Nordica Firearrow

[Mac]

I was wondering if Harald (or anyone else) had any impressions of the new Nordica Firearrow boots. They have a similar design to the Krypton, that is a three piece cabrio design with three buckles, as opposed to the usual four. I was talking to a ski shop boot fitter about the new Dalbello Vipers, and he suggested that I take a look at the Firearrows too. I know that Harald doesn't like the Krypton design, and I was wondering if the new Nordica was just more of the same, or whether it had something worthwhile to offer. Since the boot is so new that it has barely hit the shelves, I'm guessing that Harald would be the only one that has had any exposure to them yet. But I do know that they are not cheap, and I do need a new pair of boots, so any info would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance.

[jbotti]

Mac, there are so many proven designs that support proper ski movements. Why mess with a design that has proven to be questionable at best and is essentially a rotary boot. For any good PMTS or aspiring PMTS skier, assuming his foot will fit into it, a solid plug or semi plug boot is the way to go and there a number of excellent choices here. Assuming you are willing to spend the money and that your foot can fit in the boot (98 last with only modest ability to widen it) the Dodge boot is the best boot out there for pure edging ability. I skied them last year and they were a game changer for me. Of the Plugs and semi plugs I think Harald may like the Dalbello Scorpion the best with the Raptor and Doberman close behind. Lasts on these three come as wide as 98mm an flex as soft as 110. Unless you are a natural EE width there really isn't a reason not to go in this direction.

BTW, my I have a good freind who is an ex racer and ex high level WC coach who is a EE width and he is skiing the 98mm last Dobie Pro 130's. It was a lot of work to get them to work for his foot (which is 105mm at it's widest), but now they are dialed in he loves them. My only point on this is that even very wide feet with work and the right fitter can make a plug boot work. Why mess with anything else?

[Mac]

Thanks, JB. The Fire Arrow was never really on my radar, anyway. I was leaning towards something in the Dalbello line. The FA looks to me like it is just a rehash of the Kryptons, although the positioning of the middle buckle does make sense to me. But I wasn't sure if the new FA was still considered a rotary boot like the Krypton, or whether there was something else going on there that I wasn't aware of. If you read (and believe) Nordica's spin on the new design, they claim that the boot has very strong lateral power that will enhance the edging and tipping characteristics of shorter shaped skis. But they also say that the boot will work equally well with the fat rocker designs, which left me suspicious about the validity of any of their claims.

[HighAngles]

I had the Fire Arrow F1 on my feet this past Sunday just for grins. I just wanted to see how they compared to the other 3-piece shells already available (Full Tilt/Flexon & Krypton).

First thing to note is that these boots are a "very" generous 100mm last fit - fat feet are welcome. They are also quite heavy - no different from a typical 2-piece boot. The shell itself is not very "anatomical" - they depend on the liner to provide the heel hold down power. They will also accommodate a very high instep which was a real problem in the fit for my feet (I have low insteps). They felt like they were equivalent to about a 110 flex, kind of soft, and the tongue is nothing like a Flexon or Krypton design and ends up folding onto itself with a pronounced pinching effect at the middle buckle position.

Overall I can't imagine anyone seriously considering this boot if you're also serious about pursuing PMTS.

OTOH, I also checked out some of the Atomic race boots and freeride entries for this season. Those were really surprising boots for me - I had never put an Atomic boot on before. The race boots even go all the way down to a 93mm last. They seem to have all the right qualities - low ramp, upright stance, anatomical ankle/heel pocket, really nice buckles - overall just really solid feeling boots.

[Mac]

I was actually had a chance to try on the Firearrow today, although they only had the F3 available, which is two steps down from their top of the line model F1 which HighAngles reviewed above. I must say that I wasn't seriously considering them, I have tried the Dalbello Krypton, and was under the impression that the Firearrow would have the same limitations. However, I must say that I was pleasantly surprized when I tried them on. I could find few similarities to the Krypton. No extreme forward lean, no high ramp angle, no soft forward flex. I found nothing in the design of the boot that indicated to me it had any rotary characteristics. In fact, my impressions of the boot were totally opposite of the impressions that HighAngles came away with. I found the 100mm last to run true to size. The Raptor's 98 last is tight on me, the Firearrow at 100mm was snug, but far from sloppy. I didn't find them to be heavy. Compared to the Dodge, I'm sure anything will feel heavy, but these were no more so than the Head boots I'm skiing in now. I was a little disappointed with the liner, because in my opinion, the heel hold down was not as strong as what I would have liked. But as I said, the model I tried on was one of the less expensive ones in the line, I'm assuming that the higher end model would lock the heel down a little more tightly. I didn't notice the instep as being a problem, they fit me perfectly in that area. I also didn't notice them as being soft at all. As I said, the model I tried on was the F3, and that felt fairly stout, even in the warm store, and I'm over 200 lbs. My impression was that the F1 might indeed be too stiff. Maybe not Raptor 150 stiff, but certainly stiff enough for most people. And I agree, the tongue is nothing like the Krypton or Flexon, but that's one of the things I liked about it. It seemed to be totally functional in the way it worked. But there was just something about the way the boot wrapped around your foot that was very disticntive and noticablly lacking in the other four buckle boots I tried on while I was there. Just goes to show how two different people with different feet can come away with two totally different opinions of the same boot. I'm not saying I'm going to run right out and buy a pair anytime soon. And when the time does come to buy another pair, i'll certainly be trying on other ones before making a decision. But I'll also be taking another look at the Firearrows.

[Mac]

Just as a follow up, I ended up buying a pair of the Dalbello Scorpions. As you can tell from the previous posts, I came into it with an open mind, which is exactly what I think you have to do when looking to buy a pair of boots. The Dalbellos were the best fitting boot right out of the box that I have ever had on my feet, and the stance felt very natural. Which is still no guarantee that the boot will work for you, but it's a good place to start. Plus, I know they have Harald's blessing, so I figured I couldn't go too far wrong. And even if I did, I know of a pretty good boot fitter at exit 234 off of I-70 that could probably help me out.