Luigino and Powerslide Boot Review
I got to try 7 new boots today and compared them to 5 boots that I've done good reviews on in the past. The 7 new boots are the Luigino Challenge, Luigino Sting, Luigino Victory Luigino Attitude, Powerslide Triple X, Powerslide C4 (the new one), and the Powerslide R4 (the new one). I compared these new boots to 5 good working boots I have reviewed in the past being the Powerslide R2 (the new one), Powerslide C4 (the old one), Powerslide C6 (the old one), Powerslide C8 and the Powerslide R4 (the old one). The new boots are pictured below. (review continues below all pictures)
Luigino Challenge
Luigino and Powerslide Boot Review
Luigino Sting
Luigino Victory
Luigino Attitude
Powerslide Triple X
Powerslide C4 (new)
Powerslide R4 (new)
I compared the new boots above to the good working boots I have previously done reviews on. (below)
Powerslide C4 (old)
Powerslide C6 (old)
Powerslide R2 (new)
Powerslide C8
Powerslide R4 (old)
On all the boots tested I used a 5 wheel 80mm Mogema Cross Trainer frame. I started comparing the Luigino Challenge to the Powerslide Triple X as they were noticeably the lowest cut boots. I knew towards the end of the testing (it took 5 hours total for the testing) my ankles would be getting weak so it would be smart to get the lowest cut boots out of the way first. Both boots felt great off the line, through crossovers and high speed. Both boots were comfortable with no hot spots right out of the box.

I would have thought I would have had more trouble with ankle support as these 2 boots were the lowest cut of all the other boots but being the first boots of the day and fresh ankles I had no problem. Both of these boots worked good to the point that only looks would differentiate them for me. If your choosing between these two I would say choose the one that looks the best to you. You will be happy with either.

Next I moved on to the Luigino Sting, Luigino Victory, Powerslide C4 (old one and new one) and the Powerslide C6 (the old one). I would put these 5 boots in a mid cut speed boot category. The Challenge and Triple X above were in the low cut speed boot category. Again, no fit problems, everyone of the 5 mid cut boots were very comfortable. The one thing I did notice was after trying the lower cut Triple X and Challenge first these mid cut boots felt a little slower due to the higher cuffs and in turn less ankle deflection then the Triple X and Challenge. Another thing that surprised me was the Victory seemed to react differently then the Sting, C4 and C6. Even though they were all the same height the Victory seemed to be extremely fast off the line unlike the other 4 mid cut boots.

It came down to a little looser heel from side to side in the boot. This loose heel from side to side allowed you to get off the line and up to speed much faster then the other 4 mid cut boots. This is great for short high speed races but this type of boot is less efficient for long distances as the heel flops around a bit and not every bit of the push gets transfered into the ground.

Now the other boots didn't get up to speed as fast as the Victory but you could see in the distance your weren't as tired on the Sting, C4 and C6 as you were on the Victory. I would say of the 4 boots the Sting C6 and C4 were more distance boots and the Victory as a more off the line short distance boot. The Victory sure was fun off the line but probably wouldn't be as fun on the 20th mile.

Next I moved to the noticeably highest cut boots being the Attitude and R2. Again after skating on the 5 mid cut boots the higher cut Attitude and R2 felt a little slower again as you had even less ankle deflection with the higher cut boots. Again no problem with comfort right out of the box. I felt the Attitude was the higher of the two with the R2 being the lower of the two but both definitely being in the high cut boot category.

Saving the highest cut R4's and C8 until I was completely done testing the lower cut speed boots I now went back to the Challenge and Triple X. Wow, now these felt low. I had about 2 hours of skating in by now and there was simply not enough support in the Challenge and Triple X anymore. If I was doing a short race I would have no problem with the Challenge and Triple X and actually would probably be the fastest boots for me giving me the greatest ankle deflection but I couldn't do any distance on either boot. A better or world class skater could take either the Challenge or Triple X and finish a long race with flying colors but a world class skater I'm not.

I now went back to the 5 mid cut boots and they now felt better then lower cut boots and now I was actually able to go faster on the mid but boots then the low cut boots which was the exact opposite from when I started the test. It definitely told me in a longer race I would be faster with a little more ankle support. Now being even more tired I went to the higher cut R2 and Attitude and now they felt better then the mid cut boots. I was able to go faster again with the more ankle support. What a change from the beginning of the test where they felt the slowest and the low cut Challenge and Triple X were the fastest.

Being beat at this point (4 hours in) I now tried the old R4, C8 and new R4. Wow, I was screaming on these over the lower cut boots due to the weak ankles and the highest cut boots offering so much ankle support. Where I couldn't have skated another lap on any of the lower cut boots I had no problem continuing with the R4 and C8 at actually a pretty high speed. For anyone familiar with the Old R4 and C8 boots the new R4 boot is the C8 boot with some cosmetic changes. The new R4 is not like the old R4 it is like the C8.

Ok, 5 hours of skating is enough. Again I would say for an average person the Challenge and Triple X would be the fastest boots for a short distance race but for a long distance race you would need to be a top skater to keep them upright for the whole long distance race. The longer race you will be doing and also based on your ankle strength the higher the boot you would want to be skating on.

I would happily skate on any one of the 12 boots reviewed here depending on the activity. Short distance high speed race (Challenge, Triple X maybe even Victory) medium distance race (Sting, Victory, C4, C6) long distance race (R2, Attitude) Touring (R4, C8). Again this is for me a medium ability skater. For a better skater the Challenge and Triple X could be extend from a short distance race to a medium or even long distance race. For a beginner skater the R4 and C8 can be brought down from touring to a long distance race or even to a medium distance race.

Not that you think that any boot will work for me there was one other companies boot that was a nightmare from start to finish and finished so far behind these 12 boots I couldn't even mention it's name. In the old days 1 out of 10 boots worked for me. Now days it's the opposite, 9 out of 10 boots work for me. The boots just keep getting better.

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