my needs were to fill the gap between full on storm days, and warm sun days, and this does it well. fully enclosed waist, wrist, and neck make this the perfect tool on powder days in the backcountry when i am working hard, and the temp is ~25+ degrees. it breathes well, and holds off the wind pretty well. i guess less than perfect wind blocking is the trade off for excellent breathability. as to rain it's good for 2 to 3 hours before it saturates. the other 2 drawbacks are the collar which is a little on the limp side, and being such a flexible, stretchy fabric it has a tendancy to hike up my back when i have my ski pack on. with a stiffer collar, and some way to keep it from hiking up my back i would give it 5 stars. it does the job well for a budget piece. you won't be disappointed.

I've been using these boots for 2 seasons now (70+ days), and feel they are a solid choice for a non-dynafit boot. many speak of fit problems, and i may be an exception, as my feet are flat, narrow, and pronated. All that aside, I also had initial fit problems, which were mostly fixed by having the liners cooked. The one lingering issue i had was pressure on the 6th toe area. I installed a 1/8" thich foam insert "under" the liner, and went to a heavy ski sock, and used slightly less buckle pressure. The thicker sock goes against normal thinking, but it worked. Now i can stay in these boots for 12 hours of touring and descents with no pain.

As for the skiability of the boot. I think they rival a good alpine boot. I have the forward lean all the way forward, and can charge the most challenging lines on the mountain. They drive my mid-fats nicely, and touring is also comfy. As with all things they do wear, and i have found the most suseptible place is the plastic around the canting excentric. Solution: remove the excentric when the boots are new, and lubricate it liberally with a good silicone grease, and repeat this 2 times a year. For me it was a little too late. This hinge point gets the most wear on the boot. I will do this with all AT boots in the future.