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
Testers weren't sure what to make of the new Shadow 115 W MV's marketing story--it sounded pretty good, the whole do-more-with-less thing--but being the skeptics that they are, they put the thing on and went outside and sent it down the hill. Unanimously, their test feedback was of one voice in that the Shadow skied better than the well-loved RX boots, and yes, with less effort invested into every turn.
The boot's a sleeper, they said, explaining that it shouldn't ski as strongly for how comfortably it fits and for how little effort they had to put into tipping the ski on edge. First, the on-snow performance. Testers were surprised at its quickness and reaction time, given that the sheer comfort level had lulled them into the assumption that comfort stemmed from space and excess room sapped transmission--but not so, they said. Similarly, the quadruple cuff anchor points, made low on the shell and with an elastomer-dampened hinge seemed to engage the ski in lateral moves in a more direct way but without feeling rigid. Testers all made mention that the flex feel of the Shadow was one of its best qualities, and felt that there probably was something to the so-called Suspension Blade's gliding and non-rigid connection from cuff to lower shell. All of that stuff combined to ski well, and yes, without as much energy expenditure--they didn't really want to buy into it, but after skiing it, they bought it.
The fit is sneakily comfortable, they said, matching the typical wide and bony spots of the foot with a masterful touch. They said that the overall fit was on the roomy side of the medium width group, but not by a lot. They repeatedly mentioned how comfortably the liner seemed to address their contours, but without feeling overly soft and prone to pack-out. The new liner's Auxetic technology may be responsible for these positive comments--its hexagonal micro-etching in the exterior layer of the liner allows for additional, targeted stretch around areas of extra width or prominence. Testers bought that too.
POST-TEST UPDATE: Lange informed us that based on widespread feedback of a too-roomy fit in the Shadow boots (both men's and women's in LV and MV models), they've made a running change to the production liners to address that. We like to think we were helpful in getting the message across and are excited to try the new versions this season.
Our test team has had an ongoing love affair (mostly) with the Lange RX boots of the past, both in narrow and medium widths, so they are a critical bunch as it relates to a successor model like the Shadow 115 W LV. This doesn't mean they're closed-minded but, shall we say, discerning in their approach to testing it and judicious in their praise.
Sometimes it's best to let a tester speak her mind without interruption: Wowee! Lange has really showed up to the table with some cool, new tech here. I will say that these are a touch more generous in feeling than the Lange fits of old. Not a bad thing, not a super thing, just worth noting. The foot slides in easily and you're encased by a comfortably firm liner. The tongue really is the best feeling on the shin. Firm and fair and makes me confident I’ll be okay pushing forward into the bumps! Those who have suffered shin bang from stiff tongues are going to flock to this boot the way I crash headfirst into a cheese plate. You really can’t compare this boot to the old RX, but if you must, I think the liner really is where this boot shines. However, the new Dual Pivot system really stands out as something to ski harder with and experience the subtle change in leverage. I’m not exactly sure of its engineering, but you're given a consistent feeling of being able to pressure and release the boot smoothly. It makes the slightly less-aggressive skier really feel like they're on top of driving and controlling the boot.
This tester's comments mirror what most of the other testers said about the Shadow 115 W LV.
All agreed that the fit, while essentially perfect in shape match to the foot, instep and leg, was just a bit off the low volume target. Where in the past some testers might have complained about a too tight LV fit, this version has over-corrected slightly, they said. The favorite Lange rep story line to explain this has been that it's just so comfortable with our new Auxetic liner technology that it seems a little loose, but it's not--it's just really comfortable. We find this amusing, but testers weren't fooled--it is comfortable for sure, but it's also roomy for a narrow. The Auxetic liner tech is admittedly cool, hexagonal micro perforations in the liner's exterior fabric allow for more stretch and comformation around bony points without having to overly soften the liner construction--like a Spiderman suit for your feet! Testers loved poking at it and stretching it to watch the little cuts spread, and it does work as billed, they said.
Remember, we said our women's test team was discerning and judicious with praise? They hammered the Shadow 115 W LV's fit score for it's generosity to a 4.40--kinda harsh--but still gave it perfect 5's for the remaining four categories.
It skied even better than RX boots of old, they said, actually sounding like Lange reps when they discussed how they generated more power with less effort, or felt the boot was more responsive to movements with less-tight buckling. Testers said the marketing party line about the boot's extra, lower points of leverage and less-impinged flex properties was borne-out on the hill as legitimate. So, while the adage that you know when a rep's lying because his or her lips are moving may still be earned--the story about how well the Shadow boot drives a ski with reduced input seems to be non-fiction.
POST-TEST UPDATE: Lange informed us that based on widespread feedback of a too-roomy fit in the Shadow boots (both men's and women's in LV and MV models), they've made a running change to the production liners to address that. We like to think we were helpful in getting the message across and are excited to try the new versions this season.
The new Lange Shadow 130 MV impressed our test team with a rare combination of race boot power and quickness paired with business class comfort levels. The old-school, core tester group was hesitant to let go of their long time love for the all-mountain RX line, but it didn't take long for them to kick it to the curb.
Sometimes testers are eloquent in their test form blather, so might as well share it here. One said: The best fitting ski boot I've ever put on my foot. I wish all my shoes were this comfortable. How do you improve on perfect? Well, Lange has done it again. Bravo. Another said: PERFECT in every sense. The list of superlatives is too long! Mack truck power without sacrificing feel. It's a balance of fit, performance, feel and manageable power. And a third: Excellent fit tension with total comfort. Like a Formula 1 car--nimble, quick, and intuitive (but with a comfy seat)! Overall, the best boot I skied in the test. Lange has a winner in the Shadow MV 130.
Testers' only complaint was that the Shadow 130 MV was a bit too roomy-feeling for a medium volume, though there was some discussion as to whether it was actually vacuous in fit or simply absent of hot spot indicators of grip along the foot. A semantic discussion perhaps, but the new Auxetic liner seemed to function as advertised, with its hexagonal micro-perforated shape in the liner's exterior material allowing for extra stretch and conformation at wide and prominent spots. It managed to contour and wrap the shape of the foot without being completely soft and amorphous, testers reported. Lange reps have been using that story line since the Shadow's inception--It's not loose, it's just so comfortable that it fools you into thinking it's loose. Yeah, uh huh, right. Testers said it was on the roomy end of the medium width spectrum, which is great for a lot of folks, and for those who can't get over it, well, they can try on the LV! Though, check out the update at the bottom of this review.
The other story the Lange reps have been telling is that the Shadow does more with less effort due to the leveraged power of the multiple, elastomer-loaded cuff to shell attachment points and rear spine redesign. The four, lower Dual Pivot anchor points create a rocker-arm type mechanical advantage lever of sorts and provide more points of connection than found on typical overlap designs, and the rear spine's gliding tongue-in-groove style Suspension Blade additionally connects cuff to lower in a non-fixed fashion designed to minimize plastic shape distortion upon flexion. Testers said all this gobbledygook was legit, and easily and immediately felt on snow! The basic run down was that the boot flexed in a firm but comfortable way that generated more power to the shovel of the ski than expected, and the lateral response of the boot was that of a much less comfortable race-bred beast. More performance with less effort, more comfort. Our otherwise skeptical tester bunch happily drank the Kool Aid on this matter.
What else the testers have to say? It was their favorite 130 flex for how easily it went on and came off. And they said it looked cool. They weren't sure if a cool $G for an all-mountain boot was a great new retail development, but they said that if you consider that a thousand could make you feel like a million bucks, then perhaps it's still a bargain at twice the price.
POST-TEST UPDATE: Lange informed us that based on widespread feedback of a too-roomy fit in the Shadow boots (both men's and women's in LV and MV models), they've made a running change to the production liners to address that. We like to think we were helpful in getting the message across and are excited to try the new versions this season.
Our testers have heaped praise onto Lange over the past several years for not changing things unnecessarily on the RX all-mountain boot line, so now that the new Shadow boots have arrived, testers were keen to give them a thorough go-through to see if they passed the don't-screw-it-all-up test. More specifically, they wanted to see if Lange's gamble on a performance-oriented shell redesign paid off.
One tester called the Shadow line's structural re-imagining the anti-BOA for its focus on performance-centric engineering, leaving this year's big, fit-related story to the spooler. Indeed, the Shadow's four-point cuff-to-lower Dual Pivot attachment design and gliding rear spine Suspension Blade are major driveline changes to a platform that has always prided itself on how well it skis. The story that accompanies this tech is interesting: the four points of connection are made lower on the shell to better match the natural hinge point of the ankle joint, and the lower anchors are not rigidly fixed but restrained with small elastomer bushings intended to reduce plastic shape distortion during flexion. The upper and lower mounts work in concert like a rocker-arm, leveraging a mechanical fore-aft advantage against the ski. The tongue-in-groove-style Suspension Blade attaches the lower to upper in a gliding rear spine fashion with a goal of reducing more bending plastic distortion and loss of energy. This sort of active rear spine redesign has been accomplished elsewhere previously (K2 & Tecnica) but not with a gliding track. The nutshell from the Lange marketing department: does more with less effort.
Testers unanimously reported that the story line was not a fiction. They said the boot functioned exactly as billed, with a noticeably smooth and progressive flex feel that seemed shorter in travel and firmer in quality than predecessor RX boots. They said that the smaller "throw" of the forward flex range didn't feel abrupt, just more effective at generating pressure to the front of the ski with less input effort. They also claimed that the boot was quicker and more solid on edge than RX. Testers gave the Shadow 130 LV's Quickness and Steering score a perfect 5.
That Lange succeeded in building a very different wheel that rolled even better than the last one wasn't a big surprise for our testers who have seen positive change after positive change from the brand in recent years, but those had been relatively minor changes. This is a big move in terms of the boot's structural foundation and a risk that seems to have paid off.
The big surprise in the Shadow boots (LV, MV, men's, women's--all) has been that these performance gains happen in concert with the most comfortable narrow and medium width boots Lange has ever made, according to testers, across the board. Many testers thought this 130 LV was too comfortable, meaning roomier than it should be, but while testers may have given it some demerit for missing the narrow fit target, they consistently mentioned that the extra space didn't seem to affect how the boot skied--it just didn't feel as tight as they thought it should. The cushioned, well-draped liner material hugs the foot exceptionally well, but with a bit of stretch at wide and bony points enabled by so-called Auxetic hexagonal perforations in the liner's exterior material. Testers said that the tongue's fit and feel was perfect against the shin and enhanced the shell's new flex properties nicely and they all appreciated the liner's new asymmetrical, no-seams toebox.
POST-TEST UPDATE: Lange informed us that based on widespread feedback of a too-roomy fit in the Shadow boots (both men's and women's in LV and MV models), they've made a running change to the production liners to address that. We like to think we were helpful in getting the message across and are excited to try the new versions this season.
Testers liked the new Anthem 115 W BOA for its well-shaped and cozy liner paired with an easy in and buckled (BOA'd?) up closure system, and appreciated it even more for its convenient, go-everywhere skiing feel. Testers said not to fret over the too-soft feeling flex during indoor try-on as the thin shell wall polyurethane plastic firms up nicely out in the cold.
The light-in-hand feel of the Anthem boot remained intact with this new BOA version, as did the ease of getting this on and off, testers said. The BOA's cable tension can be completely released by pulling out on the reel with an obvious click, but testers found that there was no need to pull out any cable slack in order to slide into the boot and if they did, they discovered they just had to take more time to reel that slack back in to get things properly done up. Once in, testers liked the traditional buckles on the cuff and got the BOA tension figured out a click at a time by rotating the wheel forward to tighten and rearward to loosen. Testers affirmed that the BOA closure system did allow the lower boot to wrap incrementally tighter against the foot without distorting shape--to a point. The agreed that this is a generous medium width fit and some testers felt that in order to achieve a snug fit they did get to a point where the nice shape over the top of the foot began to flatten out somewhat under BOA constriction. Testers note that there is a slick pocket built into the liner over the toes as a way to add fit tension without having to max the cable closure and crush the bony midfoot.
The test team cast a majority vote in favor of how the Anthem skied--light underfoot and agile in its all-mountain attack, swiftly negotiating technical moves when guided by a deft skier pilot. The ex-racer crowd in our crew thought it lacked a little horsepower due to the thin shell wall plastic, but others loved its accuracy of steering and light weight feel--a heavy, damp race boot it is not, they all agreed.
The Anthem 115 W BOA offers an Ultralon heat moldable liner, though testers liked its out-of-box shape and thought a full temp cook should be reserved for moderating some fit inconsistencies that others might experience. The elasticized Booster-style power strap with cam buckle was a hit for a firm and well-distributed closure at the boot top where testers liked the shin fit, if a little soft for some. Cuff adjustment is enabled by the elliptical mix-and-match inserts for a solid connection between upper and lower, and alpine DIN soles are available for the GripWalk deniers out there, but they don't come in the box.
Testers roundly agreed the new Recon 130 BOA deserved to be in the top group of gold medal boots in the all-mountain medium-width category and gave it the highest score of the men's K2 boots we tested this year. Almost every member of our team liked the addition of the BOA closure system on the Recon's lower shell. With many comments about the evenly medium fit, testers liked how the shell and liner worked in concert to hold the foot in place firmly but with an ideal amount of cushion and insulation for all-day skiing. Balancing out the many positive comments about the Recon's proper fit for the average volume foot and leg were just as many mentions of how well this boot skied all around the mountain.
While the thin shell walled polyurethane produces a light-in-the-hand boot, testers didn't characterize it as flighty or fidgety--exactly the opposite, with testers expressing surprise at how well it handled big skis at high speeds as well as rough and demanding terrain. A couple testers thought it was a little under-gunned in fore-aft support for a 130-flex but they were in the small minority, as most of the team found few flaws in the Recon's on-snow strategy.
While our team has some BOA skeptics on board, their criticism was muted here--very few BOA related issues were cited by the team. Entry and exit wasn't impeded in this model and only one mention of an overly tight fit on the midfoot was leveled at it. K2 has anticipated the possibility of a too tight midfoot with a vacuous fit over the toes and developed a little pocket over the liner toebox where a foam shim can be inserted to better level the dorsal surface pressure. We're not sure this is the best solution for that, but it's a pretty good start and testers appreciate the nod toward putting bootfitter-centric solutions in place from the outset.
Testers liked the idea of different density inserts on the bootboard itself for modifying the ground feel or vibration dampening of the boot, though very few fiddled with it. They wished a set of alpine soles came in the box, but alas that is an aftermarket purchase for those stuck with pre-GripWalk binders. The cam buckled, elasticized power strap was a hit and testers liked the Ultralon ankle pockets in the liner for enhanced heat moldability.
After an encouraging debut last year, Kastle returns this season with a broader offering of models, including an understated 100-flex medium and low-volume all-mountain model pointed at the women's market. Our testers got in the 100mm K100P at this year's test and were impressed by this newcomer who rolled into a very well-populated category and hung in with some heavy hitters there.
This one will appeal to four-buckle overlap purists who know what they want from a boot (straightforward fit, traditional fit mods, real downhill performance) and aren't so gentrified that a little entry and exit struggle or need for a shell punch here and there would dissuade them from pulling the trigger on a great boot. This hints at the few chinks in the K100P's armor--testers thought that this boot harked back to an era where skiers might have been a little tougher. Ease of entry and exit was the boot's biggest demerit, but it didn't cause any tester to give up or cry. A very roomy toebox (vertically) and some lack of shape in the ankle and heel pockets added up to minor demerit number two. None of these issues were enough to bump the K100P out of gold medal standing, but they led testers to drop it just below the level of the big name perennial favorites in the category.
The Kastle K100P is something of a sleeper, they said, solidly powerful beyond the 100-click stiffness rating Kastle gives it and confidence-inspiring in the way that it damps vibrations and controls the ski through irregular and firm surfaces alike. They (and the men who tested two models) universally liked the way the cuff wrapped the lower leg and cradled the shin in a close match to the skeleton without crushing soft tissue. The stance angles were on the mark (its highest score), testers said, and they liked the no-frills features set: dual pull loops on a lace-up liner, cam-buckle power strap and GripWalk soles. Testers liked the inclusion of Velcro liner fit pads for tightening up the ankle and heel area. They also said the white with teal cosmetic was classic and classy.
This boot says: time to quit fussing about and go skiing, they said.
In Kastle's sophomore year as a boot manufacturer and our first interaction with the 110-flex medium-width K110P, testers were again impressed (having tested its inaugural 130-flex last year). Testers applauded the quick gains from last year in the way of an improved liner and more flex offerings. The consensus was that the Kastle boot has its fresh roots sunk into deeply established old-school, four-buckle-overlap design traditions--and our somewhat old-school testing team dug that, with a few minor caveats.
First, they loved the 110-flex for everything the 130-flex was not: easier to get on and off, softer flexing against the shin, forgiving of mistakes and more comfortable on bony points. The softer polyurethane plastic build-out of the 110 just made everything a bit more relaxed, which made this Kastle more approachable for the masses (and our testers) and a bit more fun. It's still a serious boot that will appeal to technical skiers looking for a spartan, no-nonsense ski driving machine, testers said, but for all but the most demanding and hard-core skiers the K110P would be plenty. It flexes and skis stronger than the 110-flex indicator suggests, they said, and it's a snug 100mm last. Going to the 97mm narrow version and the 120 or 130 stiffnesses would come with trade-offs in comfort and ease of access, testers thought.
That Kastle's entry into the boot realm is focused on the narrowest race plugs and then performance 97- and 100-mm overlap performance models sets a high bar for themselves, as the best, most established boot brands in the world own this space, and yet Kastle has not embarassed themselves. Far from it, they've proved that simple still works, and for the right skier that's a win. Our test team loved the K boot's stance angles (a perfect 5.00) and skiing response, and they only had a few complaints about the fit's less-than-contoured feel on common bony bits. They felt that with a good bootfitter's help, the shape would be on par with the best boots in the category, but still the out-of-box fit experience got a "needs improvement" on their report cards.
Did testers love the Kastle color? That was a split decision. Will the Kastle boots be available at brick-and-mortar specialty retail shops? That remains to be seen. If they're not, it ain't because they don't deserve to be, we think.
Testers have been waiting for this version of the women's Formula MV to show up, and now that it has they awarded it gold medal level scores and found very little to criticize. While it's packed full of fit and performance features, the Formula 105 W MV GW doesn't rely on those to excel. Rather, the 105 MV gets by on a beautifully shaped shell with neutral, comfortable stance angles and a reliably damp and stable polyurethane foundation in both shell and cuff. Sure the features are cool (Liquid Fit injectable liner, Form Fit oven-moldable shell, solid insert style cuff adjustment and alpine DIN plates in the box) but what testers were most excited about this year was the Formula MV's revised liner.
The 3D Perfect Fit EVO Pro LF W liner (it better be damn good with a name like that) sealed the deal for testers on a slam-dunk first fit and feel straight out of the box. Padded without feeling bulky, sculpted for common prominences and curvatures without leaving them loose, and firm enough around the ankles and heel to provide a performance connection with the ski but without losing the creature comfort that earned it a nearly perfect score for Convenience and Warmth. Testers who've had a chance to test the women's 100mm Formula in past tests were probably the most complimentary of this current rendition for its most-improved flex feel and fit along the shin. They said it's as good as it gets now, even compared to other great boots in the category, but worlds ahead of previous liners' tongue feel. Well done in keeping after that, Head, they said.
While the boot's best quality is the fact that there are very few flaws (the only one mentioned multiple times was that the liner fit a little short on the toes), for those who need to make some changes, the Formula platform is designed to be modified by skilled bootfitters. The mono-injected polyurethane shell and cuff handle traditional stretches and grinds without issue, but the Form Fit oven-cook-then-mold feature is a useful tool when a widespread expansion is required, say opening up the calf in a big way or increasing instep volume. The Liquid Fit wax-goo injection feature is a slick way to provide subtle improvement to the heel and ankle pocket, but it's rarely needed (break-in your liners by skiing several days before injecting, is our bootfitter-test-team's advice).
The Head Formula 130 MV GW is one of those boots that testers say shouldn't ski as well as it does for how cushy, comfy and convenient it is--but it does! Head has revised the Formula liners to a place where they provide a praiseworthy blend of comfort and control, testers say, calling this version the best all-mountain performance medium they've ever tested from Head. Where many boots either occupy one end of the spectrum defined by creature comfort while others live at the other end, in the pure performance cul-de-sac, the Formula 130 MV splits the difference nicely. The scores back that up--its highest scores (4.90 & 4.80 out of 5) were found in the Convenience, Warmth & Features category and the Edge Power category.
The Formula's chassis is modeled off of the Raptor WCR boots, with a new polyurethane plastic blend that testers like for its resilient and energized flex feel and that bootfitters like for its easy grinding and stretching character. The stance map is neutral, with just a hint of extra leverage to the inside edge with a 0.5-degree tip out of the cuff. Testers loved the dynamic and technical feel of this boot, whether it was driving a piste ski on hardpack or a fatty in pow. There were virtually no complaints about the fit or performance of the Formula 130 MV, save a few mentions that after on snow testing the fit opened up to a "generous" medium width for some testers.
The features kit on the Formula boots is well-crafted and useful, testers said, highlighting the snap in cuff adjustment disks that move the upper boot 1-degree in or out and fit enhancement features like the Form Fit shell morphing oven-cook option or the ankle and heel filling Liquid Fit injection. Bootfitter testers remind skiers that Liquid Fit works best if the boot is properly sized to begin with (it won't fix a too-big boot fit) and is most effective after the liner has been broken in with several days of skiing prior to injection. Testers like the 50mm Velcro strap with the gliding PowerPlate that allows for broad distribution of pressure at the boot top. Some testers miss the double pulley style Booster strap found on other Head flagship models and a few still gripe about Spine Flex buckles, but these were minor concerns amidst an overwhelmingly positive response to a solid performer.
Testers loved the Fischer RC4 95 HV for how thick and pillowy it felt against the foot and leg, with plenty of room at the forefoot, instep and calf for the typical higher volume foot and leg. They were surprised (and a little concerned) by how tightly the heel was gripped in this 102mm wide ride, but for women who have a wide forefoot and thick calf paired with a slender heel testers said this was a match made in heaven. It was not much of a surprise to see that our test team gave the 95 HV's Convenience, Warmth & Features score a perfect five, but it was a shock to see it match that 5.00 in the Quickness metric--for the target audience at a 95-flex, testers said it was spot on for an accurate steering response.
The RC4 95 HV's fore-aft stance was a touch more upright than some, which testers thought paired well with the ample room at the cuff that accommodated a thick calf--the muscle mass of which usually drives the leg a bit more forward, in this case ending up right where it should be rather than flexed into a quad-crushing wall sit. The side-to-side angles were neutral and offered easy edging for our test team, which was fortunate as there is no on-board cuff adjustment mechanism in Fischer's RC4 HV boots.
This is a Vacuum model, which Fischer downplays a bit nowadays, happy instead to focus on its good, out-of-box fit that usually doesn't require any messing around with ovens and pressurized bladders, but for those who needed some tweaking--say, a more relaxed heel squeeze--this is a fantastic fitting tool when handled by a Fischer dealer with the right equipment for the job. Our tests of the Vacuum fitting system over the years have yielded very positive results, but as with any bootfitting modification, the skill of the fitter is at least as important as the implement or feature.
The new Fischer RC4 105 MV BOA VAC GW impressed our test team not just with its encryption styled letters and numbers naming scheme but for its simplicity of design and straightforward on-snow character. The MV sits in between the LV with its ZipFit liner option and the 95 flex HV widebody cruiser, and testers thought it filled that niche. They gave the MV fit scores that put it on the roomy end of the medium width group, but they did like the way that the new BOA lower boot closed down, a click at a time to snug the fit around the foot.
It took our testers a little bit of fiddling to figure out how to dial in (literally) their preferred BOA fit, and until they realized that the tension could be backed off one click at a time rather than popping the reel to release all cable tension they cussed a bit. Once testers had played with it a bit, they turned into BOA fans for the most part. They said that in the RC4 105 MV BOA the cabling did not seem to impede entry and exit.
With neutral stance angles and a cuff height that testers called ideal, the RC4 105 MV BOA was easy to access for good skiing, they said, and they especially liked the flex feel against the shin which they characterized as on-the-money for a 105 flex. Testers appreciated the no fuss 45mm Velcro power strap and traditional buckles on the cuff. The insert-style cuff adjustment feature is solid, if tools-required, and they liked an option to Vacuum mold the boot, though there was no immediate need to expand the shell, testers said. They suggested going LV if the relaxed fit of the MV felt a bit too comfortable out of the box.
