The Zephyr 11 impressed testers with its even, medium off-the-rack fit, feel and clean connection to the ski. Testers really got wound up after the Vacuum molding process. That’s when they started recording super-dupers and phenomenals on their test cards. And these are serious, professional skiers. It racked up serious scores too—a perfect average score in the custom testing component drove its aggregate score into the top 25% of all boots in the category.
The medium width Vacuums have historically done well without Vacuum molding. Their stance set up is neutral from the get-go and the fit works for many feet. So it was interesting to see what really changed to make it go from great to super-duper-great.
One tester’s form explained it well; her fit scores got more in-line, meaning that looser spots got snugger and tight scores mellowed. She noted that while the out-of-box skiing feel was really good, after molding she noticed a "flatter" feel underfoot and better translation of movement to the ski. Those comments are consistent with our Vacuum tests on other models, too.
A couple of stock mode testers mentioned an upright stance. One liked it and one felt a touch back. Vacuum molding fixes that; stand where you want to ski and there it will be.
Kudos
Caveats