Testers loved the Tecnica Mach BOA HV 105 W for its ample volume and plus-size curves, and that's without their huge appreciation for how the BOA closure system put a new spin on the Mach1 wide rid
One of our most critical boot testers said the R/Fit MV 130 was his favorite Roxa boot of the test for its well-distributed medium-width fit tension throughout the lower shell and upper cuff and its strong skiing characteristics. He said it fit and skied with the top boots of the highly competitive All-Mountain Traditional category.
Other testers didn't proclaim quite as much love for the R/Fit MV 130 and so the overall score average took a hit, but what our first tester had to say definitely counts, so we'll focus on those positives first.
He liked the way the boot closed around the average to thicker foot and leg, with a firm grip on the foot for control but there was enough cushioning to make this an all-day boot. The closure system is traditional and straightforward--four buckles--which will appeal to skiers looking for a trouble free route from boot bag to binding. The stance is fairly upright and taller on the lower leg than average (all testers agreed on these points), and the 130-flex was not exaggerated, so the word was that bigger, taller and more aggressive skiers would find themselves well supported and in better balance than some of our shorter testers who found themselves a bit behind the skis and trying to catch up.
Testers agreed that the MV was also true to billing and said that the mediumish fit tension remained fairly consistent through the boot, though testers thought that the toebox had a bit of an old-school, tapered shape that jammed the big and little toes more than other current models with more squared-off toe shapes. They liked the amount of flare available at the boot top for a muscular calf and said that such a calf would be a better match for the upright angle than a very low volume leg shaft which would probably need some rear spoiler added to find a better balance point fore and aft.
Edging was reliable and ready for action, all testers said, with enough stability and quickness to power an all-day, all-mountain mission if its pilot were game for it. They liked the R/Fit MV 130's ease of entry and exit and found that the available features were all of the functional variety: dual cuff adjustment, camlock power strap, dual liner pull loops and GripWalk soles. One testers said that Roxa was in the mix for state of the art boot tech in the all-mountain medium width group.
Every year for the past several the Rossignol Pure Pro has been one of the women's test team's favorite medium width boots for its even, comfortable fit and no-issues skiing attitude--and they love the furry liner cuff! This year it returns with a structural liner revision that nudged its stance score to a perfect 5.0.
The Pure line-up is the women's side of the men's Hi-Speed range. All of these boots received the same liner update for this year, which involved changing where the tongue was sewn into the liner. Rossi's boot designers moved the attachment point just a few millimeters but it changed the way the tongue addressed the shin for testers, bringing it into better contact at the boot top and spreading pressure all along the shin. Testers said it made the boot feel slightly taller and more powerful in its cuff positioning, which was a good thing for this 100-flex, evidenced by that stance score.
Testers have always felt that the Pure Pro 100 has punched above its weight class, but this new cuff feel pumped up the power quotient a bit as well, giving testers a more upright starting position to start their move to the front of the ski from. They said there was no feeling of collapse on hard flexion, even though the flex range remained long and smooth. Testers said its edging game was solid, reliable but also quick to react and precise in guiding the ski toward each turn. The way the Pure Pro 100 puts together its skiing elements was seamless and easily accessed. Testers mentioned just enjoying the skiing when they were in the Pure Pro, essentially forgetting that they were testing boots--always a good indication that things are working well.
The Pure roster has a history of fun colors and a liberal use of fur on the liner--this year testers loved the white faux fur and the lipstick red highlights on buckles and GripWalk soles. They were also fans of the double-pulley power strap that allows for tightening from both the medial and lateral side of the cuff. And they like the little Rossi rooster logo, front and center, as always. Not surprisingly, the Pure Pro 100's soft skills earned its second-highest score of a 4.92 in the Convenience, Warmth and Features metric.
Out of thirteen total tests performed by our team on the Rossignol Pure Elite 120, sixty-percent of the scores given were perfect 5.0's. With a final score average of 4.85, which put it at the top of the All-Mountain Traditional category and matched one other boot (sister brand Lange's XT3 Free 115 W) for the highest score awarded in the entire women's test. This is not a new boot (it was a gold medalist last year and the year before) but it its fresh liner revision breathed new life into both its fit and performance for our crew.
The Pure Elite 120 entered the women's performance scene several years ago in a slightly longer and generally roomier iteration with more sedate cosmetics and a notably furry liner--it was an instant hit with testers, though many of their comments came with the advice to ignore the fur, it's legit! One tester recalled the Pure Elite's formative years and put its present status into succinct perspective: This boot has been a big hitter for several years and this year is no different--it lives up to its reputation.
The current ruby-red redesign marks an evolution of performance efficiency--the new, men's Hi-Speed lower mold shape (the women's retained the Pure naming scheme) was a completely revised, closer, shorter and more anatomically matched shell than previous models and gone became the comments of too roomy for a narrow. Also gone was the shag rug liner interior which tended to look like a labradoodle in need of a bath after a season or two. The new liner was like something out of a fashion makeover show--it went and got some work done, plus new color and a Brazilian, and came back looking sleek and slippery and testers loved it (entry and exit was improved, too).
This year the liner makeover continued because Rossignol's boot design team just couldn't let it be. Testers had remarked, over the past two years, that the liner tongue felt a little disconnected from the shin at the boot top, allowing for a sort of spilling-forward feel that some testers also described as a short-feeling cuff. Let's be clear that this was a subtle fit issue and a very minor demerit. However, Rossi apparently agreed and for this year found a way to revise the tongue's attachment point to bring it into closer contact along the whole lower leg. Testers noticed the change right away and gave it two thumbs up for a better, taller feel and a more immediate response to flexing movements.
Testers still feel a need to remind people not to judge the book by the cover with regard to the Pure Elite 120 cosmetics. Yes, there's much lipstick love and they mention wishing more brands had fun with their colors the way Rossignol has with their women's line over the past few years, but they repeatedly comment that the boot's powerfully quick character would shine through no matter what the hue. This boot remains one that our strongest skiing testers can't overpower and yet it remains accessible to less aggressive skiers and reacts predictably at low cruising speeds and mach schnell, all the same. They do appreciate the little accessory touches, like the rooster emblem on the dual-pull Velcro power strap and matching red GripWalk soles, but they mainly like the fact that the Pure Elite 120 fits and skis even better than it looks.
We can remember when it was hard to convince testers to get into the wide boots at the annual boot test--understandably, since (for the most part) they sucked! Testers would grudgingly get into the wide boots at the tail end of the test, or when it was raining, or when it was frozen boiler plate--they just weren't that much fun to ski. That's been quite a few years now, and currently wide-lasted boots offer the same level of fit, performance and useful features as do their medium- and narrow-width brethren. And then there's the Hi-Speed HV. It's been one of our favorite wide rides for the past few years, since its arrival on the scene as part of the replacement to Rossi's Allspeed line. The Hi-Speed 130 HV is fun to ski, testers say, right there with the best medium and narrow boots of the All-Mountain Traditional category.
Gone are the performance compromises that used to plague the thick-footed, and the Hi-Speed 130 represents the most gone compromises boot of the wide loads we've tested. It's wide enough that the chunkiest of feet can get in there (and with a straightforward mono-injected polyurethane shell and cuff it's easy for bootfitters to make more room as needed) but it has a stellar stance set-up and enough hold in the critical ski-control fit zones that skiers with more average fit needs do fantastically well here too. Testers of all shapes and sizes had nothing but praise for the Hi-Speed 130 HV. Literally, there were no negative comments for us to post in the Caveats section of the tester commentary tab of this review--check that out.
The Hi-Speed isn't new but the whole bunch of them (men's and women's models, in all widths) underwent a liner revision for this year that re-set the bar for the boot's stance and skiing performance. It was a minor change to how the liner tongue is attached at the toebox to bring the tongue into closer contact with the shin at boot top, but testers say it was a game-changing tweak for how much better it felt against the leg and that translated into a better skiing experience. The Hi-Speed boots used to exhibit a slight "spilling-out" feel at the top of the cuff, and while testers tried cranking the power strap to bring the tongue closer to them, it wasn't perfect out of the box. Now, testers say the boot has a taller, more upright and more powerful fore-aft starting position and the pressure distribution along the shin is more even and more comfortable. All of that made for stronger turns generated from a more sustainable, powerfully-stacked stance.
The Hi-Speed 130 HV locked down perfect scores of 5.0 for it's Anatomical Fit and Initial Feel as well as in its Dynamic Balance criteria--testers attribute these high scores to the liner tongue change mentioned above. While testers gave this wide boot fairly snug marks for its fit in the ankle and heel pockets, it was not so snug as to take it out of play for the high volume foot, they said. Similarly they said the calf fit is not huge, but open enough in circumference and flared enough at the rear of the boot top to comfortably contain some serious muscle mass.
One of our hyper-critical testers said that the Hi-Speed 130 HV delivered race-boot-level power to the edge. That's not much of an exaggeration, as every tester commented about the ski-driving power and stability of the Hi-Speed HV. Edge Power was where it garnered its next-highest score at a 4.83, so the numbers backed up the commentary there.
Testers remind good skiers with less-than-wide feet and legs that a wide-lasted boot can offer solutions for folks who get chronically cold or numb in ski boots. Before going up a size and really swimming, testers suggest that they try their regular size, but in a wider last than they typically ski. With a boot like the Hi-Speed 130 HV there is no performance downside to that experiment, testers say.
The Rossignol Hi-Speed range received an across-the-board liner update this year that had a noticeably positive effect on fit and performance in every model, but perhaps the biggest bump up came in the narrow Hi-Speed Elite 130 Carbon where the fit improvements were most apparent to slender legged skiers who applauded the newly close-matching fit in the cuff and the resulting power upgrade.
The boot was already a gold medalist twice over the past two tests, impressing testers from the get-go. And while Rossignol could've just left well enough alone, they chose to pursue a fix to a minor, but nagging concern about how the liner tongue was attached at its base. They moved the attachment point farther down by just a few millimeters, but that was enough to pull the instep into a better match with the lower leg and top of the foot, and it also shifted the tongue to make better contact at the boot top. This better connection with the shin at the top of the boot made the boot feel slightly taller and more upright to testers, who before had noticed a bit of "spillage" out of the boot cuff. Now they were held securely in a well-distributed way all along the lower leg, and they felt that there was more immediate engagement of boot and ski shovel when they made a first move forward, where in the past there was some gap in that transmission. One tester called this little liner tweak a game-changer for fit and performance. Another tester called the Hi-Speed line both the biggest surprise of the test and the test's most improved models because of the liner change.
The fit elsewhere in the boot remains ridiculously comfortable, testers said. Perhaps too comfortable for a narrow-last, some testers mentioned, as the Hi-Speed Elite 130 Carbon remains on the roomier end of the fit tension spectrum among the narrow class All-Mountain Traditional boots we tested this year. This was not a bad thing, but it did lead some testers to reduce the boot's Anatomical Fit and Initial Feel scores for missing what they considered the narrow fit target somewhat. Other testers just enjoyed the luxuriant, warm fit and ripped all around the mountain without numbness and pain. It's a glass-half-full versus glass-half-empty fit tension story. There are a lot of skiers who can't tolerate the typical crush of the narrow boot but find themselves a bit swimmy in a medium-last. Well, here's a great solution for that guy.
Stance angles don't get much attention unless they're off, generally, but the stance geometry of the Hi-Speed universally garners praise for how perfect it is. Sure everybody has a stance alignment preference--some a bit more forward, others more upright, some strong to the inside edge while others like a looser set-up--but somehow the Hi-Speed boots appeal to all of them. It's right in the middle of the target--a stance angle bullseye that lets skiers find a comfortable place to move from, and if there's anything a bit not-so-perfect, it's within the window of easy cuff adjustment or rear spoiler tuning. Testers repeatedly mentioned how easy it was to ski the Hi-Speed Elite 130 Carbon anywhere and everywhere, at any speed. In an era where most boots' stances are pretty damn good, the Hi-Speed line is remarkable for it.
The Hi-Speed Elite 130 skis with frontside precision but with all-day comfort tuning and suspension that makes it the perfect go-everywhere boot, testers say. They say it's damp and stable and unstoppable at speed, but they also comment on its quick-witted character in transitions and tight spots. It's Quickness and Steering score was a nearly perfect 4.94, so we guess our testers back up what they have to say with some hard numbers.
Nordica's flagship women's wide Sportmachine 3 105 W is a performance-oriented option for skiers with thick enough feet that the medium-width Speedmachine isn't an ideal fit. This is not a bucket, testers say, but a wideish-medium (or snugish-wide) that holds the instep and heel firmly enough for powerful moves all-around the mountain. Testers liked how supportive and tall this 105-flex felt and said it more than held up to their many test runs in a variety of terrain and snow conditions.
There are softer versions of the 102mm Sportmachine 3, namely a 95-, 85- and 75-flex, and each of those will offer a slightly softer liner build that will open up the wide-last fit available in the shell and cuff. For expert skiers with high-volume feet, testers say the 105-flex is the way to go for its solid feel throughout aggressive turns. The tall and upright feeling cuff responded well to an assertive move forward, testers said, and they noted that shorter and lighter skiers looking for a roomy fit could step down to the 95-flex for more easily managed fore-aft balance.
A thicker calf would benefit from the Sportmachine 3 105 W's upright cuff position but a few testers said the cuff itself was a little abrupt on the calf, at least upon first fit. Testers suggested that a liner cook would be their first course of action to see if the overly snug fit there was a result of the liner versus the shell. Testers thought that the Sportmachine, as the model name implies, should attract a still-performance-focused skier that happens to have a thick foot--the skiing skills here match the comfort and convenience. Testers note that there is a bigger, wider, more calf-friendly 104mm option in the Nordica stable called Cruise, which we have tested in the past. They said if the thick-of-foot wants to really ski, rather than just cruise, then stick with the Sportmachine 3 105 W.
Sometimes our hard-charging women's test team will turn up their noses at a 105-flex if there's a 110- or 115-flex available in the same model, but that was not the case with the Nordica Speedmachine 3 BOA 105 W. Testers had no problem with this flex level, citing a tallish and upright-feeling cuff that bolstered the flex index and kept them standing right where they wanted to be. No mention of too much travel in the cuff. No mention of a collapsing flex under off-piste duress. We bring this up because there is a 115-flex Speedmachine option available to women, but it comes with buckles--no BOA. Our team is pretty fond of the BOA, and they were happy to ski the 105-flex to get it!
The Speedmachine has always been a tester favorite over the years for its ease of entry, ease of fit and easily accessed expert-level, all-mountain skiing skills. Testers say all of those Speedmachine traits are here in spades but with the addition of the BOA closure system on the lower shell which they liked quite a bit for its smoothly-wrapping closure and easily tuned micro-adjustments. Where the BOA system can cause some restriction of entry on some boots, testers say that is not the case with the Speedmachine 3 BOA 105 W--it was still easy on and off, just the way the buckle version has worked for them in the past.
The majority of the test team said that this medium width fit was right on target for an appropriate amount of grip in the rear control zones and freedom of fit in the toebox and forefoot. There was agreement that the calf fit offered a great middle-of-the-road squeeze on the leg but with a nice amount of flare at the boot top to avoid a jab to the back of the leg. Testers said this was a straightforward, even fit with a cushioned-enough liner feel against the sock but without feeling weak or liable to pack-out--a just-right, Goldilocks-style blend of comfort and control.
Testers were impressed with the high-performance, hard-charging moves this 105-flex enabled. They found no speed limit for it, nor did they discover any terrain challenge that it couldn't handle. The Speedmachine delivered reliable turn initiation and a stable hold on the ski throughout all phases of the turn, regardless of the snow surface, and it did so in warmth and comfort, they said. There were no performance gaps to speak of, they said.
Useful features were icing on the cake for testers who liked the common goodies like a functional Velcro power strap, dual liner pull loops, lateral cuff adjustment and GripWalk soles. For the stance-challenged, 0.5 and 1.0 degree Nordica cants are available as an accessory purchase.
Nordica's narrow all-mountain performance boots are so good, every single year, that testers say they forget to get excited about them--until they get them on their feet again and make a few runs.
That's the beauty of the annual boot test--a yearly reminder of what are the best boots in the industry. For many of our testers who happen to be snowsports retailers and bootfitters it's a critical renewal of their opinions about products they and their competitors sell. Virtually every year for the past several (nearing a decade) our test team has rewarded Nordica's narrows with gold medals. The Promachine 115 W is one of those perennial examples of the best boots available to expert skiers, and our test team tried their best to come up with new ways to say flawless.
Our new members of the test team got into the Promachine 115 W and said, damn, this thing is tight! Which, in turn caused veteran testers to say, it's not that tight, it's just tight the way a narrow last is supposed to feel! And that has been one of the consistent traits in the Promachine range, in all flexes and in the men's line, too--it's a proper narrow fit, with a performance-intended heel pocket that says, here we go! The other consistent Promachine-family trait is that its very tight tightness is virtually hotspot free--the shell shape and liner construction team well to avoid jamming up the common bony spots of the foot and it also does so with a firm, ain't-gonna-pack-out liner feel. Testers point out that the anatomically pre-formed, cork-clad exterior of the liner's ankle zone did a good job of mating with the shell interior in a closely matched way and contributed to the transmissive feel of the linkage between foot movements and ski response.
Speaking of ski response. Testers couldn't find anything to dis about how the Promachine 115 W skis. They never do. It's that good. Its highest score was in the Quickness and Steering parameter where it collected a 4.88 out of 5, but testers say it is equally strong and stable with a damp-enough feel when on edge but without feeling sluggish or dull. In fact, the spring-loaded return to center between turns was one of testers' common call-outs as they loved the high rebound energy for linking aggressive carves or pounding through chopped up crud off-piste.
A couple of our taller testers mentioned that the cuff felt slightly short on them, but that was a rare critique. For the long-legged, hard-charging skier looking for something taller on the leg they'll have to opt for a Promachine from the men's line. The 130-flex runs all the way down to a 22.5, but for softer flexing unisex models gals will need to be a 24.5 or bigger. The women's 115 had everything the majority of our test team was looking for in a partner for all-mountain domination, like a cam-locking fat power strap, dual cuff adjustments, dual liner pull loops, GripWalk soles and a removable rear spoiler. Less stiff women's Promachine options are available in 105-, 95- and 85-flexes. Model-specific 0.5 and 1.0 degree Nordica cants are available as an accessory purchase.
The Nordica Sportmachine 130 won the unofficial, most-cushioned and soft initial fit award at this year's boot test, and veteran testers said that was the second time it's done so! This is a wide ride that impressed testers with its mediumish hold on the heel and ankles, which for most testers equated to well-controlled edging moves and accurate steering inputs that they didn't expect from such a cushy cruiser.
There wasn't much for testers to grumble about when it came to fit, stance or skiing qualities--everything worked together they said to create a comfortable all-mountain utility vehicle for the higher volume foot and leg.
The toebox and forefoot offer a massive amount of room, testers reported, and there was extra room along the lateral side of the foot--good for the widely splayed foot with a meaty little toe side. The cuff was roomy enough for a well-muscled calf but it wasn't an oak barrel--testers with average leg shapes felt held securely through variable terrain. The tongue cushioning was mentioned by testers as one of the nicer-feeling shin fits of the test, and the flex feel was consistent through its range.
One of the Sportmachine 130's highest scores was for its balanced stance, which testers said was ideal for a home base position, front to back and side to side. For skiers who need more lateral stance adjustment than offered by the cuff adjustment available, 0.5- and 1.0-degree Nordica cants are available as an accessory purchase. That high score was matched in the Convenience, Warmth and Features criterion which didn't surprise testers who found zero inconveniences and said this was a well-insulated boot with plenty of room for circulation where it mattered.
The new Nordica Speedmachine 130 returned to our annual boot test and without much fuss or fanfare, and then fit and skied its way onto the podium, again (as always). It’s not even surprising to our test team anymore when the Speedmachine fits perfectly, skis perfectly and offers no hidden deal-breaker glitches in liner, shell or features. It’s downright boring to test. Well, not quite.
The Nordica Speedmachine was really the first of the medium destroyer-class performance models to fit like a 110 but ski like a 130—meaning, the liner feel is soft and cuddly upon first fit (like a softer flexing model) but somehow grips the ankle and instep enough to tip a ski on edge and hold it there at mach, through chopped chunder and off-trail breakable melt-freeze alike (like a 130-flex crusher). This boot should not ski as well as it does for how comfy and warm it is, was the sort of commentary we used to hear about the Speedmachine almost a decade ago—and we’re still hearing it! It was the category leading benchmark, and so of course other brands have followed in the Speedmachine’s wake to crowd a now stacked All-Mountain Traditional medium group, but it still shows up and quietly kicks ass. This year its scores put it at the very tippy top of that competitive group—and again, it’s not surprising.
From the been-there-done-that archives, the Speedmachine liner’s asymmetrically pre-formed ankle pockets and moldable-grindable cork clad exterior material were standard issue when a lot of its competition was still stuffing the liner with carpet padding. The Speedmachine’s polyurethane Tri-Force shell was thick where it needed to be for power and stability and thin where it could be for improved entry and fit-wrapping in the lower shell before the rest of brands jumped on that bandwagon and certainly well before there was any inkling of putting a BOA reel on a ski boot.
Hold on, wait a second! This is the Speedmachine 3 130 BOA! We completely forgot the dial spooly thing was on this boot. But perhaps that makes complete sense, as the best execution of BOA has been on boots that were largely flawless to begin with and the designers made sure not to screw that up with the addition of cable, pulleys and a twisty cranker knob.
The BOA on this boot works seamlessly with the already clean-wrapping Tri Force lower shell to tighten the radius of the clog around the foot in a one-click-at-a-time three-dimensional closure. Looking at testers’ comments there were very few mentions of the BOA device—except to call out that on the Speedmachine 3 it is one of the market’s best examples of the technology. Keep in mind that testers who ski an epic non-BOA boot don’t crow about how awesome the boot’s buckles are—no, they spray on about how killer the skiing experience is or how great the boot fits and flexes. Same thing here. There ain’t much yapping going on about BOA because the boot is completely dialed—with or without the dial.
Testers made note that the Speedmachine 3 130 is still available both ways, BOA’d or buckled, and for the same price.
Testers love getting into the Nordica Promachine 130 every time they test it because it does three things that help their personal testing protocols. First, it resets their standards of narrow boot fit tension--meaning, it's tight the way a 96-98mm performance boot should be and it gives them a good benchmark on which to compare others. Second, it skis at the top of the performance curve for power, quickness and an intuitive connection between skier intent and ski result--not every narrow 130-flex can claim that. Last, it makes each tester a little better skier for wearing it--many of our crew makes mention that the Promachine 130 could be, or should be, their boot.
Tight is one thing for a narrow all-mountain boot, but tight without hotspots and numbness is a feat of boot design wizardry, and the Promachine 130 is one of a handful of gold medal level boots that accomplish this year after year. It's elegant in its simplicity--an ideally shaped shell matched with a firm but well-sculpted liner that experts put on (with four normal and easy to use buckles) and go skiing. It has an elasticized power strap with a cam-lock buckle for closing the already well-wrapped boot top. And that's it--nothing extraneous or unnecessary.
While the Promachine 130 employs traditional polyurethane plastic in both cuff and lower shell, the Tri Force shell design thins plastic in non-critical areas for better fit-wrapping and ease of entry and exit. This has the added benefit of lightening the boot a bit, and while this is not a boot that would ever trade off performance for ounces, testers say that it is noticeably light and agile underfoot, with big rebound energy. The Promachine 130's quickness is matched by its stability and deep-trenching edge power, say testers, who gave it matching, near-perfect scores of 4.94 in both the Quickness and Steering metric as well as in the Edge Power criterion. This is one of the most balanced boots in terms of combining brute strength with agility, testers say, commenting that this fact helps ground their scoring within the category for the performance tests of other models.
Balance itself is a highlight for testers--one of our bootfitting and alignment savvy testers said the Promachine 130 might be the best balanced boot, ever. And while there are a lot of well-balanced boots out there, to hear this guy say it is high praise for the Promachine, certainly.
Some boots require making some adaptations to one's skiing style in order to figure it out. Other boots simply don't transmit the desired message to the ski, often making skis feel longer or edges duller than they are. And then there are boots that require no change to a skier's style or approach and that command the ski in a highly intuitive way--skis will feel slightly shorter and more responsive, and the edges feel sharper. This last kind of boot invariably rises to the top of the best boots regardless of category. Testers will comment that they forgot that they were testing a different boot than their own and instead made an unconscious transition to simply skiing, looking for the best line or the best snow at the edge of the run.
These are the boots that make skiers better and that make our testers wish they had one of their own. The Promachine 130 is one of those boots, they said.
As the Lange Shadow enters its second season on the market after a stellar inaugural year that saw all Shadow models for men and women achieve best-seller status for retailers across the country it was interesting to see how testers engaged with it again. Some of our women's test team had put it through its paces last year where both the LV and the MV women's Shadows were in the top group of gold medal winners in their categories. Other testers experienced it for the first time this year. Reactions from testers this time around, regardless of their level of experience with the Shadow MV 115 W, were virtually identical--flawless fit, perfectly predictable on-snow behavior, almost unlimited power and quickness and all of that wrapped up in a warm and easy-to-put-on package.
There's an interesting technical story to be told about the Shadow boots--the Lange designers' quest to build a boot that took a step up and beyond what they had achieved with the predecessor RX all-mountain line-up led them to make some fundamental structural changes to produce a boot that did more with less. Specifically, they were after a way to make a smaller range of less-distorted boot flexion apply more leverage to the front of the ski and increase the lateral and torsional transmission of energy, all without rendering the boot rigid-feeling or difficult to get on.
The way this is accomplished--and last year's test results bore out that it was--is with a four-point connection (two per side) of cuff to lower shell at the ankle hinge point and a gliding rear spine connection that marries cuff to lower through a tongue-in-groove style blade. Without getting too deep in the design weeds, both the ankle point connections and rear groovy blade connection are fixed with elastomer inserts that restrain free movement at each point but in a non-rigid fashion. This reduces energy-sapping distortion of plastic and smooths power delivery to the ski while it also reduces the amount of skier input required to make it happen. It does more with less.
Testers who didn't necessarily know the details of the boot's design philosophy and execution provided unwitting proof-of-concept to these grand technological claims. One put it this way: Really easy to get in and out of for a stiff flex. Felt really supportive laterally in uneven terrain, popping side to side. So easy to steer and direct, through all radius turns. Responsive in every way--flex resistance was supportive, rebound was fast, sole connection to the ski and steering was direct and immediate. I couldn't find a category that the boot didn't perform well in--but notably, the flex and rebound are extra smooth.
Another tester had this to say: Stable--instills confidence--and very responsive, especially for a comfy medium width. All in all a pretty cool boot, lots of technology, and it gives good feedback when skiing and feels dynamic and pared-down-enough to be super snappy.
The test team universally loved how easy the boots went on and off and how well they fit their foot and leg, straight out of the box. They commented on the silky, perfectly cushioned feel of the Auxetic liner (has micro etched perforations in its exterior material that allow it to more easily bend around body shape contours) but they also mentioned that it didn't seem to loosen up as it warmed during skiing--and testers who performed long-term tests on Shadow boots after last year's launch reported that pack-out was minimal and that its characteristically cushioned feel against the sock remained consistent.
Similarly, all testers made some sort of mention that the Shadow MV 115 W should not have felt as strong on edge nor have been as quick to respond to steering and pressure inputs as it was, given how comfortably it fit and how easy it was to get on and off. For testers (and customers) with a long history with Lange, they're often skeptical about the boots’ performance potential when trying on the Shadow in a shop setting, at room temperature, it just feels too good to ski well, they venture. Invariably, they report back later that they were both surprised and thankfully mistaken in their concern--the boot rips, is what they always say after skiing it.
Was there anything that our testers didn't like about the Shadow MV 115 W? Not really, but a few made mention that the boot's shorter-than-RX external boot sole length made the interior dimension feel a little short on the longest toe--even though Lange swears up and down that the internal length fit did not change from the previous RX line-up. We all know the line about product representatives--lies and lips moving--and so here we'll say the testers have a point, though the shortness of length fit is a very minor deviation from the category norm in that fit zone. But to circle back to a brand's level of truth-in-advertising, Lange's Shadow story comes with a lot of technical detail and some pretty big claims of doing more with less, and on that score testers say believe the hype--it ain't just marketing mumbo jumbo.
