Kids' snowboard boots, and the footbed that buys a whole extra size

Who each of these is for, and who should skip it

• Ages 4-7, first or second season: the Mini Grom. Published Velcro straps a child can fasten in mittens, published Room-To-Grow footbed, and $99.95 published - the cheapest snowboard boot anywhere in this ledger.
• Ages 6-10, riding more than a handful of days: the Grom BOA. A published single-dial BOA is the difference between a child who re-tightens their own boots after lunch and a parent kneeling in slush.
• Ages 10-14, a dozen days a season or more: the Smalls BOA. Published heat-moldable Youth Imprint liner and a published Happy Medium flex.
• Skip all three and rent if they ride two or three days a year. The snowboard buy-or-rent arithmetic is on the site with the numbers shown, and it does not favor buying boots for a child who rides once.
• Skip the Smalls BOA for a beginner even if the size fits. It is the only one of the three with no published growing room, which is the spec that matters most at this age.

Why the boot is the purchase that matters

Snowboard boots are the one component worth owning before the board, for the same reason they are for adults: everything else is adjustable and the boot is the only thing touching the child. The adult version of this argument is on the site, and for a child there is a second reason: a rental boot is sized for whoever had it last, and a loose boot is why a child cannot turn.

What a child’s boot does not need is stiffness. A soft boot is easier to stand up in, easier to balance on, and less punishing when the rider spends day one sitting down - which they will. Chairlifts and flat ground is the page about where day one actually gets hard.

What this page ranks on

• 1. Published growing room. Burton publishes a Room-To-Grow footbed on two of these three and states it gains one full size when you lift the top footbed out to reveal an integrated second one. That is the only published growing-room figure in the whole category, and in a child’s boot it is worth more than any performance number.
• 2. Closure a child can operate. Not a specification exactly, but the thing that decides whether the boot gets tightened at all after lunch. Burton publishes the mechanism by name for each model - how the three closure types compare.
• 3. Published flex. Soft for a learner, medium once they can link turns. Burton publishes a descriptive flex for two of the three and nothing for the Mini Grom.
• 4. Published insulation and liner. Named insulation (3M Thinsulate) rather than unspecified fill, and whether the liner comes out to dry.
• 5. Published size run and warranty. Both stated by Burton for all three, which is more than the rest of this category manages.

The three, compared

The table makes the progression plain, and it is not a quality ladder - it is an age ladder. The cheap boot has the growing room and no flex rating. The expensive boot has the flex rating and the moldable liner and no growing room. The middle boot has both the growing room and a published flex, which is why it is the one most families should be looking at.

The picks

Burton Kids’ Mini Grom

The boot a five-year-old can put on without help, which is a bigger deal than it sounds on a cold morning in a car park. Burton publishes Dual Zone Shred Ready Velcro straps described as oversized and mitten-friendly, a linerless construction with 3M Thinsulate insulation, a DynoLite outsole stated as 20% lighter, and a Room-To-Grow footbed published as gaining one full size. Published size run 7C to 13C, published MSRP $99.95, with Burton’s 1-year warranty.

The Room-To-Grow mechanism is worth describing properly because it is the reason this boot is on the page. There are two footbeds stacked in the boot. The child rides the season on both; when the fit gets snug, you pull the top one out and the second, thinner footbed underneath gives back a size of length. No tools, no shop visit, and Burton publishes it as a full size rather than a vague “bit of room”.

Honest cons. Burton publishes no flex rating for this model, unlike both of its bigger siblings - so the softest boot here is the one you cannot verify is soft. Velcro has no micro-adjustment: it is fastened or it is not, with nothing in between, which is a real limitation once a rider wants a boot genuinely tight. Linerless means there is nothing to pull out and dry overnight, so the whole boot has to dry. And the published run stops at 13C, which for a growing seven-year-old is one season away.

Burton Kids’ Grom BOA

The one most families should buy, and the only boot here with both published growing room and a published flex. Burton states a Single Zone BOA closure with Coiler technology controlled by a single dial, a Soft & Playful flex, a linerless build with 3M Thinsulate, the DynoLite outsole, and the same Room-To-Grow footbed published as gaining one full size. Published sizes 11C, 12C, 13C, 1K, 2K and 3K within a 7C-6K chart; published MSRP $169.95; 1-year warranty.

One dial is the whole argument. A child cannot re-lace a traditional boot in gloves and will not take gloves off to try, so a boot that loosens at eleven in the morning stays loose until the car. A single BOA dial is one gloved motion, and it is the only closure on this page a seven-year-old will actually use mid-day. Heel lift is the problem a mid-day re-tension fixes, and it is the most common reason a child says the board will not turn.

Honest cons. A failed dial or cable is a shop repair, where a broken lace is a two-dollar fix in the parking lot - the same trade the adult boot page makes. $169.95 published is a lot of boot for a child who rides three days a year. Linerless again, so nothing comes out to dry. And the published size run jumps straight from 13C to 1K, which is precisely where feet move fastest.

Burton Kids’ Smalls BOA

The boot for a child who has stopped being a beginner, and the only one here with a published heat-moldable Youth Imprint liner. Burton publishes a Happy Medium flex described as combining soft, playful control with increased response, a Single Zone BOA with Coiler, the DynoLite outsole, a published 4K-7K size run, a 1-year warranty and a published MSRP of $189.95.

A heat-moldable liner is the one genuine fitting service available in this category: a shop warms the liner and the rider stands in it while it cools, so it takes the shape of an awkward foot instead of fighting it. For a child with a high instep or a wide foot that is the difference between a boot that works and one that hurts.

Honest cons, and they are why this carries the skip note. Burton publishes no Room-To-Grow footbed for this model - so the dearest boot here has no growing room, for the age bracket that outgrows shoes fastest. No insulation is published for it either, where both Grom models name Thinsulate. The published size run is only four sizes wide. And heat-molding is a shop appointment, so the best feature on the boot costs more than the boot’s price difference.

Sizing a child’s snowboard boot

Snowboard boots run on standard footwear sizes rather than mondopoint, which makes them easier to buy than ski boots and easier to buy wrong.

• Start from the measured foot, not the shoe size. Our snowboard boot sizing guide has the measuring method and the check that matters most.
• Buy the measured size, then use the Room-To-Grow footbed as the growing room. This is the correct order and most people get it backwards. Do not buy a size up and also leave the second footbed in - you have then built a boot two sizes too big.
• Toes brush the end standing, pull back when the knees bend. Same test as a ski boot. A snowboard boot packs out roughly half a size in its first few days, so snug on day one is correct.
• Check the heel does not lift. Heel lift is the single most common fit fault and the reason a child cannot hold an edge - how to fix it.
• Check the boot against the board width. A big boot on a narrow board drags in the snow at the toe - boot size, board width and rider weight.

The rest of the kit these go with

• The board, sized on weight. Kids’ snowboards and sizing one weight first, height second.
• Bindings that fit the boot. Stance width, angles and position, and step-on against strap-in - Burton publishes Step On versions of both Grom boots, which lock to a matching binding instead of strapping.
• Wrist guards, before anything else. Kids’ wrist guards and impact protection - a learning snowboarder falls onto outstretched hands repeatedly, and this is the cheapest injury prevention on the site.
• The whole kit, in order. Kids snowboard gear: what to buy, rent and add.