First, some of the things I will mention in this post are part of the specification, but I'll still mention anything I find notable.
Second, I am a guy with small wide feet, and it's extremely hard for me men boots with my size.
Third is that after trying just about every boots I can get my hand on in store (in Japan), I conclude that K2 boots work the best for me. This even extends to ski boots.
Contour (Women), Maysis (Men): Are largely the same. The Maysis are a little taller and are supposed to be a little stiffer but in my opinion, there is not a lot of difference. The Contour followed by the Maysis were the first K2 boots I tried, and I have more than one pair of each.
I found them exceptionally comfortable for my feet. One of the boa dial tighten the liner, while the other tighten all the laces. The lack of separation when it comes to tightening the upper and lower side of the boots can be a disadvantage, but in my case, due to the boots being a good fitting, I didn't have a problem with it. I can crank it down pretty hard without having specific pressure point due to the lack of separation and I experienced no heel lift when they are relatively new.
The biggest downside, and the reason I ended up with so many pairs, is that they pack out fast in my opinion (or maybe this is just normal for most boots). If I was made of money or sponsored by K2, I wouldn't think it would be excessive to swap them out after a month. After two months I'd really be cranking down on the dial, and beyond three months, they don't offer much in the way of support, and will really bed when leaning on them. By that point if you fall weird, or need to do a lot of traverse or like to carve a lot, you will want new boots. Perhaps some kind of power straps (like Strapins) might be able to slow down the damage / buy additional time to the boots, but as a 120 day rider, I don't keep those boots an entire season by choice, and they definitely get discarded after one season. Once I decided to use them as airbag, and ended up with a bad ankle sprain while underrotating a 5, because the boots just bent as my boot dug into the mat while still twisting from the spin.
The other thing is that as a result of cranking them so hard, eventually the boa wire will start to rip the fabric which further weakens the boot's support. I had that happen to multiple pairs if not all of them before the end of the season.
Format (Women): I am going to straight up and say that those are definitely my favourite K2 boots so far. At first I was a bit worried because when new, the toe box felt smaller than the Contour / Maysis and I felt some pressure point right on top of my toe nail. I've had bruised toe nail before with Salamon boots which has a less spacious toe box so I was worried, but in the end, the liner must've naturally moulded to my feet as I had no issues after a few days (also, I never ended up with any bruise).
They are also the only boots in this line up that feature an additional velcro to secure the liner. I was sceptical that it served much purpose since you put it on before tightening the liners but I am now convinced that it does help. You can't tighten it up like a power strap but I think it helps ensure the boots is less likely to become loose.
Those are I seldom need to re-tighten the boa dial. I am not sure if this is also why I found the boots very usable the entire season. It does pack out, but nearly as fast as the Contour / Maysis.
The Format is the stiffest of the 4 mentioned here. but to me, they still aren't too stiff and and love the responsiveness. They also use softer, textile-like lace that in my case did not damage the shell in a visible manner. The downside is that the laces over time do fray and need to be replaced. The boa dial here control the upper/lower laces independently.
Trance (Women): I am pretty sure that the Men's Hanford is very much the same much like Contour <-> Maysis.
I bought those for this season because I couldn't get hold of a new pair of Format my size. On paper, they are very similar. The boa system, textile lace, and as of this year, perhaps flex (Format this year seem to have dropped one point of stiffness, maatching Trance while being rated a little stiffer than Contour / Maysis). Superficially, it seems a lot like the Format without the velcro.
However, based on my current opinion after wearing them for two weeks, I think the feel is more Contour/Maysis than Format. I have the impression that they will get softer at a pace more similar to Contour/Maysis than Format. Hopefully the textile lace will also prevent damage to the shell when I start to crank down on the boa dial over time. I also notice that the boa dial seem to loosen over time, requiring re-tightening, something I don't recall experiencing with the Format.
I also had a bit of a problem with the toe strap on two Burton binding slipping off frequently until I made adjustment to the binding's toe strap. I don't regret getting a pair of Trance on sale, but
While the Format didn't make me wish I still have my Strapins (broke them on a Maysis), I think that for the other boots listed here, Strapins and similar will help getting more response out of the boots and slow the pack out process.
I also really wish that I could try the Thraxis. They used to make them in smaller size that I could fit, but in the past 2-3 seasons, I can't find those smaller sizes in Japan anymore.
Second, I am a guy with small wide feet, and it's extremely hard for me men boots with my size.
Third is that after trying just about every boots I can get my hand on in store (in Japan), I conclude that K2 boots work the best for me. This even extends to ski boots.
Contour (Women), Maysis (Men): Are largely the same. The Maysis are a little taller and are supposed to be a little stiffer but in my opinion, there is not a lot of difference. The Contour followed by the Maysis were the first K2 boots I tried, and I have more than one pair of each.
I found them exceptionally comfortable for my feet. One of the boa dial tighten the liner, while the other tighten all the laces. The lack of separation when it comes to tightening the upper and lower side of the boots can be a disadvantage, but in my case, due to the boots being a good fitting, I didn't have a problem with it. I can crank it down pretty hard without having specific pressure point due to the lack of separation and I experienced no heel lift when they are relatively new.
The biggest downside, and the reason I ended up with so many pairs, is that they pack out fast in my opinion (or maybe this is just normal for most boots). If I was made of money or sponsored by K2, I wouldn't think it would be excessive to swap them out after a month. After two months I'd really be cranking down on the dial, and beyond three months, they don't offer much in the way of support, and will really bed when leaning on them. By that point if you fall weird, or need to do a lot of traverse or like to carve a lot, you will want new boots. Perhaps some kind of power straps (like Strapins) might be able to slow down the damage / buy additional time to the boots, but as a 120 day rider, I don't keep those boots an entire season by choice, and they definitely get discarded after one season. Once I decided to use them as airbag, and ended up with a bad ankle sprain while underrotating a 5, because the boots just bent as my boot dug into the mat while still twisting from the spin.
The other thing is that as a result of cranking them so hard, eventually the boa wire will start to rip the fabric which further weakens the boot's support. I had that happen to multiple pairs if not all of them before the end of the season.
Format (Women): I am going to straight up and say that those are definitely my favourite K2 boots so far. At first I was a bit worried because when new, the toe box felt smaller than the Contour / Maysis and I felt some pressure point right on top of my toe nail. I've had bruised toe nail before with Salamon boots which has a less spacious toe box so I was worried, but in the end, the liner must've naturally moulded to my feet as I had no issues after a few days (also, I never ended up with any bruise).
They are also the only boots in this line up that feature an additional velcro to secure the liner. I was sceptical that it served much purpose since you put it on before tightening the liners but I am now convinced that it does help. You can't tighten it up like a power strap but I think it helps ensure the boots is less likely to become loose.
Those are I seldom need to re-tighten the boa dial. I am not sure if this is also why I found the boots very usable the entire season. It does pack out, but nearly as fast as the Contour / Maysis.
The Format is the stiffest of the 4 mentioned here. but to me, they still aren't too stiff and and love the responsiveness. They also use softer, textile-like lace that in my case did not damage the shell in a visible manner. The downside is that the laces over time do fray and need to be replaced. The boa dial here control the upper/lower laces independently.
Trance (Women): I am pretty sure that the Men's Hanford is very much the same much like Contour <-> Maysis.
I bought those for this season because I couldn't get hold of a new pair of Format my size. On paper, they are very similar. The boa system, textile lace, and as of this year, perhaps flex (Format this year seem to have dropped one point of stiffness, maatching Trance while being rated a little stiffer than Contour / Maysis). Superficially, it seems a lot like the Format without the velcro.
However, based on my current opinion after wearing them for two weeks, I think the feel is more Contour/Maysis than Format. I have the impression that they will get softer at a pace more similar to Contour/Maysis than Format. Hopefully the textile lace will also prevent damage to the shell when I start to crank down on the boa dial over time. I also notice that the boa dial seem to loosen over time, requiring re-tightening, something I don't recall experiencing with the Format.
I also had a bit of a problem with the toe strap on two Burton binding slipping off frequently until I made adjustment to the binding's toe strap. I don't regret getting a pair of Trance on sale, but
While the Format didn't make me wish I still have my Strapins (broke them on a Maysis), I think that for the other boots listed here, Strapins and similar will help getting more response out of the boots and slow the pack out process.
I also really wish that I could try the Thraxis. They used to make them in smaller size that I could fit, but in the past 2-3 seasons, I can't find those smaller sizes in Japan anymore.
