Except when it's Salomon, which makes defective AT boots, destroys a person's leg and life, and then does nothing about it, except release the boot again the next year.
I need to figure out an AT setup for myself this year. I'll just keep my alpine boots: Garmont Shamans. Who cares if they don't have AT soles or a walk function, they fit and I won't ever be touring for more than a few hours.
I figure I'll either get Barons or Dukes for the bindings since they'll be going on my Lhasa Pows, which I intend to ski almost every day this winter. I'll probably only get a few BC days (and those will be partially lift accessed from June Mountain), so I want something that will perform best for normal resort use. The weight difference is small, so that doesn't really matter to me at all. Barons are obviously a bit cheaper, but after running my DIN at 8.5 last year on alpine bindings, then putting on at least 10 pounds (and certainly more in the future, as I'm still just 145 at 5'10"), and becoming a more aggressive skier, I worry a bit about the durability of Barons and the greater potential for prereleasing.
A big part of skiing is having complete faith in your gear, too. After ripping a binding out last year and prereleasing many times even as I turned up the DIN, I never really trusted the bindings and I know my skiing suffered as I grew more cautious. Would the Dukes simply provide me with the piece of mind that the Barons wouldn't?
And then I have to find skins. Something that'll fit a 191 cm ski with 140-112-122 dimensions.
Keep in mind I have to buy pretty much everything used, so durability becomes even more important.