[The test results and review for the Soulmate 86 are from 2016 and 2017; its only changes for 2017 are cosmetic.]
Softer than margarine sold by the bucket, the Soulmate 86 is meant to nurse a timorous skier into a state of sufficient confidence that she can putter around groomed terrain, no problem. Properly edged and pressured, it’ll produce a tidy short-radius turn, putting the priority on speed control.
But skidding is second nature to the Soulmate 86, so it isn’t insistent on good technique to maintain speed control, if that’s all its mistress can muster. The Soulmate 86 is a fine choice for the first-time female buyer; it will feel like liberation itself after the horrors of a fleet rental ski or a battered hand-me-down.
