This year’s testing conditions were highly mixed, from spring morning boilerplate groomers to deep dust-on-crust and rapidly thickening tracked-up crud. None of this mattered to the Dalbello Veloce Space Dual 120 which banged-off turns across each surface with similar ease and confidence-inspiring predictability. Testers put the boot to the test against other similar models with higher flex indexes and it came out on top, which only added to their appreciation of the mighty 120-flex Dalbello.
The Veloce Space Dual generally impressed testers all over again this year, and just as some things improve with age—wine and whisky come to mind—so too did Dalbello’s double BOA 101mm, garnering the highest score of any medium width boot of our annual test this time around. Testers said the tested 120-flex skied as strongly, quickly and predictably as any of the perennial big name, 130-flex models that have dominated our podium in the past. What changed from last year? Nothing on the part of the boot, as it returns in the same form as this past season, but tester perceptions may have changed with regard for dual BOA configurations and certainly the testing conditions were different this time around.
Dual BOA often poses a challenge for boot-donning, and the Veloce Space Dual falls into this camp of minor cable-ridden entry hindrance but our test team says it’s the cost of entry (pun intended) just like a cover charge at a popular nightclub. Testers also shrug it off, reminding that dual BOA models are generally positioned with stiffness and price to attract a skilled demographic that can probably handle a little entry challenge in exchange for a superior on-snow experience—which the Dalbello provided. As one tester so humbly put it: if I wasn’t so strong and experienced the tricky entry might have been an issue.
Our top-scoring boots don’t come with fit glitches—that’s what quickly drops a boot lower in the rankings. Testers praised the Veloce Space Dual for its standard-setting fit map for the average foot and leg and cited not a single fit demerit once they had it on and done up with the two reels—unanimously perfect fit scores. Note that they also gave it special credit points for a superior fit along the shin and just the right amount of toebox room.
When testers consider a boot’s value, it’s not simply about finding a lower price but rather about identifying boots that exceed expectations at a given price point or performance tier. The fact that the Dalbello Veloce Space Dual bested stiffer boots that come with a $200 tariff (and without dual BOA) made it our best buy of the test. Considering that there’s also a 110-flex Veloce Space Dual for over an additional hundred-bucks off, this range is a great place to start (and likely finish) for the budget-conscious but skilled skier.
