ARV86 is based off a traditional park ski construction which is skinnier and with generous camber. I like park skis like this. You want some heft for landings and stuff. I actually had a pair that I ordered when I was abroad. I got drunk one night and wrote a stupid stupid thread asking [tag=105085]@Twig[/tag] to review the arv86. Thankfully, he was a great sport and obliged. Here is what he said:
“ARV 86 short review (I haven't spent enough time for a Roofbox but maybe 3 days total over the years):
Basically, the ARV 86 is the most traditional park ski left in Armada's lineup. There's a lot of DNA from the AR7 in these, with the narrow waist, similar shape and sidecut. They have a tiny amount of rocker, but I'd say that only really contributes to the turn initiation rather than making buttering any easier than a full camber ski of equivalent flex. The flex is slightly softer than the old AR7 but not by a huge amount. That makes them a bit more accessible to ski, but they definitely aren't a surfy or buttery ski. They basically ski like a traditional mid-80s park ski with all that entails. I quite like them on groomers and skiing fast, they feel stable there, and on landings too. They aren't particularly forgiving of sideways landings and they aren't very buttery. The butter question was specifically asked and with a mid-flex and near full camber they are one of the less easy skis to butter on the market today (in terms of park skis). Full-camber, stiff options like the Punx, Revolt 87 and NFX are worse but that's the territory they are in. Compared to the Revolt 95s that @BradFiAusNzCoCa mentioned, they are a totally different ballpark. The Revolt is waaay more buttery and those are still fairly average skis by the butter metric.
In the park they are great on jumps, in the resort, they are good for hard snow but I wouldn't choose to use them for anything other than that. If you're skiing any soft snow, the ARV 96 is way better, as is the EDollo.”
