Put about 85 days on a set of Quadrants in the last half of the season and, as a longtime Scarpa user, have been very happy with the switch. The Quadrants have been bomber and seem to drive skis as well after some use as they did when new.
Although the boots are quite widely lasted, I too required extensive boot-fitting (actually shell expansion) and the boots formed very well under Kevin Kobayashi's skilled hands. The plastic memory did not cause them to reform, so my feet stayed very happy through the season. No really cold use, but boots were comfortable to -25C.
Tech inserts seem to be holding up very well (this is what killed my Scarpas) and show little sign of wear.
The liners will need to be replaced. BD had an issue with toebox sizing in this run of liners and I needed an exacto-knife to make room for my toes. Some stitching replaced with ductape but it worked fine. Other friends had the same experience. After half-a-season's use, the liners are truly dead and packed out. The BOA works fine with no issues.
Soles have lasted very well (well, we didn't have bare earth in the valley this season), especially since the boots get a fair amount of play on wind-lashed ridges that are frost-fractured and sharp. Shells also took this abuse well and no issues with damage to the buckles. One tiny quibble with the metatarsal buckles--when plunge stepping about in depth hoar over rocks, the buckles inevitably get flipped up. This could lead to buckle damage, but I didn't experience this at all; instead, I was relegated to packing spare buckles for my Scarpa Maestrale clad buddies who hadn't backed their buckles up with Loctite.
On the whole, very pleased with these boots and will definitely look at BD boots again in the future. Would expect this year's boots will last at least another 100+ days without issue...
It's been two months since I started ski touring with the Black Diamond Quadrant Boots and a number of the touted features have proven their worth, namely the Boa System and the Triax Pivot Cuff System. The weight savings is a plus as is the comfort of the liners and how they keep you warm and dry.
