I really like mine. In fact I wish I would have spent a little more to get a shoe with two boa adjusters. It's just so easy to make very fine adjustments to the fit. I never had shoes with a rachet buckle though, just plain old velcro straps so maybe the difference isn't as great, but it's hard to imagine that anything could be easier to adjust.

My wife loves hers, as she has some serious fit issues with shoes.
For me? No. Boa is more expensive, easier to break, and about as un-aero (non-areo?) as can be. I'll use laces when I can, or velcro straps.

The basic BOAs are like a ratchet where you can tighten in small increments, but to loosen you have to pop them up and let line out. The nicer BOAs let you micro-adjust both directions (tighter and looser), which is nice.

I was in a similar spot buying new shoes this winter. My old ones were velcro with a buckle and they felt fine. I decided to go with a two boa system on a Scott shoe to try it out. I like the micro adjustments it gives compared to the buckle. It is also a lot easier to back down the tightness compared to my old ones. Is it a life changer, no. Is it better, in my opinion, definitely yes. The shoes I found were a crazy deal so it was a no brainer to try boa. My last shoes were 15 years old, so hopefully these will last a similar amount of time. I believe boa dials and wires have a lifetime warranty. I may be making that up, but I think there is a card that came with the shoes noting that.

good luck and post back with your thoughts if you go with the boa
Barry

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Great things never come from comfort zones.

Here is my take of +35 years in cycling with shoe evolution.....

Velcro is fine, but it eventually wears out and looses some/a lot of it's sticking abilities.
Buckles are fine but are often combined with shoes with a lower velcro strap (see above). Plus buckle are company specific and when one breaks, may not be able to get a replacement - I had to throw away some nice Specialized MTB shoes because they no longer made a replacement strap (not a one size fits all).

I have had one and two system Boa shoes - definitely prefer the two Boa adjustment shoes as my feet are finicky and having a two area adjustment is nice. The one Boa shoes would always seem tight on the top and loose on the bottom. Plus is at least as of now - Boa will replace any broken Boa at no charge. I have some older Specialized single Boa road shoes - broken Boa, went to their website - filled out the form and a few days later a replacement arrived.

Plus IMOH, two Boa system shoes just look cleaner......

BOA is the best. I also recommend beginners to buy shoes with BOA. Don't have to be fancy ones even cheapest ones are fine. I really like the fact that, you can adjust while you are riding. You can pop the dial and relax your feet or you can tighten them up if you feel your feet is loose. In the spin class, people with velcros and buckles seat down and wear their shoes. If you have BOA, you don't have to. It's so convenient and effective. Do you also know, BOA will replace dials without any questions if they go bad? Yes, they offer Lifetime warranty.

I've got BOA's on my road and gravel shoes and like them a lot, except for one thing.

I plan to start doing some bike packing at some point in the future. After having just repaired a broken BOA on my gravel shoes there is no chance in hell I'd take a pair bike packing. While it wasn't;t necessarily hard to make the repair there is little chance you'd be able to do it trailside if something happened. I'll either use shoes with velcro or laces.

In pro cyclocross last season there was one particularly ubiquitous boa shoe that kept breaking. To the point where you'd almost expect it. In fact, Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado won one race after breaking a shoe and replacing it in the pit with an extra she had brought for just that reason. (The swtich was impressively smooth, by the way, once her pit crew understood what she needed. The announcer compared it to an F1 pit.)

I was having this same debate a little while ago when I was considering the laced Giro knit shoes

Ultimately realized that I have never adjusted my shoe on a ride, so the seconds saved in the house before going out isn't worth buying a shoe for a specific lacing option

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IG - @ryanppax
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Use code ST5 for $5 off your order

Went to Boa and will not use anything else going forward. Both road and mountain. So much easier and stays cleaner than straps. Easier to put on/remove shoe covers. Been to their facility in Austria and saw how they build, test, etc. and was impressed with the history of their development.

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I miss you "Sports Night"

if you have any sort of OCD with how your shoes fit you will want boas. i dont use anything but boas on my "normal" shoes as i can get the fit exactly the same on both shoes. if one is a touch tighter or looser than the other it will drive me mad.

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80/20 Endurance Ambassador

Very cool... I learned something new. I have never micro-loosened my Boa shoes before-- I didn't know that was possible. Well, I tried it today, and sure enough, they micro adjust both ways. Awesome.

I have shoes with laces, all velcro, velcro and ratchet and Boa. I thought I'd really like the Boa, but I'm not that fond of it. It's ok, but for me it's not better than the ratchet and velcro. No more comfortable. It may be that the ratchet and velcro shoes are a better fit for my feet, but the Boa is certainly not in a league of it's own IMO.

NO it's not better, just a more "recent shoe device/toy".
It has its qualities and down sides but it's much more important to get a shoe that fits you, not only from the shoe shape, but also the fastening design (IMO).
If you want to keep your shoes for a long time like your previous ones, a ratchet buckle lasts longer. I'm used to keep my shoes for an average 4 to 6 years, and never had to replace a ratchet strap except one that broke because of a nasty crash. I have to replace my S-Works 6 BOA's every year because the ratcheting system fails regularly.

Louis :-)

The boa gives many more micro adjustments compared to buckles. Buckle sizes are unique even in different styles by the same brand. Even through I wanted to keep my specialized shoes longer they no longer had the replacement straps when one wore out and the other broke. The boa are guaranteed. I think the boa also distributes pressure better than the buckles.

Just my $0.02

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Great things never come from comfort zones.

I recently bought 2 pairs of Sidi shoes, the Genius 10 and the Dominator 10 and they have the Tecno-3 dials which is like the BOA.

So far I like them but it's really easy to get them too tight

I have some 2011/12 Sworks that I'm still using (about 10,000 miles / 16,000km a year until last January 2019) and replaced the BOAs, late in 2018 as one had started to fray. Ordered online, got an email confirming that I'd ordered the right ones, and then about a week later 2 sets (ie 8 boas) arrived in my letterbox with a note saying they'd sent a second set as spare due to the time it may take to ship to NZ. No charge. These old ones are now back in use on the trainer bike.

I've also got some newer Swork 7s and the BOA been faultless on those. I'd had Sidi ratchet on my old MTB shoes. I had occasional issues when filled with mud and then they dried as I was riding and struggled to get off, but not common. The Boas I do like as on long rides then it lets me loosen as my feet swell, and control the pressure at top/bottom separately. I also like being able to unhook for quick dismounts.

Would I refuse to buy a shoe without a boa? No, but I'd certainly consider ones that had them favourably. Am I concerned about the durability? In my experience no although clearly some others are having very different experiences. And in a pinch then I'm fairly sure that the zip tie and electrical tape I carry on rides would be just as effective on a boas as a ratchet.

Pretty much everything has been covered here, but from a time trial perspective, I like Boas over buckles because you can make little adjustments to tightness once you already have your booties on. A minor detail, I know, but it's come in handy on many occasions.

This is such an underrated comment. All BOA dials are not equal. If you start with an IP1 BOA dial (micro adjustments each way, pull to release), you will not want to use anything else. The L6 (one-way micro adjust - tighten only, pull to release) used on mid-range Shimano and S2 (micro adjust each way, no pull to release) on mid-range Specialized are pretty annoying after you have gotten used to IP1 dials.