As soon as I saw the weight of his gear, I knew that all of his new gear will be lighter and MUCH HIGHER performance levels regardless of what he chooses. My 26.5 130 Flex Atomic Hawx Ultra boots with Intuition liners now weigh 1600 grams and they rock!
Knew the boots would be the even bigger upgrade with the quality of boots and fitting now available.
I said so in post #5 of the thread
The other point, and I touched on it in post #5, but still needs amplification, is that 'MUCH HIGHER performance' actually means much
different performance. The Xwing 10 was basically a Metron-lite, with a relatively stiff core and consistent front-to-back flex and a three-point sidecut.
The XW10
would do full carved 360s on hardpack; how many non-race modern skis still do that and what category are they in?
Within the set of things that the XWing 10 did well, including hardpack grip, the OP is
not going to find significant improvement without stepping up to a significantly higher category of ski.
The higher performance is in all the areas where the XWing 10 felt wanting. Turn shape changeability? New skis will have it, the XW10 didn't, but the user has to want it. Suppleness in broken snow? New skis will have it, the XW10 didn't, but the user has to want it. Easier turn release? New skis will have it, the XW10 didn't, the user has to want it. Float in crud and insensitivity to large snow inputs like coral? New skis will have it, the XW10 had a lot less, is that what the user looking for? Suppleness in mashed potatoes? (Some) new skis will have it, the XW10 didn't, does the user even want it or will they call it 'bounciness' in a bad way?
And so, back to the message from post #5 - the user has to adapt their performance expectations to current ski design. And worrying about lighter weight of the overall package is the very last thing to do- it can only distract from learning what all the new ski designs are about.
And now for another 30 posts of whatevs...