Nitro Club Boa Snowboard Boot Review

Hello and welcome to my Nitro Club BOA snowboard boot review. 

In this review I will take a look at the Club BOA as freestyle snowboard boots.

As per tradition here at SnowboardingProfiles.com I will give the Club BOA a score out of 100 (based on several factors) and see how they compare with other freestyle boots.

Overall Rating

Boots: Nitro Club BOA

Price: $349 (USD recommended retail)

Style: Freestyle

Other Uses: All-Mountain

Flex Rating: Medium (6/10)

Flex Feel: Medium (4.5/10)

Rating Score: 86.9/100

Compared to other Freestyle Boots

Overview of the Club BOA’s Specs

Check out the tables for the Club BOA’s specs and available sizes.

SPECS

SIZING

Who are the Club BOA Most Suited to?

The Club BOA are best suited to those who want to ride park or playful all-mountain freestyle as their mainstay or just like to cruise the groomers with a pretty laid back, slower speed style. They would also make great boots for higher end beginners and intermediate riders or lighter weight riders who might find even mid-flex boots to feel too stiff. 

Best matched to boards in the 2/10 to 5/10 flex range and even better for that 3/10 to 4/10 range, IMO. 

The Club BOA in More Detail

O.k. let’s take a more detailed look at what the Club BOA are capable of.

Demo Info

Boots: Nitro Club BOA 2025

Size: 10.0 (US Men's Sizing)

Date: January 8, 2025

Easy of Entry/Lacing Up

I found my feet slid into the boots pretty easily and didn't take much to get them open enough to do so. 

Liner

The liner has Nitro's liner lacing system, which is a little different to standard. It’s more similar to Ride’s system, but not quite the same in that it doesn’t have a separate toggle that you attach to the clip on the tongue and then pull. The lacing goes directly into a clip on the tongue of the liner. You cross the laces over and lock them into the clip, then you can pull it tight. The clip holds them in place, so when you let go, they don’t loosen. This allows you to pull a couple more times until you have your desired tightness. I found I could get the liner lacing really tight with this system and nice and easy to get tight. Kind of like a ratcheting feel about it. I liked it. I can get traditional lacing harnesses nice and tight too, but this just makes it a little bit easier.

Three wasn't any Velcro for top of liner, which I like to have and I felt like the top of liner could have been more snug. It’s one less thing to do, but I’d rather spend the time and have that extra fit at the top of the liner.

Heel hold with just liner tightened was really good. There’s a slightly pressure point on the top of my foot just where it meets the ankle. From getting those laces really tight. But it’s nothing too bad and for the heel hold it’s giving already, it’s worth it. 

Shell

The shell is a typical double boa system with the bottom 4 cables that run across the top of the foot tightened by the side BOA. The front BOA, which is self coiling to a point (as 99% are) controls the 4 cables that run across the tongue of the boot.

Heel hold didn’t increase much after tightening the shell, but it was already really good and overall just a touch better than my control boots for heel hold. 

Boot to Foot Fit

On first try on my first impression was that they fit really well. Nice and snug, and the only hot spot was on the top of my feet, near ankle, and it wasn't major.

Length:

My toes were a little more than brushing the ends of the boots when standing up straight. I would say touching rather than just brushing, but not enough so to be uncomfortable and I didn’t have to bend my toes or anything. It was the top half of my big toes that touched the most easily, so it’s partly length and I think partly height around that area.

Speaking of the tops of my toes - there was a little bit of wiggle room but not as much as control boots. But just enough that it didn't bother me. 

Width: 

My forefeet had the slightest bit of room to move side to side, but not much. Not as much as room there as my control boots. On first impressions, I would say medium bordering on mid-wide.

In-Step: 

As mentioned above, there was a bit of pressure on my in-steps, particularly on the right foot (which is typical for me). It was located just in front of where the instep meets the ankle. Enough to be uncomfortable, but not painful.

Around Ankles: 

Virtually no ankle pressure, but still good and snug around the ankles. 

On Snow: On snow the feel was very similar to when I did the in-house testing, but not quite as snug feeling. But overall a really good fit.

True to Size?:

After the in-house testing, I would have said true to size, for sure. I wouldn’t have gone any smaller but I felt bigger would be too big overall and I'd likely lose performance and heel hold going bigger. 

After riding in them, I felt that I could potentially get into a 9.5 at a stretch. The 10 was still good and would likely never pack out to be too sloppy or anything, so I don't think the 10 would be the wrong choice for me, even in the longer run and would likely be the preferred size for the first 10-20 days of use in them. The 9.5 though, would maybe be better fit towards the end. Hard to say for sure, but I'd say true-to-size bordering on running half a size big. 

Boot to Binding Fit

Heel width:  

I had a little bit of trouble getting the heel of the boots back into the heel cups of my bindings initially. There's no space for the heel of the boot to move, but it’s not so tight that I had to force it into the bindings or anything. Any wider at the heel and they wouldn't have fit well. 

Toe width: Quite  a bit of room each side. More space there than my control boots, so narrower at the toes, but wider at the heel. 

Ankle Strap: Overall, definitely bulkier around the ankle than my control boots. I had to lengthen the ankle strap by 2 holes vs how I have it set for my control boots, to get the best fit. Not surprising, given the heel width as mentioned above. 

Toe Strap: The toe strap on the other hand fit just right as is it was, which surprised me at first, given it’s a longer boot than my control boots. But I thought about it and because they are narrower at the toe end,  there's less material to wrap around, even if the strap has to go further forward, so it makes sense really.

Shock Absorption

Stomp Test: During the in-house stomp test, they felt similarly damp to my control boots.  

On-Snow: On snow they felt just that little bit less shock absorbing than my control boots. But really close. 

Board Feel

I found these boots had sick board feel! They made ollie initiations, presses etc easier and more natural feeling than with my control boots and most boards out there. I would say this likely also contributed to how good they felt for short sharp turns at slower speeds (see below for more on that). 

Carving

Not super suited to carving. I felt they made my setup a touch less good for carving vs with my control boots. That softer flex and great articulation help with board feel and slow speed turns, but when it comes to leaning into a deep carve, they lack the kind of support and power you get out of a stiffer boot. 

Slow Speed Response

Really good. These boots were so fun to ride slow and playful in. Made my overall setup more fun, playful and quicker between edges than with my control boots. 

Adjustability

For the shell, the 2 BOA's are fully independent of each other, so you get good upper and lower separation there. 

For tightening the liner later in the day, if necessary, you do have to open the shell a bit, but I found I didn't have to loosen the front BOA of the shell as much as I would need to with most boots, because you don't have to push the toggle back down to lock it in, like you would with a typical lacing harness. You can just open it up just enough to pull on it and then it's self locking. You could probably even work them so you didn't have to open up the shell at all.  

Comfort

Really nice and comfortable. There was a little bit of instep pressure, but I found that was reducing as I rode in them. Otherwise a really good fit, for me, from out of the box. And I found I didn't get any cramping or shin bite either. 

Heel Hold

I found the heel hold to be really good. They felt a little better than my control boots during in-house testing, but about the same when riding, overall. I did find that they loosened a bit over the day and I had to retighten them a couple of times. This is pretty typical for new boots though, as you're breaking them in. 

Reduced Footprint

They're not overly low profile. Not super bulky either though. While they are 3.4cm longer than their mondopoint, which is pretty long, they did have above average bevel on both the toe and heel. 

Traction/Sole Quality

The grey parts and the black treads seemed like rubber. But the black underneath the treads and the arch section didn’t seem to be to me. The black part at the front feels less like rubber – or at least less grippy, than the grey section at the heel end.

The description of the sole from Nitro of “Selected EVA outsoles are reinforced with strategically placed rubber reinforcements for added resistance, traction, and durability" implies that that what I described above it likely to be the case in terms of rubber content. 

Tread depth is medium. Pattern variety is pretty minimal. Overall middle of the road soles, IMO. Not as nice as the soles on the Team BOA, but that's to be expected, when these are a little nicer on your bank account!

Score Breakdown and Final Verdict

Check out the breakdown of the score in the table below.

The Club BOA were really comfortable out of the box and really enjoyable to ride in. They are best suited to slower to moderate speed, playful riding, more so than high speed, aggressive riding and their best qualities are slow speed response and board feel, in my experience with them.