 Poster: A snowHead
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Hi Everyone,
I'm off to do my first ski season this winter (5 weeks and counting) and whilst I bought my own boots last year and had them properly fitted, I think getting custom insoles might be worth the investment, given how much time I'll be in them over the next 5 months.
Planning to go down to Ellis Brigham in Tamworth tomorrow, as I believe they can make the custom insoles and they happen to be where I purchased the boots from in the first place.... any words of advice or things to look out for?
Also have been considering getting the Hotronic E4's to add a bit of luxury ... or is this just overkill? It tends to be the cold that brings an early end to my days skiing rather than my legs (that was certainly my excuse lol) .... planning to get them fitted to my new insoles whilst I'm there ...
good investment, or money better spent elsewhere?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Well my boots and custom footbeds from Tamworth EB certainly make skiing all day far more comfortable and I'm happy with the service I got from them.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Yea, they were really good when I went to buy my boots - and I like the fact you can go back to them to get them tweaked if needed. Only noticed the other day how flimsy my standard insoles are - so don't think they will be offering much in the way of support.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Hi Ski_AL,
I live relatively local to Tamworth and my brother did a ski season in Alpe d'Huez last season. He decided to buy and get his boots fitted at Ellis Brigham (Snowdome Tamworth). He came out saying the guy who served him (can't remember his name) knew exactly what he was talking about and did a great job in making the orthotic fit and pushing the boots out. A week into the season he was complaining about boot pain (which he'd never had before, even in rental boots). Unfortunately this lasted all season and he says it definitely hindered his progress as a skier. Obviously it depends on the fitter as to your experience at chains like Ellis Brigham, but I would stay away from them and see someone who actually does it as their day job.
On the other hand, despite me not doing a season (I'm doing one this year) I decided to take the plunge and get my boots professionally fitted. Having looked on this forum I contacted Colin at Bicester (who practically everyone on here says is the best fitter in the country) to see if he had any appointments available. He didn't in the end so I got mine fitted at Profeet on Fulham road in London. I was really impressed by the level of service and the expertise of the fitter I had. I walked out two hours later with a brand new pair of boots and a custom orthotic. As someone who had been in pain in ski boots all their life, having the new boots was a revelation, I went from having to wear size 11 boots (due to pain) to actually having size 8 boots that fitted and weren't painful. The improvement in my skiing was incredible for just one week and I wish I'd had them done sooner!
Moral of the story: Yes get boots done it will make a world of difference. Yes get them done by a professional (I recommend Profeet but would have gone to Colin at Bicester had he been available). No don't go to Ellis Brigham, it's not worth the risk.
This year I'm going to go to Colin and have some Zipfit liners fitted to complete my custom boot experience!
Thats my 2 cents anyway, hope it helps 
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Good custom footbeds are certainly worth the money, however you need to go to a good boot fitter to ensure the whole package fits tigether properly. It is very unlikely that you could throw away your stock footbeds, simply insert the new, and have a great fit.
No experience with Hotronics, so cannot comment... but if you are getting cold feet, then it may pay to have the boot fit checked. Pressure points, even slight, especially on the top of the foot, may be the root cause.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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Thanks for the reply!
I've seems mixed reviews about EB in the past, although my own experience was actually very good.
Difficulty I have is not many places seem to make customer footbeds. I'm from Nottingham, so London is pretty much out the question, which is why EB Tamworth was quite convenient. But at the end of the day, the whole reason for me considering them is to try to make my season as enjoyable as possible.
I might ring EB tomoz, as I imagine like you said, some of the staff must be better than others. Maybe they will recommend one of their staff in particular!
I certainly don't want to spend my winter in worse shape than if I hadn't of bothered!
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I use boot heaters, Thermic rather than Hotronics but they work the same, and they do a god job of stopping my feet from getting excessively cold. Only you can decide if it's worth spending the money, but they do work as advertised.
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The other thing is if you've got the time get them made and then go ski on them for an hour or two. If the boots need a tweak EB will happily do that as well as you bought them from there
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Don't tar everyone who fits boots for Ellis Brigham with the same brush. I've had success in the braehead branch.
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I might be wrong but I don't think you can get heated footbeds as well as custom insoles - it's one or the other - you might have to choose.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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BenAS, you can get heating elements for boot heaters which fix to the top of custom footbeds.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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I too had a pair of boots from the EB Castleford store and they were fantastic, comfy and fitted well. I now have another pair (from somewhere else) which are still work in progress, not the fault of any fitters I must add, just trying to get them right!
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I guess with anywhere, you are reliant on getting a good fitter. I'm going to give them a call in the morning and take it from there. As stated above, pretty sure the EB will just fit the filaments to the new insoles if I decide to go for the heaters aswell.
Although, maybe by having a chat with them, they might be able to do some tweaking to see if that helps before going down that route.
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You know it makes sense.
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Custom foot ess are the best money I had spent on any ski gear. I would get them made if I were you, especially if your doing a season out there.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Ski_AL, as alluded to above, if your boots currently fit well then it's unlikely that they're still doing to fit after you've had a custom footbed put in. And if you do, and they do, then they probably didn't fit properly in the first place.
Personally, if your boots are working for you now then I wouldn't mess with them this close to going away. If you have problems then you'll only have to pay to get them fixed in resort and you need to understand that boot fitters are like plumbers - they all suck their teeth when they see other boot fitter's work and marvel that anyone would do it that way - and will then charge you for another footbed...
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Poster: A snowHead
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Even if you don't get custom foot beds you can still get the hotronics for the stock foot beds - it's really easy to add them yourself, and you can reuse them on a different set of foot beds later.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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My understanding is custom foot beds aren't just about comfort but about aligning you correctly in the boot and therefore will help your skiing. So definitely worth doing if you can find a good fitter, I suspect a bad footbed is worse than no footbed. I've always had orthotics in my ski boots and wouldn't consider getting a new boot without them.
Depending on which resort you are going to and the availability of good boot fitters why not get them done in resort then if you have issues you can go back and get any adjustments made?
Never tried the heaters but did ski with an instructor last season who got frost bite in his toes and had to miss quite a few days skiing. He now has very sensitive feet and heaters in his boots!
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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| FlyingStantoni wrote: |
| Ski_AL, you need to understand that boot fitters are like plumbers - they all suck their teeth when they see other boot fitter's work and marvel that anyone would do it that way - and will then charge you for another footbed... |
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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from a bootfitters perspective i would say the footbed is more important than the heater, that said if you get cold feet the heaters will great improve your enjoyment
various type available, either as an element which can be inserted into any custom footbed or as a blank flat insert which is for people with no insoles in the boot.... if you want to keep the budget down or are worried about the person making the insert, then you could try an off the shelf product such as the superfeet green, it gives a great level of support for a an off the shelf product, is much better thna a badly made custom product and can be fitted with the elements too
good luck getting it sorted
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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To echo what CEM says, my feet were less cold after getting custom footbeds as the pressure was more evenly distributed accross the sole (I think)
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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I have hotronics and I love them. I have always had cold feet and its cold here. You do not notice they are heaters in that they don't feel warm to touch as such, their heat settings are such that only on l4 would you feel it as warmth. So its more an input of heat energy at less than your body temp that allows you to keep your own feet warm
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Can't fault Ellis Brigham, the staff at the Manchester Castelfield store were brilliant when I bought my new boots last year.
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just got back from visiting EB Tamworth. The staff in there were really helpful and took the time to understand the issues I was having. Have had the custom footbeds made, although the guy said he would bother with the hotronics as the custom footbeds should help to support my foot and improve blood flow, so he didn't think I would need them.
I can always add them on if needed when I get out to Austria.
Compared to what was in the boot before, I think they will make a world of difference.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Custom footbeds for me were a necessity, they improved my comfort & therefore control and enjoyment enormously, but then I do have quite high arches and so standard or pre-shaped insoles weren't up to the job.
I do suffer from cold toes on occasion, so I bought some therm-ic heaters a couple of seasons ago and they were easy enough to retro-fit myself onto my existing custom footbeds. However I only need to use these on occasion and so I wouldn't buy them out of necessity.....just see how you get on in resort, as you're in the EU it might even be cheaper to get them shipped out to you from the UK rather than buy locally in resort.
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Ski_AL, That's how I've always found them as well, guess it helps they are working in branch that is essentially a year round ski and board shop but certainly way better than the staff I've found in the ski depts in high street EBs and S&Rs
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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am I the only one who doesnt like custom insoles.. I find that they over support my feet far too much..??
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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@yetijames, am I the only one who doesn't like thread resurrection just to suit your own ends?
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@yetijames, got something to sell? 
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You know it makes sense.
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Maybe some kitchen units?
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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My self and daughter both had custome insoles fitted into new boots for this year. Although comfortable, we did find for the 1st time ever that after a few hours skiing we were getting cold feet and quite numb toes.
Back at the hotel I removed my custom insoles and replaced them with the factory supplied ones that, Im glad to say I took as well.
No more cold feet and numbness gone.
I dont think custom footbeds are necessarily for everyone..
Peter
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Poster: A snowHead
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@Peter Groom, I think you are right.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@Peter Groom, I hear what you say but what difference can a custom insole make to the heat? They're made of the same materials in my experience as the ones I throw away once the box is opened. I'd rather have cold feet (and wearing good socks eradicates this) than a poorly fitting boot, with resultant instep cramp (high instep) and poor transmission of downward force.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Given that (properly fitted) new boots would be a little on the tight side for the first few days skiing might that reduce blood flow, causing the coldness? The original insoles probably allow a little more space and thus blood flow. But after a few days the liners will pack down to the intended fit and with the original insoles may be a little sloppy. I'd guess if you stick with the custom insoles they'll be fine after a few days skiing.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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I had some new boots and custom insoles made by Profeet (which did seem to offer a good service at the time) and after 30 minutes on the dry slope I was clawing at my feet in agony to get them off. Went back and they basically took the custom insoles out and left me with near factory insoles, which were better (but left me wondering what I paid for). However, this whole "they will loosen off after a few days" doesn't always work. Yes, without the custom insoles I can wear them, but they still seem to cut blood flow to the point where the outside edge and two toes (pinkey and next one) go numb. I suffer badly and have to loosen them between every run.
I do wonder if they are any better than rentals.
In Alpe DH now, suffering badly, would love to hear if anyone has any recommendations for a good shop?
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Boots fitted first then swapped out the liners, means your boots no longer fit!
Best combination I have found are Rewind footbeds, multiple pairs of the same socks (stock up!) & custom foam injection liners.
Can wear my boots all day & touch them except to put them on in the morning & take them off in the evening. Fit better than some of my trainers 
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Gored, the odd thing is, the insoles I have now are much thinner than the custom ones, and yes I get the feeling it is still too tight in the wrong places...
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FAQ
