a question for splitboarders

thanks guys, i'll check in on that.
so i'm kind of thinking that this seems like an anti endorsement of the mountain plate/ AT boot set up?

I wouldn't necessarily say anti mountain plate/AT setup.  There are plenty of riders on splitboard.com who use this setup and like it.  I've even considered dabbling with the setup.  The thing for me is that I don't need the extra support on 98% of my trips, so I use soft boots w/crampons.  If I ever get into real technical climbing, then I'll use mountaineering boots, but I don't feel comfortable riding the gnar in them.  Since I'm mostly a boarder at heart, my motto is if I can't ride it, why climb it (though I do enjoy climbing).  When riding the steeps, I'm comforatble in my Driver X's...........I'm still hopeful though that a manufactuer will make a boot with a stiff lower and soft upper (Similar to the old Oxygen's) specifically for backcountry snowboarding. Maybe in the next few years????

thanks guys, i'll check in on that.
so i'm kind of thinking that this seems like an anti endorsement of the mountain plate/ AT boot set up?

I vote mountain plates. I even switched to plates for lifts so I was fully used to it backcountry and 7-8ish years later I have never looked back.

I use Scarpa spirit 3s but have used dynafit in the past. I never buckle the tops very much- the key is to get the lightest/softest boot that holds your heel down. Depending on your foot size and weight, any different manufacturer can work- kind of like this: I need four dynafit buckles, but three of scarpa's will hold me in with the top one barely on. I have big feet and am not small- someone lighter or with smaller feet get a better fit from garmont or bd or something, I have no idea since my only other hardboot splitter buddy is even bigger -6'8"
You just have to go in a store and click into something and try to lean around, different feet like different brands.

Everyone I know who got romanced by the plastic mountaineering boot path has gone back to straps or switched to AT. I wish there was something in the middle. There is that fabled Koflach/Raichle hybrid of the past, K2 made a weird clicker/plate thing but it never really came out, and then nothing for years.

All I know is whenever someone starts telling me about their fancy new softboot lacing "system," I just chuckle, because I love the buckle. (I guess there is a rap in there but I will leave it alone!)  My feet never hurt, the interface is always the same tightness without yanking laces, kicking steps is kind of fun, and icy traverses on the way to the goods are easier to ski,  and getting on the board in steep hairy terrain is quicker and kind of a more binary lock...

AT boots do cost more up front, but they seem to last longer- but my splitter peer sample size is pretty small.

If you do switch, give it a few days to figure it out, maybe even a few lift days to get the turn down. Then you get that quicker transition off the lift- just one little lever, bang, and you are hooked!

I would just switch to skis.

actually, stugie, a little secret between you and i; i am a skier. tried snowboarding for a couple of years, but it never really grabbed me.
i'm doing research for my girlfriend, who is a splitboarder. we're just trying to get her systems dialed, so i'm throwing the feelers out there.
she tried skiing once. it didn't go so well...

LOL! Awesome...

Actually, I started snowboarding last year (inbounds only - which isn't very often), but since the feeling of surfing and snowboarding were so similar, I was hooked. I'm keeping an eye on this thread because I'm contemplating switching to a splitboard in the backcountry. I just have to get a little more confident in powder.