Profeet?

A snowHead

I'm having some boot-related issues (forefoot pain, resulting in frequently having to unclip lower clips) with my six-skiing-weeks old Salomon Course boots. Feels like my sidas footbed (which is actually about ten or so years old) or the base of my boot is rock-hard with no give whatsoever, and my feet are screaming out for some cushioning. I'd like to get it sorted out before I next ski.

I currently don't run a car so a Bicester (or Chamonix!) trip to visit the forum's esteemed bootfitters would be difficult for me, but I do live less than five minute's walk from Profeet. Has anyone had work done at Profeet, and if so how did they find it? I've seen mixed reviews and it seems quite expensive and impersonal. I don't want to pay over a hundred quid just to get another off-the-shelf footbed moulded!

Should I give them a go, or would I be better hitching up to visit CEM?

(PS: Apologies to SZK for getting the names mixed up, hence implying he was a softy city boy!)

A snowHead

Sideshow_Bob, I think you mean Profeet. Footworks is a zoo in Chamonix.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Rob, I do indeed mean Profeet, thanks! Duly edited!

You need to Login to know who's really who.

Sideshow_Bob, there are direct trains to Bicester from Marylebone. Takes about an hour
That said, I had some trainers done at profeet. they were expensive but pretty good and the footbed is still going 3+ years on. i also had some work done on my old ski boots and they did a decent job and were very good humoured about the fact that i had literally that morning come back from a trip and the liners were still wet and stinky

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

I've had boots done at Profeet and by SZK and liners by CEM. Profeet were OK, but both SZK and CEM gave me much more confidence that I was getting good service. If you can get up to Bicester or happen to be passing through Cham I don't think you'd be disappointed.

You'll need to Register first of course.

Sideshow_Bob - Bicester is easy from London. Go to Bicester.

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

Sideshow_Bob, i used profeet for both alpine and tele boots and have been delighted. ask for jimmy bell, a good kiwi fitter and if you are basi they do a discount. CEM is the man definately but if you are 5 minutes that would be a good option and i am happy to vouch for jimmy's work. he did a little post fitting tweaking at no charge and after closing time.

After all it is free

My current boots were fitted, but not bought, at Profeet. They have done an excellent job so far as I can see; I now have a very comfortable pair of boots which ski very well for me. The person who did the work, Michelle, gives every impression of knowing exactly what she's doing. She made up a footbed, of some considerable substance, for me, and did various other tweaks, which I can't remember (a lift under one heel, perhaps both), possibly a smidgeon of blowing out. They make a single (hefty) charge for the footbed, and after that, the tweaking is free. The problem is that they are in Fulham, more or less piste free, so if the fix hasn't worked, you only find out when you're on your hols, which is not the best time to find that you still have uncomfy boots. Michelle at least is (rightly) conservative with the changes she makes, and it took three visits to get it right; each time was an improvement, but it is only now that they are really comfortable for all day skiing for a week.

There's no messing about with the follow up visits; they give you plenty of time and appear to do whatever they think necessary. It seems that you always get the same person (if they're still around, and I'm impressed that Michelle is still there after 3 years, at least). It's a very professional outfit. Michelle gave me a lot of confidence; having seen some of the other people at work, I'm not sure that that is as true of all of them (which is probably unfair).

When I buy my next boots, I shall hope to do so in resort at a respected establishment so that I can slide in and get them tweaked as the need arises, hopefully speeding up the whole business. If I do use Profeet again (and it's only their location which would stop me), I will try to give the boots a work out on a dry slope to see how they are after each tweak, a pretty joyless way to do it.

Since you already have problems, you might want to give Profeet a go; I suggest asking for Michelle.

The OL also used Profeet, with less success. She had 3 or 4 visits (not with Michelle), and although each gave a distinct improvement, they were still uncomfortable. She eventually gave up and bought new boots in resort. I'm sure that Profeet would have sorted her out eventually, but you can't keep on indefinitely.

Although Profeet sell boots, they didn't try to flog me or the OL a new pair instead of trying to fix our old ones.

I can't offer any comparison with CEM or any other bootfitter.

I agree with rob.

Profeet did a good job on my old boots with the correct boot make/model & shell gap to the amount I required at the time. CEM gave the weighted footbeds they made the 'ok', but they're not as defined as the unweighted/vaccumed new 'un's from CEM. I now have my old Profeet footbeds in my resort boots.

Profeet did however fit Deb's boots very much on the comfort side with a 'generous' shell gap & managed to screw up her footbeds which didn't come to light until we went to CEM for a new boot evaluation for her & discovered they made her footbed's with 8 degrees of varus(sp) posting (I don't know what this is but I know it's not a good thing!). CEM made her new footbeds & the difference to her comfort & skiing was superb & we'll be going back to CEM in the autumn for new boots to put 'em in.

AFAIK Profeet can't offer the alignment analysis/correction work that CEM/Andy McCann offer to which I am very much a believer in.

If CEM wasn't around then probably the only person I'd go to in the UK would be Hamish Wolfenden, the manager at Profeet.

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

Thanks for the feedback. I'll try to persuade my missus (avec auto) that the Bicester outlet village is a good day out and get a trip to CEM out of it! Failing that I'll hit Profeet. It's going to be a while before I ski again (discounting MK but the run's not long enough for the boots to start hurting!) so I've got all summer to sort them out.

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

Sideshow_Bob, bicester village is an excellent way of selling a trip to bicester to the missus. that's exactly what i did this weekend gone Cool

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