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Atomic Redster Ti?

Bruno Schull

Getting off the lift
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Hi. I'm on a ski vacation in Switzerland. I rented a pair of skis labeled Atomic Redster Ti. I rented them from a large rental network (Intersport) and the skis appeared to be positioned/designed/marketed close to the Redster S7. I went online to find out more information about this ski, but I could not find anything on the Atomic site. The only references I could were from large German and Austrian retailers such as:

https://www.intersport.at/winterspo...er-ti-xt-racecarver-inkl-bindung-rot-p1544174

(You can see that the labeling looks very similar to the S7)

So is the the Redster Ti a ski from previous years? (2017/2018?)

Or the Redster Ti a ski made only for large rental organizations?

Is it the same or comparable to the S7?

Any ideas about where the Redster Ti fits into the Atomic line-up?

I am curious because last year I rented the S9 and loved it, and this year I wanted to rent an S7 to see how similar the performance is, and whether or not I would notice any difference between the premium and intermediate skis.

OK, thanks,

Bruno
 

James

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I skied 3 days on the S9 170 or 2. In Verbier. Honestly, I preferred the Atomic slalom in 165 which I rented after. Especially in deep corn/slush. Just so much more responsive and easier to comply. Even an fis slalom is easier.

No idea what your ski is though.
 
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Bruno Schull

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I wrote to Atomic and got an answer. They replied:

"The Redster TI is a special model made specifically for retailers like Intersport. A comparable model on our website is the Redster X7."

So that's that.

I can say that the ski I tried, the Redster Ti or the X7, was not nearly as smooth, damp, stable, and powerful as the S9 I tried last year.

It felt like about half as much ski...but I do where over 200 pounds with all my ski stuff, so that factors in of course.

Anyway, I can say that the Atomic customer service here in Europe was really fast and helpful. Great!

Bruno
 
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Bruno Schull

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OK, I'm confused again.

I looked up the dimensions of some Atomic skis, and I think the answer from the Atomic rep was wrong.

The dimensions of the Redster Ti are not the same as the dimensions for the X7, but they are exactly the same as the dimensions for the the X5. So I think that the Redster Ti is actually a rebranded X5.

That makes sense. It's an entry level piste ski that splits the difference between a SL and GS ski, appropriate for large rental organizations.

It also fits my impression of the ski. As I wrote above, the Redster Ti or X5 of whatever it was is really a big step down in stability and power from the 9 series skies. I was surprised when the rep told me the Ti was like a 7 series...I expected the 7 series to be more powerful.

I don't really care about exactly what the Ti ski is....but I am interested in how the 9 series and 7 series compare. I guess the only way to find out how the 7 series feels is to go try some more skis :)
 

Swiss Toni

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Over 50% of the skis produced by the big European brands are destined for rental, so there are lots of specials. The Redster Ti has the same dimensions as the X5, but might have a construction that has been optimized for rental. With around 800 rental partner shops Intersport is Europe’s largest ski rental organization, in total it has 5500 partner shops and a turnover 10.3 billion Euros, it has an enormous amount of buying power.
 
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Bruno Schull

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Hi Toni. Thanks for the information. I knew Intersport was big, but I didn't realize it was that big.

Yes, the dimensions are the same as the X5, but of course there is no way to tell about the construction. Just based on how they skied, I guess that they are closer to the 5 series than the 7 series.

This brings up the whole questions of whether or not it makes sense to have skis like this on the market. I'm sure it makes sense from one perspective, but for me it muddies the waters, and makes it difficult to compare skis.

Add to this the different versions of the Redster skis (S, G, X) and the different levels (9, 7, 5) and the fact that some of the Redsters are in fact Green, and the whole thing starts to get a little confusing... I suspect it was the result of "design by committee" or "design by many committees," with competing interests between engineers, marketing folks, graphic designers, salespeople, and so on.

Atomic makes some great skis, but I wish they could simply their presentation somewhat.
 

Swiss Toni

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These days the vast majority of European holiday skiers rent their skis, very often they rent on price and book their skis at the same time as they book their accommodation. Most have no interest in buying skis, when they pick the skis up from the shop the on arrival in the resort they are given whatever is available in the price class they booked. Most skiers aren’t interested in a specific make / model, if they don’t like the ones they are given they take them back and exchange them for another pair.
 

James

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One of the people I skied with in Switzerland finally bought a pair of skis last year. He's French, lives in Paris. Bought something end of last season,at the big sports store in Paris. 2-250€ with binding. He really doesn't care all that much. It's convienience, pays for itself with a week of rentals.

It's a 157cm Atomic made for a big retailer ski. I paid it very little attention because it was the equivalent of some ski made for like Dick's Sporting Goods.

He told me the woman where we all rent skis and store them at night turned her nose up at it. Maybe one year the rear entriy boots from the 80's will get replaced. This is pretty mich what @Swiss Toni is saying about many European's attitudes.

He's a pretty good skier, skied from young. There will be little change because of limited time on snow now. But goodness, he can move through a crowd like few I've seen. I gave up trying to keep up in those situations. That and fog skiing he beats me.
 
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Bruno Schull

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The plot thickens yet again....

1) A big shout out to Amy at Atomic customer service. She was really prompt and helpful. Impressive and appreciated.

2) I no longer have any real idea how to position the Redster Ti in the Atomic line-up, except to say that is a mass-market rental ski, and I can not use this ski to try to extrapolate to the 5 series, the 7 series, the 9 series. They all seem to be different, and the only way to tell is to go and ski them. This is an obvious, but it would be cool if all the information about skis was a little more consistent and meaningful.

3) I base the above statement on some .pdf documents I received from Atomic customer service. I looked at things like weights, dimensions, core, layers, other technology, and so on. The documents were detailed enough to be informative, but inconsistent enough to prevent real comparison. For example, sometimes structural layers were called "Titanium Powered" and sometimes "Titanium Energized" (which do not seem to be two different things on the Atomic website) or weights were given for different skis for different lengths, and so on. It was just inconsistent enough for me to doubt some of the information. By the way, the Redster Ti dimensions do look the same as the X5, but the documents suggest that the rocker profiles are slightly different (The Redster ti may have a little but more tip and tail rocker...)

Anyway, as I said, the only way to tell is to go an try the skis.

However, because all the rental shops now have the Redster Ti, I can't find a Redster S7 to rent. I guess I'll just have to keep having fun on the Stockli rentals :)
 

François Pugh

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The information for one-off special deal skis needs to be inconsistent. Otherwise, the manufacturer would reap the displeasure of their customer ski shops for enabling big chain sporting goods stores to sell a product for hundreds of dollars less than they can while still making enough money to stay in business.
 

ski otter 2

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As I'm sure you must know, "Redster" was an old name for now discontinued race skis. So maybe this is just an attempt to relate a rental piste ski to the glamour of the now discontinued Redsters Doubledeck, say, in the minds of casual, older European ski race fans, the way many ski brands seem to go to great pains for the European markets to make the graphics of consumer on piste skis echo the graphics and names of former and current race skis, in a way that's not done much in the U.S., where ski racing isn't so popular, and near-race skis aren't either.

On the other hand, maybe this Redster ski actually has some of the construction elements of the now defunct, last generation Atomic race skis that might appeal to some - or be cheaper to make and purchase, using old equipment or molds, don't know.
 

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