Back in March we published a pre-review of the Dynafit Zzero ski touring boots. These were not the final production boots which we intend to test soon. However Lee Lau has posted a review of some pre-prod Dynafit Zzero3 C - TF, Dynafit Zzero4 C -MF’s

http://www.doglotion.com/touring-boot-review-dynafit

Executive conclusion “Zzero4 buckle carbon to be a considerable leap in stiffness over the baseline boot - a Garmont Mega Ride but with less weight. The Zzero3 buckle carbon is comparable in stiffness to the Garmont Mega Ride. He didn’t like the stiffness for touring and the prices.

We’ve uploaded some pics of the range to our Frick’r account for you to drool over during the hot summer days:-

I’ve been looking a bit more at the Dynafit Zzero range

Dynafit Zzero 4 C-MF
Dynafit Zzero 4 PX TF
Dynafit Zzero 4 U MF
Dynafit Zzero3 C TF
Zzero3 PX MF PX TF
Dynafit Zzero2 C TF

The Zzero 3 is quite a nice three buckle boot and with the MF liner I found it fitted very well on my wider and higher than average foot. It is surprisingly small though, lower than a Scarpa Matrix by a couple of cm.

The 4 buckle boots are quite tall, stiff, not quite as high as the Scarpa Spirit range though.

I will try to bring you a bit more information over the coming weeks.

Although the ZZero 3s are good boots to ski and ski-rando in, they have a very serious design defect.

The vibram sole is far too thin and is worn away very rapidly when walking into ski on mountain paths. It cracks and flakes at the toes, with the damage becoming progressive and catastrophic when the TFT binding points start to get worn as they are no longer protected by vibram.

It is not easy to see what can be done about this once it starts on a boot.

Yes it is amazing how quickly the soles on these new boots wear. Scarpa soles are similar. I have an old pair of Nordica TR9s that have season of use and are still good. The sole wear can cause problems for automatic crampons which may no longer fit securely.

I spoke to Dynafit France about this particular problem and they said that from autumn 2010 their boots (not sure if this is new models or across the range) will have updated soles with a harder wearing compound. Obviously there is a trade-off between weight / grip / wear to be made.

Its not just how soft they are, there just isn’t enough vibram there to either stay attached to the boot (my soles are curling off fast), or to provide any resilience - the slightest chip in the vibram and it goes all the way through. Then when the binding mounting point is exposed, unprotected by any vibram, you are scuppered!

Light is good, but this has just gone too far.

SimonK - 24 June 2010 04:46 PM

Its not just how soft they are, there just isn’t enough vibram there to either stay attached to the boot (my soles are curling off fast), or to provide any resilience - the slightest chip in the vibram and it goes all the way through. Then when the binding mounting point is exposed, unprotected by any vibram, you are scuppered!

Light is good, but this has just gone too far.

I think where it’s gone is mainstream. Touring boots at the freeride end of the market are fashion statements, that’s why there’s now so many on the market. As such they’re only expected to last a few days.