AT boot?

Does anyone have a suggestion for a place to buy decent AT boots for long approaches and harder descents? I just switched my Freeride Bindings over to a pair of Rossignol 125 BCs but don't want to break the bank buying boots. I'll need to pay 2 times the price since I buy a pair for myself and my wife. I really liked the Black Diamond Primes, they seem to be a great combination of steeper skiing control plus approach comfort but two of them cost what a good couch would so they are out. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

The gold standard for AT boots nowadays is the Dynafit TLT5. No other boot (besides other racing based boots) have a comparable low weight and massive amount of touring cuff flex to allow for very long days while at the same time giving you tons of ski mode stiffness for the ski down. The TLT5 changed the game. Before it, there were lightweight, touring based boots (Scarpa F1, F3), and there were heavy stiff downhill focused boots. The TLT5 is lighter than the light boots and stiffer than many of the downhill focused boots. But having the best of both worlds comes at a price, its insanely expensive. Much more than the BD Primes.

You can have downhill performance, uphill performance, or low price. Pick two.

If price were an issue, I would probably lean toward uphill performance if you plan to do long days. You spend much more time going uphill, and the sacrifice of downhill performance is worth being able to meet the longer objectives, especially since the extra weight you carry is only marginally going to make tough snow conditions of the backcountry that much better. So for going cheap, I would look for some used Scarpa F1s, there's alot of people dumping their old lightweight stuff since the TLT5s came out.

This awesome article is great at explaining the philosophy of what I'm trying to say, especially the last part under "Pros and Cons".

Thanks, I'll check all that out.

I am currently wearing a pair of dynafit tlt5 mountains. They are the S*$T....I cant believe how great they are.

I also have a used pair of dyanfit Zzero 4 px-tf's that are for sale. also insanely light for a 4 buckle boot, and plenty of flex for touring. They work in both tech bindings, and traditional touring bindings. be aware that the tlt5's (any version) do not work with traditional bindings (touring or downhill)