Hi folks,
I'm still having trouble reconciling the contrasting views of these skis. Some people love them, think they're the greatest one ski quiver ever, and so on, while others can hardly get them to bend. And these impressions, on both sides, come from experienced skiers.
The differences in perception/experience seem to go beyond the usual. Of course, everybody has somewhat different impressions about skis, but these seem like radical differences.
1) Could people be on different versions of these skis? Have in-line changes been made, so that there are multiple versions out there in the world?
2) Worse, could it be a quality control issue? Could the special damping material, or any other internal parts of the ski, vary greatly between one-ski and another?
3) Could this damping material be particularly temperature sensitive, or sensitive to some other environmental factor?
4) Are these skis especially sensitive to sizing/length options--some people seem to report big differences between skis of only slightly different lengths (184 vs. 178)
5) If not any of the above, are these skis particularly sensitive to different style or techniques?
6) Are these differences just related to speed? The theory of, and the marketing speak for, the damping material suggest that the flex characteristics should vary with speed. Are people's varying impressions just because they ski at different speeds?
I remain curious though skeptical.
Bruno