Palau Tour Lite Pro Evo Ski Boot Liner Review

I use the Dynafit TLT 7 Performance ski boot and love it, but after two years, the liner, which was minimal to start with, was worn out. My foot felt sloppy in the boot and my bone spurs rubbed painfully on the boot shell. A friend recommended Skimo.co for light weight liners. He said they had a good selection of liners including the original Dynafit liners. This is my Palau Tour Lite Pro Evo Ski Boot Liner Review.

After looking at selection of liners available at Skimo.co, I decided to try the Palau Tour Lite Pro Evo. They are $10 cheaper than the Dynafit liner. Also, Palau makes the original Dynafit liner so I figured it would be a good match. I called Skimo and asked if the Palau Tour Lite Pro Evo would fit in my TLT 7 Performance boot. They told me that it was about the same thickness as they original Dynafit liner so I ordered them. Free shipping!

The liners were packed and shipped within a day and I received them two days later. Kudos to Skimo for their prompt shipping. When I received them I was a little disappointed. The foam used in the Tour Lite Pro Evo is not as dense as the original Dynafit liner. Because it’s not as dense, I am worried that they would pack out quicker.

I tested the liner and it fit well in my Dynafit TLT 7 boot. While my convection gas kitchen oven preheated, I prepared my feet with padding in all my problem areas and wrapped my foot in the thin sock I got from Intuition years ago. Everything went well and the liners felt very comfortable. Now I needed to find out how they walked and skied.

Note: In the past, I went to ski shops to get liners fitted. If you’ve never had a liner heated molded for your foot and boot, I suggest you go to a experienced ski shop, preferably one that specializes in back country skiing. Resort ski shops tend to fit boots and liners too tightly. They don’t understand that walking in a boot all day requires a looser fit, even if you tell them. If you want to heat mold the liners yourself, see the following links for instructions on how to do it:

• Intuition instructions
• Wild Snow Instructions

I now have about 14 days of skiing in my new Palau Tour Lite Pro Evo liners.

What I Like About the Palau Tour Lite Pro Evo

• VERY Comfortable – As I said before, the Palau Tour Lite Pro Evo foam does not seem as dense as the original Dynafit liner foam. That makes the Palau liner more comfortable for walking and skiing. Also, the new liner has eliminated the pain in my bone spur and 6th toe areas. With the original Dynafit liner, those painful areas were tolerable, but I was always aware of them after a long day. With the Palau Tour Lite Pro Evo I don’t even notice them.
• More Supportive Calf Wrap – One complaint I had about the original Dynafit liner is that this minimal liner was a little uncomfortable where my shin hits the boot top when skiing downhill. There is not enough padding or support in that high pressure area to prevent the boot top from digging into my shin. The Palau Tour Lite Pro Evo line has extra material sewn around back of the calf area and on the top front of the liner tongue. Also, the liner is about a 1/2″ taller and thus has more support. It’s comfortable when when walking and skiing down.
• Perfect Tongue Strap – Almost all liners with tongues in them have some method of hold the tongue in place, either a simple strap or a lacing system. The original Dynafit liner had a strap, but that strap had too little velcro to hold it in place; mine were always pulled lose after an hour or two. The Palau Tour Lite Pro Evo strap system is much better and holds all day. And it keeps the tongue in place.
• Warmer – These liners seem a bit warmer than the original Dynafit liners. Maybe because they are new? Not sure, but they are a bit warmer. Keep in mind, a thin liner like this will never be as warm as a normal thickness liner.

What I Don’t Like About the Palau Tour Lite Pro Evo

There isn’t much I don’t like about these liners, but there are a few things I should mention.

• Might Get Wet – The inside of the Palau Tour Lite Pro Evo has a soft, thin material that absorbs water. My feet don’t sweat that much, but if yours do, they might feel wet at the end of the day. The original Dynafit liner has a denser, harder material on the inside that did not absorb water.
• Not As Much Volume – After skiing in these liners for about 8 days, I noticed that my foot was a bit sloppy top to bottom, not side to side; for example, it felt like my foot moved a tiny bit up or down. This was especially noticeable on icy or difficult snow. This issue is not really a problem with the liner, but I thought I should mention it. Because of the sloppyness , I decided to add a boot insole between the boot and the liner. By insole, I mean the flat, hard insoles meant to take up extra volume in a ski boot. I went to Trish, my favorite boot fitter at Peaked Sports. She recommended a medium thickness insole. That did the trick. Now the boot feels comfortably snug both walking and skiing. Also, the insole eliminated a little heel slip I had when walking.

Bottom Line

Ski boot liners wear out. If you ski 50-80 days in a season, one season is probably all they will last. Do your feet a favor and replace old liners. It’s like getting a new pair of boots at a fraction of the cost.

The Palau Tour Lite Pro Evo is an excellent replacement and improvement of the original Dynafit TLT 7 liner and I highly recommend it. If you have a TLT 7 Expedition, I’d recommend a thicker liner to replace the original. The TLT 7 Expedition liner is much a much thicker liner than the TLT 7 performance liner. A good replacement for the TLT 7 Expedition liner is the Intuition Pro Tour liner. I use these in my Dynafit Mercury boots and they are great.