realskiers

Josh, thanks for a very complete and informative reply.  Kudos!

Am I correct in my interpretation of your post, that the Krypton is better suited to off-piste skiing? But then, you use it for racing too.  So there must be enough power to the edge and snow feel to do duty in the gates (?).  I spend about 2/3rds of my time on hard snow (east), and 1/3rd out west, so am really looking for a boot that has good edge power and snow feel for hard snow, but is still capable off-piste. 

As for lower leg strength and balance, I don't think that will be an issue, When I ski off-piste and in crud and bumps, I'm in a pretty neutral stance in my boots and don't drive my shins to hold me up or pressure the shovels -- more or less even pressure fore and aft in the cuffs.  And this with the forward lean in my Tecnicas being pushed ahead quite a bit using thick cuff shims.  I can ski all day like that, so shouldn't have any problem with a boot like the Krypton, which can't hold me upright.  OTOH, on-piste carving is different, and I pressure the shovels a fair amount.

Wither Tecnica? There sure isn't a lot of love here for that brand.  As I said, mine fit great, and I would keep them if they had more edge power and were a bit stiffer fore-aft.  FWIW, the flex pattern is very smooth and progressive, with a long range of motion, all of which I really like and helped sell me on this boot.

Josh, which Tecnica did you have? I'm guessing the Bodacious? Is that one based on the Inferno shell? Any comments on the Inferno 130 semi-plug boot (98mm version)?

Mike -- you mentioned that Phil moved from a Krypton to a 4-buckle boot.  The Tecnica Inferno 130 was the boot that he switched to (see his review on Epic).  Also, I wanted to ask you what the Nordica Doberman boots are like.  I know little about those, other than they have an excellent reputation as being a no-nonsense, high quality boot.  How would you describe their fit and flex pattern? Are you happy with their performance?

- the cuff flex travels inwards making it not as responsive to tipping as boots that harb likes, this is a IMO a valid concern but fixable. I moved the inside cuff hinge point on my forward and the outsides ones back letting my knees track outward instead of inward. Gave me alot better edge grip on harder snow.

This is an interesting comment.  Apparently Atomic is coming out with a new performance boot for 2013 (to replace their 98mm Burner series) that will have a cuff alignment mechanism that can move the hinge points forward or backward.  This is to tweak the inside/outside tracking of the knees when flexing.  Cool.  And innovative.