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Armada ARV 106 2020 – 2021 | Review

The ARV 106 sees an improvement in stability and all mountain prowess in an all-new update

Why we chose the Armada ARV 106: Versatility, playful, improved chargeability 

Lengths (cm): 172, 180, 188 cm
Sidecut (mm): 134 / 106 / 124  (180 cm)
Radius: 19.5m (180 cm)
Rocker Profile: Rocker-Camber-Rocker (twinned)
Weight (per ski): 2125g
Price: £540

BUY HERE

Take one look at the Armada ARV 106 and one word will come to mind: fun. These planks feature an incredibly versatile build and construction that’ll perk the interest of those who fancy themselves as the lovechild of Sam Anthamatten and Jesper Tjäder. Yes, you may not be able to arc GS turns on these down your local world cup piste, but who cares when these skis open up the whole mountain as one big playground?

Armada ARV 106 Build

Although featuring a wide 106 mm waist, there’s nothing to say that you can’t take the ARV 106 for a few laps in the park. In fact, the ARV 106 practically begs to be taken for a blast around the park, due to a few constructional hints.

The first of these being a pair of beefed up 2.2 mm heat treated impact edges, over that of the old (and less durable) 1.7 mm edge. Secondly, a reinforced AR75 sidewall means that the ARV 106 will happily take a pounding on the boxes and rails. Those of you who normally prefer to lap the park with a skinnier ski will also come to love the wider platform for box and rail slides.

“An incredibly versatile build and construction that’ll perk the interest of those who fancy themselves as the lovechild of Sam Anthamatten and Jesper Tjäder”

Aside from the ARV 106’s willingness to take punishment in the park, it’s also more than capable of throwing it down on piste side hits, and just about any other natural feature around the mountain. This is thanks to the use of Armada’s poplar core, which has been strengthened with Ash stringers – giving the ARV 106 a bucketload of pop and playfulness.

New for 20/21 is the addition of a ‘Smear Tech’ section in the tips and tails. This section removes the edges and makes use of a contoured base to boost the ski’s performance while buttering and pressing. The jury’s currently out on how this affects durability.

Compared to other skis in the 100 – 110 category, the ARV 106 sits at the moderately stiff end of things. Although the nose has a relatively forgiving flex, it’s also got pretty stiff directly underfoot and behind the bindings. While this may take away some of the freestyle characteristics of the ARV, we can see it making the ski a weapon in freeride conditions where you require the ski to remain stable, no matter what you throw in its way.

Armada ARV 106 Shaping

The Armada shapers have gone to town on the ARV 106 for 20/21 in order to create a shape that better matches the increased stiffness. Firstly, the tips and tails have been narrowed slightly to help improve stability at speed, particularly when tracking through chopped up snow. This narrowing has resulted in a slightly larger radius (20 metres for the 180 cm), which will further improve the ski’s ability to arc long radius turns at speed.

Who Is The Armada ARV 106 For?

In stiffening up and lengthening the radius of the ARV 106, Armada have positioned the ARV 106 slightly further away from the traditional park rats that it had gained an almost cult following from with it’s previous iterations; moving it more towards those who require a higher top-end speed limit.

We see this as a conscious effort to separate Armada’s ever growing selection of skis in the 90 – 110 mm category. If you’d prefer something a little more tame, then the Armada Stranger will be a great option for you, whereas those who put a little more emphasis on chargeability at speed (yet still be able to ski switch) will really get on with the updated version of the ARV 106.

What Is The Armada ARV 106 Good At?

Charging: 8/10
All mountain: 7/10
Playfulness: 7/10

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