CWH2,
I agree I've tried the plastic boot thing, but not for me.
As far as crampons, I used those Hillsounds for 2 years, but after 17 days on Kodiak last year on two different mountain goat hunts they were completely destroyed.
My buddy got the cypress 6 point crampons and they are definitely stouter and faster to put on/off.
But I got the Kahtoola K-10s and so far I like 'em, but we'll see once I get couple sheep hunts and goat hunts on them this year.
