Visually, Dynafit TLT 5 appears wider at metatarsal than TLT6. Some of that might be illusion, or the result of thicker plastic for the metatarsal flex zone of the TLT5. Still, during recent fitting projects I’m finding the TLT6 seems the same or even slightly narrower in the metatarsal, even though I _thought_ someone said it was wider. Time for comparo. I have TLT5 28.5 shells sitting here, Cripple Creek Backountry has TLT6 in the same size, so I headed over there and did some measuring.
When compared side-by-side, TLT5 certainly appears to have the edge in metatarsal width.
When measured from the outside, met dimension of TLT5 is quite larger, but some of this is due to the plastic layering. Nonetheless, TLT5 has a noticeable anatomic shape and a bulge for the mets. Granted, this could be due to the rest of the boot being quite narrower than the metatarsal dimension, but again, our measurements indicate it is actually slightly wider in forefoot width than the TLT6.
Another way of comparing last widths is to measure a molded liner that has assumed the shape of the boot interior. In this case, the TLT5 liner is obviously several millimeters wider than the width of the TLT6 which I set the calipers to.
What really told the tale is my handy customized interior boot last measurement tool, OSHA approved of course. I spent quite a bit of time measuring, and kept arriving at 100 mm for TLT5, and 98 for TLT6. That makes sense when considering how the 5 has a visual metatarsal buldge. As for the remainder of the boot, comparing widths is difficult due to need exact data points (comparing widest point is easy). But I can conclude that while TLT6 may be slightly wider in certain areas (as claimed by Dynafit), its width at metatarsal is virtually the same as TLT5. Thus, if you found the TLT5 to be the perfect width, you'll probably have that same experience with TLT 6. Conversely, don't expect the TLT6 to be any wider than TLT5 at the ball of your foot. And overall shell fit comparo? Everything else is similar or identical.
WildSnow.com publisher emeritus and founder Lou (Louis Dawson) has a 50+ years career in climbing, backcountry skiing and ski mountaineering. He was the first person in history to ski down all 54 Colorado 14,000-foot peaks, has authored numerous books about about backcountry skiing, and has skied from the summit of Denali in Alaska, North America’s highest mountain.
