there are a lot of differing opinions on this subject, some are great and some are just plain wrong, to say to someone that they should avoid a product at all costs when it is a well established product is just crazy, what works for you doesn't work for me etc etc. classic example being the superfeet trim to fit blue product 2 because the heel isn't even flat" had the poster got an understanding of biomechnics they would know that there is a reason for the heel not being flat (the heel on the custom kork product by the same brand which he had great success with is equally NOT FLAT). But lets deal with the question in hand...Custom footbeds...
basically there are 3 different ways they can be built,
1 weighted: this is when the footbed is placed into a mold whilst you are standing on it, for a very rigid foot it can work well and if the fitter is very experienced it can be a good option BUT this tends to be the kind of thing you will see in a chain store and if the foot is unstable ground reaction force pushing up as the body weight pushes the foot down can give a really nice mold of a collapsed foot. most well known of these is Conformable
2 semi weight bearing: with the client seated the foot is placed into a similar mold as the weight bearing method BUT the fitter has some control over the foot and can position the foot into a neutral position, most common of these is probably Instaprint
3 non weight bearing: the foot is suspended and the fitter has control of the joints to get the neutral position, Superfeet custom is the most popular of these products
other systems include the surefoot milling system which is a cut down version of AmFit and uses a cad cam mill to cut the footbed from a solid block
now, here is the problem, none of the systems above are bad in any way, but they can all produce bad footbeds in the wrong hands, they key is the guy (or gal) making the product, in my store we have 3 differing ways to make a custom footbed, we make the vast majority either non weight bearing or semi weight bearing and we select the product based on the foot, the skier and the boot (there is no point us making a bulky really supportive product to try and get it into a plug boot being used for a fis level race and needing to be under a legal stand height) so a balance has to be drawn, each person we see is different and each product we use for them is different too, down to the density of the posting material we use for different body weights or foot flexibility
if you can find a store which has a C.Ped (certified pedorthist) on staff then you are on the way to finding a good product, but go by personal recommendations of the fitter rather than sticking a pin in the map, there are some great fitters out there who have no medical credentials and may make a better footbed for YOU than someone who has all the letters possible after their name.
so how should a custom footbed feel? it is a bit like a bucket seat, it needs to contact the foot all over and not put undue pressure in any one place, we are aiming to spread the load across the entire plantar surface of the foot and equalize pressure, they may feel a bit strange at first especially if you have never had any support under your foot and it may take a few days for everything to settle down, BUT the footbed should not cause you pain! all the good fitters i know will stand by their work on footbeds and either change r refund a product that doesn't work for you, all you need to do is give good honest feedback and work with them
hope that helps
Colin
. For that reason alone they'd never work in my low instep height (volume), Salomon X-max 120's, (I didn't try them for use with those ski boots).
