While the Fischer RC4 105 LV BOA is a Vacuum boot and one of the unique qualities about the Fischer Vacuum molding system is that it can compress the shell around the foot, actually making a heel p
The Gist
In addition to graphic changes made to this category star, the Hawx Ultra 115 S gets a completely new Mimic liner designed to start with a better anatomical shape but closely heat mold to a perfect shape match for the foot and shin. She's still stripped and ripped—right down to the bare essentials of what makes a ski boot great, testers maintain. They like the thin but well-shaped liner that provided just the right amount of padding for comfort without muting the connection of the foot and leg with the shell, and said that the boot and body felt morphed together into one cohesive performance unit! The lighter weight of its thin shell wall polyurethane construction appeals, but testers mainly praised that it skied race-boot strong without race-boot pain.
The Fit
Narrows should be narrow, that's our stand, and here's what testers said about the Hawx Ultra 115 S W's initial fit: Great for the true, narrow foot. Great, narrow, firm fit. Well-defined heel pocket. Good low-volume, snug, firm fit. Locked and loaded! Testers gave it such even fit scores, right down the narrow side of things, that the averages for five cards were the same as for fifteen. The team agreed there's a little bit of extra room in the toebox and at the calf and that's about it—evenly snug-side everywhere else. They all loved the spring-loaded flex feel, solidly in line with its 115 billing, but a couple mentioned that the calf fit was a bit tall and jabby against the back of the leg.
Performance
Extremely energetic was the consensus among testers, who enjoyed how the lively forward flex (powered by the thin shelled polyurethane cuff) loaded and released energy with every turn. Feedback levels were high—with testers saying that they could feel every ripple in the snow beneath them, perhaps to a fault, with a few testers saying the transmissive, high energy feel could get jittery at times. Power to the edge was immediate and unfaltering.
Cool Features
For those who find perfectly snug just a little too constrictive, cooking the shell via the Memory Fit customization feature is a slick way to open up a little bit of extra room everywhere without blowing out the fit. Aside from being able to modify the flex and forward lean with the Power Shift (which accounts for the "S" in the model name) mechanism on the rear cuff and make lateral stance changes with the on-board cuff adjustment, canted sole shims are available in 0.5- to 3.0-degree increments as an optional purchase. The new Mimic liner utilizes a thin layer of heat moldable material close to the foot contact layer to provide a fine-tuned fit, post oven cooking.
The Gist
The Hawx Prime 130 S hard plastic self returns unchanged this season and for good reason. Testers said that its winning combination of light weight, instant comfort and strong skiing skills remains intact. Testers say the thin-shell wall polyurethane puts the foot in direct contact with the ski and snow surface and gave it high marks for it feel and precise steering moves without getting twitchy. The all-new Mimic liner takes the already snug heel and ankle pockets and contoured shin fit to another level with a thin, heat moldable layer close to skin to maintain a constant medium width fit connection throughout the boot. Testers say its slender lower leg fit flares nicely at the top of the cuff for muscular calves.
The Fit
The Hawx Prime fits the same as ever in the toebox and forefoot, according to our team who've consistently thrown 3's and 4's at that area, but it tapers to a closer fit at the throat of the boot where the base of the lower leg, ankles and heel are held a bit more closely than in years gone by—testers gave those zones 3's and 2's. Anatomical wrapping would sum up the way the Hawx Prime 130 S contours around the shape of the foot and leg. Testers liked the way the shell and liner worked to accommodate common bony spots like the ankles and also praised the way the slightly taller-than-average cuff flared progressively to suit the calf muscle. Thinner, stiffer plastics seem to get a little more stiff in the cold, and testers mentioned that taking the boots off was quite a bit more difficult than putting them on.
Performance
If you haven't skied a Hawx Prime in a few years, the updated design brings a new feel to the Hawx Prime experience—edging movements are now much more crisp and reactive than in the past, testers reported, and fine-tuned steering movements are now rewarded with immediate ski reaction without any slop-induced lag. The creature comfort of the medium width Hawx remains, but comes with newfound performance gains. Testers liked the stance angles of the boot board ramp and cuff, and also liked the fact that dual cuff adjustment and forward lean adjustments are still on board, just don't lose the Atomic tool with the two little pins for turning the apparatus, testers remind.
Cool Features
Testers liked the no-slip soles and the lightweight, wide but minimalist Velcro power strap with its simple pulley loop. Memory Fit shell molding is cool for auto-customization of the fit by cooking the shell in an oven, though few testers found the out-of-box fit problematic enough to consider it. The Power Shift feature (which accounts for the "S" in the model name) allows for adjustment of the forward lean and/or stiffness. The new Mimic liner utilizes a thin layer of heat moldable material close to the foot contact layer to provide a fine-tuned fit, post oven cooking.
The Gist
In this its fifth encore performance for our test team the Hawx Ultra 130 S continues to impress, reminding testers why it consistently scores within the top group in a highly competitive category. Light, tight and right is what testers still agree on—comparing its fit to compression socks and comfy vacuum bags. Snug everywhere, especially in the cuff, but with extra room in the toebox and forefoot, testers applaud its connection to the ski. It remains tall-ish on the leg with a spring-loaded flex feel--testers love it in all conditions. In addition to its new, stealthier Dark Knight look for this year it boasts a brand new Mimic liner for a more customizable, closer-to-skin fit.
The Fit
The boot sole length (BSL) of the Hawx Ultra 130 S is shorter by 5 mm than average and yet it fit as roomy in length as the rest of the group and might even sport a little extra width for the toes than most narrows. The Hawx Ultra Progressive Shell design leaves plastic thick where needed for support and stability but thins it out where better wrapping is required—this reduces weight and opens up some bonus interior room. Incorporated with the thin and feely Memory Fit 3D Platinum liner the Hawx Ultra 130 provides a locked-down fit from the midfoot to heel and up through the cuff while maintaining an open toebox. The feel against the leg is a little tall with an elasticized flex feel that grips the calf firmly but without a pinch, testers continue to affirm. Testers continue to mention that it's still not the easiest on and off, especially when it's cold. Though if you're enough of a skier for this boot, you shouldn't complain about that, should you?
Performance
That snappy flex feel that testers notice indoors always translated to rapid-fire edging moves and loaded-up, slingshot-style, rebounding transitions on snow. The thin-walled polyurethane cuff wraps the leg shaft and gives a skier two joy-sticks for driving skis in all directions with no-delay transmission of movement. The switch to polyurethane from its original (and somewhat problematic) Grilamid construction gives the thin, springy cuff a little more dampness and gravity than before, which testers continue to like. The Hawx Ultra 130 S put skis of all widths on a rail and drilled turns at all speeds in all terrain. A few bigger, taller guys said they could over-power the cuff during Flintstonian flexing, but generally it held up to normal all-mountain abuse. The thinned-out shell wall in the lower boot and cuff gives the boot a noticeably light feel, which combined with the snug fit translates into serious agility.
Cool Features
The Memory Fit shell molding feature allows a skier to oven-cook the boot, wear it for a couple minutes, cool it down and enjoy a more personalized fit. Most of our testers have liked the out-of-box fit just fine, however, and this year is no different. The Hawx Ultra 130 also comes with slate of handy stance-alignment options, from lateral cuff adjustment, to the Power Shift forward lean and flex adjustment (which accounts for the "S" in the model name), to an option on canted sole shims in 0.5- to 3.0-degrees in half-degree increments—bootfitters approve! The new Mimic liner utilizes a thin layer of heat moldable material close to the foot contact layer to provide a fine-tuned fit, post oven cooking.
The 2019/2020 Atomic Hawx Ultra 130 S was tested in the men's All-Mountain Traditional narrow category at Silver Mountain Resort by the experts at America's Best Bootfitters, powered by Masterfit.
The Gist
In its fourth encore performance the Hawx Ultra 130 S continued to impress, earning the second place ribbon in a highly competitive group—and just missed the top spot by a mere two-hundredths. Light, tight and right is what testers agreed on—one tester compared its fit to compression socks. Snug everywhere, especially in the cuff, but with extra room in the toebox and forefoot, testers applauded its connection to the ski. Tall-ish on the leg with a spring-loaded flex, testers loved it in all conditions.
The Fit
The boot sole length (BSL) of the Hawx Ultra 130 S is shorter by 5 mm than average and yet it fit as roomy in length as the rest of the group and might even sport a little extra width for the toes than most narrows. The Hawx Ultra Progressive Shell design leaves plastic thick where needed for support and stability but thins it out where better wrapping is required—this reduces weight and opens up some bonus interior room. Incorporated with the thin and feely Memory Fit 3D Platinum liner the Hawx Ultra 130 provides a locked-down fit from the midfoot to heel and up through the cuff while maintaining an open toebox. The feel against the leg was a little tall with an elasticized flex feel that gripped the calf firmly but without a pinch, testers said. Several testers mentioned that it's still not the easiest on and off.
Performance
That snappy flex feel that testers noticed indoors translated to rapid-fire edging moves and loaded-up, slingshot-style, rebounding transitions on snow. The thin-walled polyurethane cuff wraps the leg shaft and gives a skier two joy-sticks for driving skis in all directions with no-delay transmission of movement. The switch to polyurethane gives the thin, springy cuff a little more dampness and gravity than before, which testers liked. The Hawx Ultra 130 S put skis of all widths on a rail and drilled turns at all speeds in all terrain. A few bigger, taller guys said they could over-power the cuff during Flintstonian flexing, but generally it held up to normal all-mountain abuse. The thinned-out shell wall in the lower boot and cuff gives the boot a noticeably light feel, which combined with the snug fit translated into serious agility, testers agreed.
Cool Features
The Memory Fit shell molding feature allows a skier to oven-cook the boot, wear it for a couple minutes, cool it down and enjoy a more personalized fit. Most of our testers liked the out-of-box fit just fine, however. The Hawx Ultra 130 also comes with slate of handy stance-alignment options, from lateral cuff adjustment, to the Power Shift forward lean and flex adjustment (which accounts for the "S" in the model name), to an option on canted sole shims in 0.5- to 3.0-degrees in half-degree increments—bootfitters approve!
The 2019/2020 Tecnica Mach1 MV 105 W was tested in the women's All-Mountain Traditional medium width category at Silver Mountain Resort by the experts at America's Best Bootfitters, powered by Masterfit.
The Gist
The Fit
Fit scores came in dead down the middle for a medium-width, with a few testers mentioning that it might trend a touch roomier than the category average. Most of the crew thought that the cuff height was right on the money, while a couple said it trended a bit taller. There were zero complaints about a too-tight calf, but with its moldable plastic insert at the back of the calf good skiing gals with muscular lower legs should keep this boot in their top tier for Fall try-on.
Performance
On-snow this boot takes no prisoners--unless that's what you want. It can go either way--total domination on-piste and off-, or it can simply cruise from late-day start to early-apres toddies. One of the keys to the Mach1 line's success is its neutral stance set up that allows almost any skier to buckle-up, click-in and get to shredding without having to modify style or terrain selection. Testers mention that they instantly felt dialed and recommended it to any good skiing gal looking to up her game—or one who just wants to keep on doing what she's doing.
Cool Features
One of the coolest features of the Mach1 boots is the fact that many of their design elements are created with the help of a few of the best bootfitters in the USA—Project 165 is Tecnica's partnership with select bootfitters and their collaboration has been evident in the last couple seasons for Tecnica. One of their crew is an ABB tester—Greg Hoffmann! The Mach1's Custom Adaptive Shape (C.A.S.) shell construction offers pre-dimpled areas on the shell where a heat stretch is more easily accomplished and will hold better over time. The C.A.S. liner is highly shaped to match the foot's anatomy and is both moldable and grindable, due to its firm EVA foam construction. The C.A.S. Cuff Adapt feature utilizes a taco-shaped heating pad that warms the low-temperature plastic calf insert and liner to a molding temperature, and then simply wearing the boot will move the cuff to an ideal position for both slender or thick lower leg shapes.
The 2019/2020 Tecnica Mach1 LV 105 W was tested in the women’s All-Mountain Traditional narrow category at Silver Mountain Resort by the experts at America's Best Bootfitters, powered by Masterfit.
The Gist
The all-new Mach1 LV 105 W’s revised shell (taller cuff, more anatomical shaping in lower) and liner (more customizable material and better instep pocket for the top of foot) made for an instant hit with testers who pushed it straight onto the podium in a highly stacked field. The stance angles and properly snug low volume fit (lots of 1’s and 2’s on fit impressions scores) were ideal for our testers who said that this boot simply made them ski better, straightaway. And they look good, they said.
The 2019/2020 Salomon S/Pro 100 W was tested in the women’s All-Mountain Traditional medium category at Silver Mountain Resort by the experts at America's Best Bootfitters, powered by Masterfit.
The Gist
Testers loved Salomon’s launch of the new women’s S/Pro 100 for its newfound room along the lateral border of the foot, additional ceiling height through the instep and its slightly more slender cuff grip along the leg shaft. It’s easier to get on and off than its predecessor medium width X-Pro, and testers said this new one snaps off crisper turns and drives the ski with a more direct-drive connection between movement and response. Custom Shell HD molding opened-up the calf fit for those who needed it.
The 2019/2020 Salomon S/Max 120 W was tested in the women’s All-Mountain Traditional narrow category at Silver Mountain Resort by the experts at America's Best Bootfitters, powered by Masterfit.
The Gist
The debut of the women’s S/Max was met with widespread tester approval. While some boots are powerful but heavy, and others might be agile and light yet unstable—testers said that the new S/Max 120 W combines all performance elements in a perfectly even blend. They also like its true to narrow class fit—very snug in all the right places. One tester said, look out ladies, there’s a new boss b!#(% in town--powerful, driven, and tight. Very quick Custom Shell HD molding made subtle but good changes, they said.
The 2019/2020 Rossignol Pure Elite 120 was tested in the women's All-Mountain Traditional narrow category at Silver Mountain Resort by the experts at America's Best Bootfitters, powered by Masterfit.
The Gist
The Fit
Testers agree it's one of the roomiest of the narrow category—borderline medium—with a tall and upright feeling cuff and a roomy toebox (length, width & height). A few of our low-volume testers successfully dropped down one size in this model. On the whole, testers don't mind the extra room, and they say that the anatomical shaping is spot-on for the human foot and leg. They all love the faux fur, and universally praise the evenly progressive flex feel, if firm, at a legit 120.
Performance
Our taller, more aggressive skiers loved the Elite 120's tall, upright and stiff cuff in their normal size—they had the long leg leverage to get over the top of this boot and uncork its raw power and quickness. So too, did the shorter testers who were able to size down and get a lower cuff fit. Average height and shorter testers who stuck with their normal size felt a little pushed back onto their heels by the cuff and commented that they wanted a little heel lift to help put them in the driver's seat. Every tester, to a woman, agreed this is one powerful and responsive ride.
Cool Features
The fuzzy liner is made with Merino wool, so high warmth scores were not a figment of testers' imaginations. A set of GripWalk soles is available as an accessory (nice for walking, compatible with GripWalk bindings only).
The 2019/2020 Nordica Speedmachine 115 W was tested in the women’s All-Mountain Traditional medium category at Silver Mountain Resort by the experts at America's Best Bootfitters, powered by Masterfit.
The Gist
Our test team liked the step up to the 115 flex women’s Speedmachine this year, saying the additional horsepower drove big skis well without feeling unmanageable—and so stepped it up to a second place finish in the group. They loved the vertical room over the top of the foot and said that the ankle pockets are firmly performance oriented (read: mold the 3D Cork Fit liner). They appreciated its useful features, like the Power Driver power strap spoiler, adjustable calf and a functional cuff adjustment for dialing lateral stance angles.
The 2019/2020 Nordica Promachine 115 W was tested in the women's All-Mountain Traditional narrow category at Silver Mountain Resort by the experts at America's Best Bootfitters, powered by Masterfit.
The Gist
Edged for first place in the group by a mere two-hundredths and sporting a nearly perfect score for edge power and stability, testers said the Promachine is an absolute powerhouse that most claimed needed not a single fit modification out of the box. Lively and balanced, they said it’s also tall and firm against the leg, and they liked that just fine. This is a real skier’s boot, and one that appeals to the kind of shredder that might often opt for a stiffer men’s model.
The Fit
Testers used lots of evenly sprinkled 2's (1 tightest, 5 loosest) to rate the Promachine's fit in both the lower boot and the cuff. It's not race boot tight, but just right tight for the category, they said. Its tightest score was for the heel pocket and its roomiest was for the calf—that's a fit blueprint that will work for a lot of women. One tester whined about the heel pocket being too tight around the Achilles tendon, but our custom tests showed the 3D Cork Fit Primaloft liner did a good job of opening the fit where needed without losing a firm grip elsewhere, so we told her to quit whining.
Performance
Though testers called it the perfect mix of power and agility, it received a perfect score average for Quickness , Steering & Feel so apparently testers corroborated Nordica's claim that the thin shell wall Tri Force construction lightens the boot and provides better ground feel without a loss of torque. While the boot's lightness was noticed, it wasn't the primary element that testers were attracted to. They were far too focused on how well they skied everywhere on the mountain on the Promachine 115 W to worry about the boots myriad other good features, of which less weight certainly is one.
Cool Features
Testers like the rolling, grippy stride of the GripWalk soles that come mounted on the boot and noticed (and appreciated) the soles' aqua highlights that matched the rear spine and Power Driver power strap plate (which they also liked for its shin pressure displacement). Our techie testers also appreciated the full complement of useful stuff, like dual lateral cuff adjustment, a removable Velcro rear spoiler, two liner pull loops and four easy to use buckles (yes, with aqua highlights).
