good luck w/ your choice. fwiw & as a reminder to myself, what always gets me, is fresh powder over ice. it compacts my tread, lifting the tire over the winter studs, rendering them useless. we don't have those conditions presently. 2 places I remember, from last winter, where fresh powder occurred over ice
- frozen puddle
- unmaintained, paved forest road
ice alone with studded tires is fine, even covered by compacted snow that isn't deep & collapsing. it's just that fresh powder over the ice that gets me. one doesn't need studs w.o the presence of ice & lots of BFers don't use them. but can we really predict the absence of any ice?