Best boot on the market right now?

This makes zero percent sense. You cannot remove how the fit/flex/geometry relate to you from "what is the best boot".
 
Not sure if this is a troll thread, but in case it's not... the best boot on the market is the boot that your bootfitter puts you in and feels good to you. There isn't a single best boot any more than there is a single best ski. Some people like soft boots, some people like stiff boots. Some people have wide feet, some people have narrow feet. And that does correlate. For example, Salomon boots are wide, whereas Full Tilts are narrow. And if you do a lot of backcountry/skinning/hiking you might want the switch on the back to make them easier to walk in. And you DEFINITELY want to go to a bootfitter. Boots are your single most important piece of equipment to do right. Go to a bootfitter, be willing to spend the money on a good pair, get them heat moulded, and get custom footbeds. It is very worthwhile.
 
I do totally agree with you that everyone should go to a boot-fitter to get set up, however brands to not have certain fits.

Almost every brand has boots that are super narrow, narrow, narrow medium, medium, medium wide, wide, and mega wide in their offer. Even FT has multiple fits. So, don't make the mistake that a brand only caters to one foot shape.
 
Regardless of "fit and everything", they're all equal. Or the cheapest ones are best, because they're cheapest.
 
But we don't all have the same feet and we don't all have the same needs. For example the boot which will be best for a big mountain rider would be very differnt to that of a jib skier even if they had the same feet.

Most boots on the market these days are decent, price point boots will obviously be more basic but will suit the needs of some.

One way to look at which brands are doing well is have a look at what shops are selling. Look at big stores like snow and rock and ellis brigham in the uk. The range of boots is selected by what sells well. Does that make them the best boots maybe not but they suit the biggest percentage of people.

But it all comes down to fit, so no boots should be ruled out as they may turn out to be the best for you.
 
ok, challenge accepted haha

Arguably, no single has brand has put more technology into their boots than Atomic. Look at our Redster series of boots for example. With this series of boots we were the first brand to incorporate real carbon fiber into the PU mixture. This allowed the Carbon Spine area of the boot to be up to 9 times stiffer than the front of the boot which dramatically boosts power transmission and edge hold without sacrificing snow feel or boot-fit-ability. This boot also uses 3 different frames that live underneath the boot board and control how much sole flex/rebound the skier wants to have. The boot can have a supple smooth flex or a poppy energetic feel. The cuff hardware that links the cuff to the shell can allow the cuff to be rotated (not simply tilted) inward or outward which controls the flex direction of the cuff. It can make the boot respond more quickly or with a slight delay depending on what you are looking for. The Redster series has by far more tunability than any other race boot on the market.

The Carbon Spine technology of the Redster made its way into the Overload series of park boots in the manifestation of our Carbon High Back. The Carbon High Back allows for the best blend of support on big landings as well as not restricting the skier when doing butters and presses. Built into the Carbon High back is our Flip Chip technology that independently controls the forward flex and forward lean of the boot. The orientation of the Flip Chip controls the forward lean (13 or 15 degrees) and hardness of the Chip controls the flex (soft and hard Chips are included with the boot). The boot also has a full length and full width rubber boot board and one of the lowest stand heights on the market. There actually isn't a lower boot on the market that offers both a real boot board and replaceable grip pads. This ensures you stay close to the ski for ultimate feel on rails and boxes.

I can also go into detail of the Waymaker series and the fully heat customizable shell + cuff of the new Hawx 2.0 series. From a feature/benefit standpoint, I would also argue that both of these have more going on with them than any other boot in their class
 
That being said, there are several other brands doing some pretty unique stuff at the moment, and the most technologically advance boot may not even be what you are looking for. I prefer a 3 piece boot that is fairly narrow for skiing the mountain, as well as walking/touring purposes, which several brands don't offer. Does it work for me? Hell yea. Does it work for everyone, or even most people? Absolutely not. What Atomic is doing is totally rad, and is sure to change the ski boot game for a lot of people looking for specifics in fit and feel. Dynafit has been leading the AT charge for some time, and continue to do so not just in boots, but in binding development as well. Other brands like Full Tilt and Roxa rely on classic proven designs that definitely aren't flashy or high tech in any way, but they are simple, user friendly, and just plain feel good without much hassle. And everyone else is doing all of this stuff in one way or another. Do your homework. Get in as many boots as possible. Figure out what features you like and don't like. Buckle configurations, construction style, flex rating, last, forward lean angles, and plenty of other stuff you can take a look at and narrow down what boots will fit your foot and your skiing needs. Figure out how your foot is shaped, and what models/brands have shells that naturally fit that. OR

Go see a boot fitter. ha.
 
I would agree some brands are working very hard on new boots. Atomic I would say are leading the way though along with salomon. The advances both have made are ahead of the rest. Custom shell boots are somthing which will become the norm. Other brands are doing some interesting things but most are trying new things with old designs rather then trying anything new.

But like any boot question it comes down to fit. But luckily we are getting close to a point where boots are becoming so good that the fit part of the equation is becoming smaller as there is so much we can do to fit the boots at least boots from the big brands.
 
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