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Well Do you want or need the walk mode? If you think it will be benifical get the QST, even if they are super ugly haha.

But make sure you go get the shell checked with a fitter to confirm they will work first. If the fitter says they will be a good option then order them and then take them back for fitting. So long as you are buying footbeds, which you really should be, then hopefully you wont be stung too much in labour getting the boots fitted, allthough as you did not buy from teh shop they really could charge you what they like. Maybe speak to the fitter first about what fitting will run you and weather they will gaurentee the fit after. If its expensive and they wont gaurentee you may want to reconsider getting them in a shop. Most places will do maybe 20% off so that could bring them down to $480 which if labour for fitting was going to be expensive could actually turn out to be about the same as ordering direct when you facter in shipping etc.

as tom said the hike mode is a big difference, also the QSTs are substantially lighter than the xpros, not sure if that made a difference.

I haven't skied the QSTs but trying them on i found them to be fair bit lower volume, width seemed pretty similar but they felt lower over my instep for sure, shouldnt be too much of an issue if you take them to a bootfitter the bootboard can always be ground down.

the fact that the main thing you care about is how they ski in off piste conditions means baisically any of the top end salomon line up will be good (assuming fit is good), alot of the fwt guys are skiing raceboots as they give the best downhill performance.

Go with the QST Pro 130 if you're making the comparison between the two...

the QSt's are so bloody soft. I can overflex the snot out of even the questmax 130 and i'm what... 155lb?

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**This post was edited on Jun 8th 2019 at 8:02:44pm

-Shadow-Thanks everyone for the input.

@Tom
"But make sure you go get the shell checked with a fitter to confirm they will work first"
You mean checked with my foot shape? If I'm going with the same brand and size as my current boots (which work great), is there still any potential issue there?

Its not the same boot though. Allthough the xpro came from the impact its an all new shell and the qst is differnt agin from the xpro. You need to at the very least ensure the shell is still going to work. Remember too that your foot may well have changed over the years. Your arch may have droped more for example and this is also the reason new footbeds may be a good idea. Take your footbeds with you when you go get shell checked and have the fitter asses wether they could do with replacing

Walk modes are getting good these days. In some boots you barley lose any downhill performance compared to a locked cuff. I skied the new K2 pinnacle pro all last season from everything to bc to park and never found any majour issues. If you plan on touring go walk mode.

I'll also add a vote for a walk mode, I switched to a boot with a walk mode last season and didn't notice a difference when skiing, but helps so much on even short resort bootpacks

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**This post was edited on Jun 8th 2019 at 8:02:55pm