Armada ski boot is live

[onenerdykid]

Nice. On that note of foot shape (since I've got two different sized insteps), how much of an impact does the velcro adjustability on the tongue impact the fit on these new AR's?

On the liner tongue? A fair bit. Like a World Cup racing liner, you can position each tongue fore/aft to individually match up to your feet in the way that works for each.

These liners (along with any liner that uses a Velcro-fixation tongue) are also compatible with Atomic's V3 Tongue System where you can pick from 3 different tongue thicknesses to further perfect the fit over your instep and/or shin.

[gregL]

please don't shrink the BSL down to 290 like the ultra when you make it. Stay with the 295/305 that prime/AR1 have.

A 290mm BSL Ultra is a 25.5, a 305mm Prime is 26.5 . . .

[beeshbeesh]

On the liner tongue? A fair bit. Like a World Cup racing liner, you can position each tongue fore/aft to individually match up to your feet in the way that works for each.

These liners (along with any liner that uses a Velcro-fixation tongue) are also compatible with Atomic's V3 Tongue System where you can pick from 3 different tongue thicknesses to further perfect the fit over your instep and/or shin.

And this right here gets a FUUUUUCKKK YEEEAHHHHHHHH!!!!!

[oldirty]

Tech toe with now walk mode fucks…

[gregL]

You can shrink the BSL for control benefits, but just drop the heel further behind the rear lugs instead of shrinking the last length. Upz ski boot is 287mm 25.5 and has like 3-6mm extra length in the toe box than ultra 25.5 290mm. Albeit they used a little ramp angle to do it, but still, even with -8.5mm ramp the upz fits way longer than 25.5 ultra.

You could also minimize the chamfered surface over the toe and angle the toe out a bit (and fix the low/shallow calcaneus while you're at it) and achieve the same effect, but we're talking about a lot of money to update all the Ultra molds. If a customer complains about the length of an ultra, I tell them they won't notice it after I heat mold the boot and 95% of the time I'm right; for the whiners, a 1st distal phalanges punch is simple.

[gregL]

this is why prime exists.

The Hawx Prime is a huge success because it gives average skiers (who usually don't understand how much a boot's fit can be changed) and average bootfitters (who often don't know either) a pretty good skiing option out of the box. Notice that the new Prime shell incorporates some of these design components, like the minimized chamfered surface over the toebox. In practice, most skilled bootfitters reserve the Prime for people with very high volume feet or special needs i.e. very tall insteps. They don't just put people who complain the Ultra is too short in a Prime.

[GoldenBC]

An ultra with a proper toe box and less aggressive heel cup is not a prime. The prime is massive compared to an ultra. The ankle is much bigger height over the forefoot is gigantic.

Like Greg said, the prime gets used for high volume feet. Problem is, it’s not that high volume. Narrow toe box, not much wider at the met heads, and a liner that pushes the Achilles forward and bites the instep really limits it.

It will be interesting to see how the armada liner changes the fit.

The prime doesn’t sell well for us at all.

[SnowMachine]

I have some AR One's that followed me home.

My initial impressions: easy on/off but a bit of complication stacking everything together to buckle. It would be neat if the tongue hinged like a traditional cabrio.

Fit is very similar to my Hawx Ultra RS. Maybe a bit more width in the toe box, but maybe not as much as you'd expect going to a MV boot. Toe box is tall. Too tall, I think. Then again, I add a foam pad over the toes on my Ultras. I hate having space over the top of my toes. Pretty standard 26.5 length. My toes push slightly into the front of the boot if I stand up straight. I don't think I'd need a punch. Instep feels about the same as a Lange RX/XT or my Ultra's. Heel hold feels really good. A bit more generous around the ankle compared to the Ultra's. I like the buckle arrangement. They don't close up quite as tight on top as a 4 buckle, but that's not a surprise. BSL is 305 for a 26.5. Flex is stout! More stout than my Hawx RS's, for sure. I'll comment after I ski them. I usually find boots feel stiffer before they've been skied.

I'm intrigued. Headed out to ski them this AM.

Update: That's a really good freeride boot. Super easy on/off. Really great suspension with a really strong flex pattern. Fit is more generous through the ankle than my Hawx Ultra, but never felt sloppy. Instep is definitely lower than the Hawx or my XT3's.

I'm going to ski them for a few more days. I could see these being really popular.

[SnowMachine]

Last comment: day two and I just couldn't do it. They crush my instep. They were fine for a full day. I could tell the instep was tight, but I made it no prob. Day two and they hurt right away.

Bummer because I really like a lot about the boot.

[GoldenBC]

this is why prime exists.

I don’t find the prime longer than the ultra.

[CYJ]

Last comment: day two and I just couldn't do it. They crush my instep. They were fine for a full day. I could tell the instep was tight, but I made it no prob. Day two and they hurt right away.

Bummer because I really like a lot about the boot.

I have a similar problem with cabrios despite how much I love them; the ones with the 45 degree ankle buckles create too much downward force, crushing my arches. I was able to get away with it in Kryptons by really cranking down on the ankle buckle during 2 rounds of heat molding to compress and reduce the volume of the liner foam over my instep. Sadly the new Cabrio series has a lower instep height, and I knew the aforementioned trick wasn't going to work the moment I tried them on (along with the blown out fit up front).

One look at the angle of that ankle buckle of the AR Ones and I knew it wasn't for me. Either the MV would be too big elsewhere if it didn't crush my instep, or if an LV version came out it would most definitely crush my instep. Back to FTs I go this season. Will be playing around with it to see if I can get it to match the lateral stiffness of a Krypton.

[banzai]

Tried the boot in the shop today. I can confirm length feels standard, compared to my RS130 and XT Free pros (old molds - 306bsl for 26.5).
Really nice wrap and impressive heel hold on the carpet. Initially they felt funky on my instep, even though I have flat pancake arches, but it did go away once I tightened them up and walked around.
Seems like all the marketing of the gen BOA boots overshadow the Armada, but its and interesting boot and worth a try.

[banzai]

Edit doesnt work, so here is another post.

So the elastic piece is on the side of the armada strap. Curious how a booster, where the elasticity is at the front, will interact and whether it will defeat the design intentions.

[bamboocoreONLY]

If anyone wants a deal on one, I'd probably sell at a discount from my shop. Have 110/130 in 26/27

[garuda]

The AR ONE boot uses the same (in principle) Power Shift feature from the current Atomic Hawx Prime boot. Adding the top screw changes the feel of the initial portion of the boot's flex, making the boot more direct, more responsive. The Power Shift feature can also adjust the forward lean of the cuff from 13°-15-°17°.

If someone wants to change the flex in a more noticeably way, there will be softer tongues available.

@onenerdykid - Is there going to be a stiffer tongue than stock available for the AR One 130 as well, or only softer?

[SnowMachine]

Funny you say that your going back to FT. I was thinking of trying the K2 Revolve KF. I haven't skied FT's in almost 10 years, but they used to work well for me.

The AR1 reignited my cabrio curiosity.

[CYJ]

Yea I realized as I'm starting to ski with my kids that I don't need or want to be in a "tolerable but painful" fit for the sake of performance anymore. The FT setup I experimented with a few years ago is what I'm going back to (Original shell, 10 tongues, Pro Tongue liners and Patriot power strap). Not as strong as Kryptons laterally, but as an off piste skier, didn't find it lacking either. The biggest performance improvement IMO was going to the Pro Tongue liners. Stiff plastic upper cuff and just a closer fit to the shell compared to the softer, mega thick wrap liners.

I just wish they'd figure out how to put replaceable soles on the Original shells as they fit my feet much better than the Souls, but Tom from K2 stated they look at FT/Flex boots as a 'legacy' product and try not to mess with it too much.

[toast2266]

Stuck my foot in these today. Quick impression based on a warm, unmolded boot in a ski shop:

Flex felt smooth and progressive. Stiff enough, but maybe at the soft end of a 130.

Instep hurt, almost immediately. Less of an overall "instep feels low" kind of thing. More of a "the boots have weird pressure points in the instep" kind of thing. Everyone at the shop agreed that these boots have a weird instep.

Tried putting my zipfits in them to see if that solved the instep issue. Couldn't physically get my zipfit + foot into the shell (doing standard zipfit "world cup" method). There's some odd bits of plastic in the instep zone that sit under the cabrio tongue that prevent foot + liner from slipping in smoothly.

Length felt standard (26.5).

Heel hold felt loose, but that's par for the course with my narrow heel.

Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

[m5bc60]

Last comment: day two and I just couldn't do it. They crush my instep. They were fine for a full day. I could tell the instep was tight, but I made it no prob. Day two and they hurt right away. Bummer because I really like a lot about the boot.

i had the same problem as you and switching to a wrap liner solved it. I don't think this Atomic style mimic liner is a good fit for this boot. Seems to fit badly with the cabrio design in the instep area.

[SnowMachine]

Interesting. I would be curious to try the boot again with a Intuition liner, but not sure I will go that way. I think the Remedy is calling my name.

[MCskid]

So disappointing to hear, as a cabrio aficionado I had incredibly high hopes for this boot. Probably too much on Atomic’s r&d plate to come out with wc race boots, tx/remedy and ar one and the same year. Maybe Nerdy will chime in.

[SnowMachine]

The good news, it would seem, is that the boot is great, but the liners needs work. I really liked how the boot skis.

[waxman]

Weird. I can "world cup" my Zipfit Sidewinders in the AR1s I got. Not as easy as the Langes I use daily but not a struggle

[MCskid]

Waxman, how about a review? Any weird instep issues? How’s it ski? Thanks

[SnowMachine]

Stopped in to my bootfitter and the AR One was still sitting there as a door stop.

I brought them home and played with tongues and liners. Started with Atomic professional and Sidas tongues. The Sidas was pretty good, but not perfect. Next I tried liners from Hawx Ultra XTD's with a high volume professional tongues. That was really close. Then I grabbed a low volume tongue (yeah, they are backward from what you might expect).

Money, absolute money. The problem with the AR One, for me, is the factory liner. I left them on for over an hour. Threw the ball for my dog, wandered around. All good.

So, in Cabrio fashion, I went ahead and ordered Intuition wraps for them. They should be here later this week. We will see how it goes, but for now I am going to ski them with the XTD liner. They feel great.

I could easily see my boot duo being Remedy and AR One next year. I like having a back up. It is the Boy Scout in me.

I will add that my Hawx RS are the most comfortable boot I have ever been in. I do like the Remedy flex a bit better. Jury is out on the AR One for now.