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Old January 26th 04, 02:36 PM
Mike T
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Default marketing vs. actual technological improvement

I was checking out this season's higher end Salomon boots, where the
big
improvement is "the killer minus one liner," for more "sensitivity and
feel." This seems to me to be basically a linerless/one piece boot. It

used
to be that linerless boots were from the low end of the product line,
because liners provided better fit and support, right?


There have been other high-end linerless boots, e.g. the Shimano Cornice
from a few years back. However in my experience, boots with liners
have in fact been more comfortable.

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?"


I tried on the 02-03 Salomon F which was the first model they made using
said technology. They claimed that the footprint was one size smaller
than their linered boots, meaning that for example a size 9 "F" boot
would be the same size on the outside as a size 8 linered boot. Well,
that was true, except it didn't matter because I needed a size 9 "F" and
a size 8 Malamute (which is what I alreday had from the previous year).
I didn't try them on snow or anything, so I can't comment on "serious
foot-to-board-to-snow feel".

As a side note, I thought the Salomon Malamute went backwards from 01/02
(which I own) to 02/03. I never bothered checking out the 03/04 but
from what I hear they took another step back. Specifically, the whole
appeal of the Malamute was the stiffness - they are/were supposed to be
about the most responsive soft boot one could get their hands on, a good
choice for those who like to carve hard in their soft boots. They seem
to get softer and more freestyle every year!

If so,
how come the old low end linerless aren't better than the old high end

w/
liners (yes I understand there are probably other technological

improvements
at work here other than liner/no liner)?


It semes like all they've done is introduced a "high-end" line of
linerless boots. The layout of their website an catalog, and perhaps
their pricing, might lead one to believe that all the linerless boots
are "higher end" than the Malamute (their high-end linered boot) but in
terms of fit, comfort, and performance that may or may not be true.

Any other examples of new marketing blatantly conflicting with old
marketing?


Sure - the Burton Fish from a year or two back came in the "one size
fits all" 156. Their website actually did claim that anyone could ride
that one size! The next season they promptly introduced a 150 and a
160 as well as making the 156 in two stiffnesses.

And the most common thing is to change colors / graphics on a boot,
binding or board, maybe add one minor change and then call it vastly
superior to the previous year's model and jack up the price.



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