How to know if your boots fit properly

After an hour or so of trying on 7 or 8 pairs of boots in the shop, my feet were getting a bit numb and sending confused messages to my brain and I eventually settled on a pair, had them set and took them home. I have put my feet in them at home a few times and because I have no experience of buying boots before, I don't know how they should feel if they are fitted properly. I dont even know how tight to do up the straps, sometimes I can do them up tightly and I feel a restricted circulation!? But people have told me tight ski boots are well-fitted ski boots?...

Also, can I take them to a indoor ski slope or something and assume I will be able to take them back and swap them if a discomfort arises, so long as I dont bash them about and scratch them? Or is a couple of hours likely to render them unreturnable?

Possibly others have experienced similar thoughts, thanks for any comments :)

Where did you have your Boots fitted? You should have tried on at most 3 different pairs after being measured.

You should not need to do the clips up tight, the boot should fit like a firm handshake anyway.

Were you taught how to do them up by the fitter?

i think as a beginner its probably the most difficult thing other that learing to ski to know if your boot feel right, as you have never had any reference to go by. For sure you know if you buy a pair of normal shoes if they dont fit but you have had years of experience in normal shoes.
new boots take a good week of skiing to bed in properly but that said as Bandit mentioned, a firm hand shake over your feet is a fair guide. New boots should be slightly on the tight side when fited with no areas of pain or hot spots and shouldnt make your feet ache on the balls or soles.
Indoor skiing is a good idea for tesing them out (just chaeck with your shop your ok to take em back if you use them indoor) cant see any decent shop objecting to this.
one final thing if you are not happy after you have spent some time in them take em back before you go on holiday and dont settle until you happy (be a problem customer)you dont want to waist time on holiday with your boots.
Keep it up you will love it:-)

Spend some time researching this. There is a lot of info on the web, and there has been several in depth discussions on this forum.

http://www.google.com/webhp?hl=en#sclient=psy-ab&hl=en&site=webhp&source=hp&q=%22new+ski+boots%22+fitting+shell+test+&pbx=1&oq=%22new+ski+boots%22+fitting+shell+test+&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=164809l164809l0l165826l1l1l0l0l0l0l167l167l0.1l1l0&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&fp=eb7dd580f7d51820&biw=1920&bih=906

The biggest mistake most people make is to end up with boots that are too big, but there's a lot more to it. Even if you see a great boot fitter, the more you know about the process, the better the feedback you can give.

When I first bought my boots I thought they were just right a little tight but not to tight and no real pain after an hour and a half of Skiing on the indoor slope, the next time I went whcih was last weekend for about 2 half hours the balls of my right foot ached a little but when I took my boots off I got pins and needles in the balls of my feet for a couple of minutes :cry: :cry:

Going to go back to the shop as soon as I can but not sure if I had the boot fastened to tight??


other than the slight pain they are amazing but need to be right as I spend all day skiing apart a 30 or so minute break for dinner, not into sitting around while ever I can ski the drinking and siting can be done after dark falls :mrgreen:

Mr Admin how do I delete a double poste computer crashed then posted again, I can only find were to edit as I have done

MattSki_score wrote:When I first bought my boots I thought they were just right a little tight but not to tight and no real pain after an hour and a half of Skiing on the indoor slope, the next time I went whcih was last weekend for about 2 half hours the balls of my right foot ached a little but when I took my boots off I got pins and needles in the balls of my feet for a couple of minutes :cry: :cry:

Going to go back to the shop as soon as I can but not sure if I had the boot fastened to tight??


other than the slight pain they are amazing but need to be right as I spend all day skiing apart a 30 or so minute break for dinner, not into sitting around while ever I can ski the drinking and siting can be done after dark falls :mrgreen:

As bandit said, they should feel well fitted with the buckles loose. Having to crank down on the lower two buckles is a sign that they are too big.

Ok thanks for those replies.
I am reasonably confident with the fit. The only thing I'm not sure about is I really can't tell whether or not my big toe touches the front of the boot when I put it on. I have tried on some boots and it felt obvious it was touching the front because there was pressure. With mine, I know it sounds stupid, but I honestly can't tell if I'm touching the front before standing. I think it could be really kissing the front.