The very first item on the checklist is making sure you can do The Norm on your soft gear, and change edges before the board points downhill. And by able I mean do it comfortably over and over. It sounds like you may be doing that, if so you're probably ready to try the hardboots. You could mount them to your freeride deck to see how that goes and in the interest of changing one variable at a time, but you will probably find the limits of that setup in short order, like half a day. If your time is limited and/or precious, and you can carve your soft gear, just go for the RennTiger, it's a great board.