When going through test card data, when every tester uses the same rating per criteria there's no question about the results. With this year's Nordica Sportmachine3 130, that was the situation. One portion of the test app's question fields looks like this: cosmetics, entry/exit, closure, length fit, flex feel, tongue cushion, cuff height, fore-aft stance, lateral stance. Testers' unanimous replies to these questions looked like this: cool, easy, great, standard, ideal, ideal, ideal, ideal, neutral. Being so universally loved must get boring for the Sportmachine, but our test team was pretty excited to experience its newer, stronger build-out this year (mirroring medium-width Speedmachine3's revisions of last season). Our crew gave it two thumbs up for every aspect of its debut, from fit to stance to downhill performance.
The previous Sportmachine was also well-liked, but definitely had a fluffy, warm personality--it wasn't impressing anyone with its street cred or toughness. This new iteration changes that. The liner is firmer feeling, with a more sculpted, anatomical fit around the ankle bones and heel that gives the impression that it will break in nicely, not pack out hugely. The shell conducts skier movements directly to the ski for a strong and stable edging game (in fact it received a perfect 5.00 for Edge Power) and with enough foot and leg stuffed into its still cavernous space will also uncork some legitimate quickness from arc to arc when called for. The Sportmachine3 130 was still a comfortable ride and there's no need for the larger advanced intermediate to shy away from this stiffness level--it's supportive and forgiving simultaneously, testers said.
Our testers said the stance angles are nicely neutral and made proper skiing movements easy, which translated into good skiing through a variety of different terrain and snow surfaces. They said the hardware and features found on the Speedmachine3 were in line with the category's best and suggested that for skilled skiers with a high volume foot and leg, this year's Sportmachine3 130 should be ranked high on their try-on list.
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