So has anyone tried these? Are they in fact better than the old high end
Salomon boots w/ liners, with "serious foot-to-board-to-snow feel?" If so,

The F boots arn't linerless so much as they have 2 cuffs and a single
sole. So imagine cutting the cuff off your inner liner on a 2 liner
boot, and sewing the inner cuff inside the shell. That's about how it
works.

I tried them on in the shop, and I liked the feel of the plastic
tounge insert. Unforetunately, they don't seem to fit as narrow as the
salomon malamute, so I won't be buying them. I don't know if that's
specificly due to the liner design, or just that they made them a
wider fit.

It's a real shame that I haven't managed to find a boot I like better
than the 01/02 malamute. There's some boots I've heard good things
about that I haven't had a chance to try on, but everything I've
checked out at the shops here isn't as good.

The job of a marketer is to make a product look good to customers...
so I really tune out most of it. The only way I've found good
snowboarding equipment was by trying it. Even independent reviews
online sometimes lead you horribly wrong (I have a long tale to tell
of my recent glove problems ;P).