Just how good is the new Tecnica Mach1 LV 130? Well, let's just throw a few numbers at you: out of a potential perfect score of 5.0 the Mach1 LV 130 maintained an average total score of 4.89 over five separate, scored parameters, and that's after 12 different testers lodged their votes. Its Edge Power score was a perfect 5.0. It's lowest score element? There wasn't one--each of the other four scores (Anatomical Fit, Dynamic Balance, Quickness & Steering, Features & Convenience) were 4.86's. It was the top scoring boot model in the men's All-Mountain Traditional narrow group, but it was also the highest scoring boot in the entire boot test, including women's boots. It's a new boot, so is it better than the old boot? Well, testers said emphatically, yes! Its score the last time we tested the Mach1 LV 130 (in 2021) was 4.88 and it won its category that year, too--but hell yeah, 0.01 more is better!
One veteran tester, who skied the Mach1 LV 130 late in the week-long test period after testing many other models in the All-Mountain Traditional category said this: Skiing the Mach1 LV 130 again re-frames your perspective on how a narrow boot is supposed to fit, and ski. It's just an awesome boot that makes you a better skier, instantly. The ways that testers convey the message about the Mach1 LV's skiing performance may fluctuate--one compared it to Italian supercars, another to a rally car build and one said it cranked the amp to 11 and blasted Black Sabbath--but the meaning is always clear. This is one of the best skiing boots available anywhere. Perhaps skiers should spend a season in one as a controlled-experiment designed to find out what's limiting their performance--their boot or their skills.
There was no reason for Tecnica to change the shell shape in this year's update--it had just gone through a revision the last time we tested it--but the liner's interior material was re-built with a 15% softer material to improve initial fit and a low-friction panel was integrated into the rear of the liner to help the heel glide down during entry. Testers noticed both of these updates straightaway, commenting about an easier slide in than before and a more plush feel against the sock with less aggressive bony spot pressure points. They said that the kinder, gentler entry and feel against the foot and leg did not translate to a looser-feeling fit or a loss of tightness as the boot warmed up. Rather, they just liked the boot more than they had in the past--even if 0.01 wouldn't suggest big wow-factor. It was wow-worthy, they assured.
Testers continue to heap praise on Tecnica's T-Drive cuff-to-lower connector that anchors the two essential components in a flexible-forward but rigid-sideways fashion. They say the flex feel is as good as it gets--progressive in resistance against the shin without any collapse or folding feel and snappy in its return-to-center at each turn transition. They agree that the softer plastic in the lower shell (enabled by the buttress-effect of T-Drive) makes the boot a bit more supple and more easily buckled-up around the foot without negatively affecting power transmission to the ski.
This year's addition of a stretchy Booster-type element to the hook-in-loop power strap did not go unnoticed by testers, who felt that the added elastomer enhanced the flex feel and snappy rebound from turn to turn without incidental softening of the boot-top closure. Testers also maintain their appreciation of the C.A.S. line-up of bootfitting-friendly features in both the shell and the liner, but as always, they mention that the shape of both are good-enough out of the box to render those fit solutions nearly moot.
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