Tester sentiments on the Dalbello Cabrio MV 120 IF ranged widely on our test team, with one veteran tester claiming it was the best Dalbello three-piece boot he'd ever skied and another vet said it was the best cabrio boot at the test. The other testers? Well, their takes were a little more mixed (and we think their scores were too low). What every tester did agree on was was how stupidly easy it was to get on and off, and that in between those two tasks it was fun to ski, comfortable and warm. What's wrong with that in the Access category? Absolutely nothing.
The Access category is all about making skiing easy and fun, with no barriers to enjoying the sport, starting with getting the darned thing on the foot. The three-piece shell is inherently easy to get on by virtue of the open, cabrio lower shell that forgoes overlapping plastic layers on top of the foot the way a four-buckle boot's designed. Add to that a well-padded liner that protects the top of the foot from contacting any hard plastic on the way in and you have a slam dunk for entry--testers agreed that's what we have here in the Cabrio MV 120 IF.
The IF liner indicates that this model does not mess with a need-to-mold, spiral-wrapping liner, which our testers appreciated for its instant gratification of fit and lack of initial fit deal-breakers. Aside from a few comments about the heel feeling a little more open than some testers would have liked, there were no problems with this boot's fit--none. Our test involves an assessment of fit in 8 different fit zones, from toebox to instep to heel to calf. We use a 1-5 scoring range, where a 1 is World Cup race boot tight and a 5 is roomy like a rental boot. The medium-width fit target is a 3, and this Cabrio MV 120 nailed nearly perfect 3's throughout--its roomiest fit zone was the calf that averaged a 3.23.
Several testers commented on the ease of skiing that the Cabrio MV 120 made available, at a variety of speeds, through all sizes of turns and over a Spring smorgasbord of snow surfaces. One tester said that the floor of the boot had a highly tuned-in feel for the ski and made clean predictable turn entries a snap. Some testers thought it felt a touch softer than the 120 billing but the cuff is fairly upright and on the tall side against the leg, so that countered any over-flexing and produced a nice, characteristically long, three-piece flex feel.
Testers liked this boot's understated appeal--three buckles and a Velcro power strap. Not much fluff but lots to like.
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Caveats