how to choose Snowboard Boots
In a nutshell, buy at a shop unless you're buying boots you already know and are certain of which size you need of a certain snowboard boot model. Make sure your fingers have some room to move but your foot and heel stays in place as you do so. Get boots that feel tight and do not have weird pressure points. Put them on, tighten them, walk around a bit, leave them on for a few minutes, and try more than one! Can't stress this one enough, even if you think you were lucky and found perfect fitting snowboard boots at the first try, try others to make sure.
snowboard boots Size / Fit
About snowboard boots fit Snowboard Boots liners are fairly thick. Just as a pair of sneakers, with the hours of use the snowboard boots will ajust more and more to your feet and after, let's say, 2 weeks of use, your new snowboard boots will start to feel bigger. If they aren't slightly tight when new they will for sure feel big and loose after about 2 weeks of use. Also keep in mind that boots sizes differ from brand to brand like shoe sizes and two boots of the same size but different brands or even just different models, can feel drastically different on your feet. It's quite easy to buy snowboard boots that are good enough (meaning this that they don't hurt your feet and are not too big either) but quite hard or/and time consuming to find the ones that feel like if they were made for your feet.
How to choose the perfect sized snowboard boots for you? Like you choose your shoes or sneakers but maybe go a little tighter. Consider how much you are going to use your snowboard boots. If you ride a lot and want boots to last, maybe it's worth to go 1/2 size down and support the discomfort of an slightly overtight boot for the first 2 weeks before the liners ajust (but you probably already knew that). On the other hand, If you only ride 1 or 2 weeks per season, maybe waiting 2 years for the boots to get comfortable is not the best decision.
All tips and tricks to make sure you get the right sized snowboard boots:
1 Foot over insole Take the insole out of the boots liner, place it on the ground and put your foot over it with heel adjusted to it's spot and take a look at your toes. They should not hang out too much, nor should they be too far from from, the front end of the insole.
2 Try liner alone Put the insole back in the boot liner and try it. See how it fits, if it makes your fingers crawl a little bit (or a lot) then the boots are too small, if it feels loose they are too big. You shall feel just the enough pressure at your hell and your fingers to keep the liner in place.
3 Put the boots on and tighten them as if you were going out to ride (tight but without hurting you or cutting out your blood flow) and:
- Stand up on your heels with your knees stretched. Do your fingers crawl or are they in pain? If so the boots are small. If your fingers don't touch liner then they are probably too big. You must have a slight pressure but no pain or crawling in fingers, you should be able to move your fingers inside the boots.
- Now flex your knees and notice if your fingers slightly touch the front end of the liner. If they don't, maybe the boots are too big for you, and if they still crawl/hurt in that position, than the snowboard boots you are trying are definitely small for your feet.
- Get in snowboard position and change a few times between toes and heels like if you were turning, your feet should not move much inside the boot and your heel should not lift easily or more than about one centimeter.
snowboard boots Size Chart
To use this simple snowboard boots size chart just measure your foot in cm and see to wich euro snowboard boots size, uk snowboard boots size or usa snowboard boots size does it correspond. This snowboard boots size chart comes specially handy if you're buying online.
snowboard boots Flexibility
Like boards and bindings and for the same reasons, softer more for freestyle, harder more for freeride. The brands websites have that information. If on a shop you can see for yourself by gently and firmly forcing them to bend. Grabbing on "toes" and "highback" force them inside, (image here soon) try various boots to have a point of comparison, ask the seller for the softer and for the harder ones and you can now place all the others on your imaginary flexibility scale without drinking the life out of the seller by asking about the flexibility of all the 28 models of snowboard boots available at the store.
snowboard boots Closing / Lacing system
Snowboard boots come with different types of closing systems, being the main ones the traditional laces, the boa system and the fast lock system.
Traditional laces They don't get loose, you get them tight in the morning and forget about it until you're taking them off at the end of the day/session. If the laces break just pot on new ones.
Boa system The ones with the round thing on the side, a thin metal cord that you tighten with a round leaver. They tend to get lose during the sessions but they're way faster to tighten than the traditional laces. Harder to fix/replace by yourself if broken.
Fast lock system It's like a different boa system, a thin cord that you can just pull and lock.
Velcro straps Mostly used as reinforcement for the leg zone and in kids snowboard boots.
If you want more performance from your snowboard boots or if you'll have them on your feet for lot's of long sessions, then choosing the details of the boots closing system gets more important than choosing the closing system itself. (if you were choosing a car, the type of closing system would be the model and the details would be the engine power and so on) You'll have this options to choose from:
1 snowboard boots with a single closing system,
2 snowboard boots with a single closing system but divided in two parts,
3 snowboard boots whit a single closing system but with some trick to pull down the front pad in the center as you tighten then,
4 snowboard boots with 2 combined closing systems where one tightens the whole boot and the other tightens just the center (similar to 3)
5 and snowboard boots with 2 combined closing systems where one tightens the lower part (your foot) and the other tightens the upper part (your leg)
For a beginner, snowboard boots with a single closing system are fine, just choose the one you like the most. A more advanced rider may want to look to those other options and choose one that will better feat his and needs and taste.
snowboard boots Weight
You can also pay attention to the boot's weight, the differences between brands and models won't be great and probably won't make a difference, but if you'll walk a lot with your snowboard boots or if you'll climb with them, then you may want to look for lighter boots.
snowboard boots Style
You need your style to show, let your boots help you. Lots of times you have more than one style within the same snowboard boot model. Go on knight, let your armor shine!
Buying snowboard boots at a physical shop
If you are buying boots that you have never used before and/or if you want a perfect fit, this is the way to go.
On a true snowboard shop you can just tell the staff what you want on a boot and try a few ones they recommend, following our tips on how should new snowboard boots feel on your feet. You may have found a great price online for some boots you like/want but have never tried before, in that case you can head to a shop and try them out, see the price on the shop, tell the staff about the price you found online, and you'll probably end up getting your snowboard boots right there.
On a true snowboard shop you can just tell the staff what you want on a boot and try a few ones they recommend, following our tips on how should new snowboard boots feel on your feet. You may have found a great price online for some boots you like/want but have never tried before, in that case you can head to a shop and try them out, see the price on the shop, tell the staff about the price you found online, and you'll probably end up getting your snowboard boots right there.
Buying snowboard boots online
Buying online may not be that easy, snowboard boots are shoes after all. If you feel comfortable in buying shoes online than go ahead and get your snowboards boots online, but if don't feel that comfortable in buying shoes online, than you won't be comfortable buying your snowboard boots online either. In that case our advice is for you to only buy your snowboard boots online if you've already tried them before, like if you've owned or rented a pair of the same snowboard boots model before.