for me. Still, probably a design/manufacturing issue.

[skew]

I've been on Zzeuses all season (I would estimaet about 50 days) and I just can't get them to be comfortable. Mostly and issue with right big toe feeling compressed in front of boot. I've had the toe box punched and I feel no difference. My right foot is slightly bigger than left. The shell is the right size, but I swear the stock liners are too small for my feet. When I take the liners out and put them on like slippers, my toes are jambed into the front of them. I mentioned this to my boot fitter and he said that was because my heel was sliding forward in them when I walked. I haven't tried re-baking them (yet).

Maybe I should try some different liners? I like everything about the boots except the part where my feet are killing me!

[upallnight]

I also use intuitions instead of the stock liner, but the stock liner isn’t all bad because I believe it makes the boot stiffer (some may disagree, but either way, Dynafit’s intention was for the liner to increase the boots stiffness) whereas the intuitions are lighter and more comfortable.

i didn't ski the stock liners, so you have more experience with them. however, i have found the intuition alpine power wrap liners to make other AT boots feel (at least marginally) stiffer. i've guessed that this could be due to the solid fit and/or the height of the liner.

If you could have the added stiffness of the Titan at the same weight of the Zeus, would you be tempted?
Assuming that you knew what you know now and that you were at point of purchase again.

...

Any chance you can make the pictures larger?

if i was to search for a new AT boot (1-boot quiver) for 09/10 instead of 08/09, the titan would certainly be on my list to try out. however, i'm pretty satisfied and have no desire to make a switch for next year.

there are perhaps just a handful of situations where i feel like i might want a stiffer boot, but -- and this is just a hunch -- i suspect that the increased stiffness of the titan might still leave me wanting in those situations, particularly for any added weight.

to be perfectly clear: even driving bigger skis on firm snow at high speed, i still rarely want for a stiffer boot.

i would certainly check out whether the extra stiffness impacted hiking ability. for me, worse hiking is not a trade-off i would make for the increased stiffness.

I heart my zzeus bootz.

So glad the factors were out when ordered them and got the dynafits instead

you're welcome. ;-)

I like everything about the boots except the part where my feet are killing me!

sounds like dynafits based on this last may not be for your feet. the best boot that doesn't fit you may not be the best boot for you.

[shasti]

just FYI, I heart my Zzeuss, but I did not heart them nearly as much until I switched out the stock liners for intuition powerwraps. For some reason the power wrap feels roomier in the toes, and tighter everywhere else. My toes were jammed in the stock liner just as you mentioned skew and 4 days after I switched to the powerwraps no more problems. For what its worth I have a semi tight shell fit on the boots too so unless yours is less than a one finger fit I bet you can make it work, intuitions run about 120$ shipped

[Meathelmet]

Glad that you guys have a good experiences there! Have to say,if things would have worked out,I would have been a happy camper as well...but...in short :

Dynafit claims now that the : Zzeus buckle bang is not up to the quality that dynafit should achieve,they have heard about the issue,they will change the layout for the next season,maybe, and that dynafit is not faulty anyway of the problem.

So dynafit is selling knowingly underperforming boot for the full price. Future buyers,beware of the issue.You will get only 50% of the performance and if things fall apart,dynafit will not cover it.


So long for that shitfest....
So,lets see how and even if the dynafit replaces the boots...




Edit :This applies to the 25-25.5 shell sizes..

[verbier61]

very useful, thanks!
I am too from megarides and felt (too..) the zzeus to be way better. Also, starting from a 27.5 megaride I could downsize to a 27.0 zzeus, which was very good for skiing. Notably, megarides and the new dynafit boots are made by the same designer (and infact the zzeros look a lot like the megarides...)

[LeeLau]

x-post spam Dynafit Titan Alpine touring ski boots

Review here http://www.wildsnow.com/1810/dynafit...i-boot-review/

[upallnight]

Dynafit claims now that the : Zzeus buckle bang is not up to the quality that dynafit should achieve,they have heard about the issue,they will change the layout for the next season,maybe, and that dynafit is not faulty anyway of the problem.

So dynafit is selling knowingly underperforming boot for the full price. Future buyers,beware of the issue.You will get only 50% of the performance and if things fall apart,dynafit will not cover it.

this seems like a really (overly) dramatic statement. 50% of the performance?

(glad you added the edit that this apples to sizes <=25.5, which i'm guessing is not the majority of users.)

i also must ask: did you try the boots on in before purchase? was it not evident that the buckles were banging and interfering with flex? if it was evident (and you purchased anyway thinking it wouldn't be a problem), i'm not sure i agree that dynafit owes customers new boots. sure, it would be nice, but necessary? i dunno.

it also sounds like dynafit did not realize the issue at the time of product introduction, so i think you are being more than a little harsh in saying that they are knowingly selling bad product.

i'm pretty psyched on the boots....and happy to have them out hiking this morning and skiing pow.

[Meathelmet]

this seems like a really (overly) dramatic statement. 50% of the performance?

it might seem so,but the flex stops abruptyly about at half way of the movement when it hits the buckle,then it starts to crush and deform the last.
A small mind game for you : imagine how it feels in your feet after a day of skiing?

i also must ask: did you try the boots on in before purchase? was it not evident that the buckles were banging and interfering with flex?

Off course.
And obviously it was not that evident when flexing in the store as I would have never bought them.
It was just that I had broken my factors the day before so I was obviously in a hurry and couldnt do the one-week-browsing.

it also sounds like dynafit did not realize the issue at the time of product introduction, so i think you are being more than a little harsh in saying that they are knowingly selling bad product.

Dude..

Leelau stated that they (dynafit) is supposedly aware of the problems and will rectify it.
The european end wich I managed to contact after a month,said that there is no problems and issues first ,and have stated nothing about rectifying the issue.

So :

A) If they are rectifying the issue,there IS an issue. So why shouldnt I get the issue sorted out? I paid full price of the boot and I expected it to work.

or

B) The are NOT rectifying the issue : In that case they would be selling half performing boot for full price to unwary customers.

Do you honestly think I have no right to be a bit pissed? Do you really think that other potential clients should not be aware of the issue?
I would be quite pissed if I would buy a new Audi and only get half the horsepowers promised just because I have small feet...or something similar..

[kidwoo]

A small mind game for you : imagine how it feels in your feet after a day of skiing?

Feels fine on my 25s. And I've got half the days of UAN (and that's a lot!)

What size boot you got?

[Meathelmet]

Feels fine on my 25s. And I've got half the days of UAN (and that's a lot!)

What size boot you got?

25 sized. And about 35 days on them. Damn,and you feel nothing? My feet are bloody sore after a day..

[LeeLau]

MH - just so you know. I haven't spoken to Dynafit Europe. Every interaction has been with Salewa NorAm. I just want you know that I'm hopefully not promising anything!

Dude..

Leelau stated that they (dynafit) is supposedly aware of the problems and will rectify it.
The european end wich I managed to contact after a month,said that there is no problems and issues first ,and have stated nothing about rectifying the issue.

So :

A) If they are rectifying the issue,there IS an issue. So why shouldnt I get the issue sorted out? I paid full price of the boot and I expected it to work.

or

B) The are NOT rectifying the issue : In that case they would be selling half performing boot for full price to unwary customers.

Do you honestly think I have no right to be a bit pissed? Do you really think that other potential clients should not be aware of the issue?
I would be quite pissed if I would buy a new Audi and only get half the horsepowers promised just because I have small feet...or something similar..

[ex-powderbroker]

that's roughly twice as many days as my 05-06 cracked black tornados that I bought last january. I really liked the scarpa fit so i bought some spirit 4s that should be a huge upgrade....but I still hope they go 150+ days like other alpine boots i've owned. pretty jealous of the zzeus's now.

[Meathelmet]

MH - just so you know. I haven't spoken to Dynafit Europe. Every interaction has been with Salewa NorAm. I just want you know that I'm hopefully not promising anything!

No worries,that was the impression I was under!

Still,service in the europes end has been a fiasco. Finally got a better contact that has started to look into the case.Intresting to see what happens.

[kidwoo]

25 sized. And about 35 days on them. Damn,and you feel nothing? My feet are bloody sore after a day..

Nope. Given I'm usually hiking in them all day and then skiing in them for 3 runs or so. But I have had them two full days at a resort and nothing wierd.

I do have intuitions in them though. I wonder if that's it or we just have different foot shapes (which is highly likely of course)