Review: DPS Phantom Permanent Base Glide Treatment

[Philpug]

I have been waxing over my skis with Phantom too as I find that provides the best overall performance

Yes, you can absolutely do this without damaging the Phantom application.

 

[dovski]

Yes, you can absolutely do this without damaging the Phantom application.

Completely agree, it also lets you play with high performance temperature specific wax, which can be fun, but not have to wax after every ski day

 

[cantunamunch]

Three seasons later and no one has tried Phantoming woodies in lieu of pine tar?

 

[Jacques]

I have been waxing over my skis with Phantom too as I find that provides the best overall performance

I have been running a few skis this Spring that have Phantom on them and it has been great, on par with a freshly yellow waxed ski...but when the yellow gets pulled off, the Phantom is still good.

I have been waxing over my skis with Phantom too as I find that provides the best overall performance

I think what Phil was saying is that the Phantom was as good as a yellow (soft) wax. Not that he waxed them over. The advantage he says, is it does not go away like a soft wax will after time. That's my take anyway.
With that report, it still won't be as good as an HF red wax for spring snow. You will save money and time though. HF waxes are $$$$$$$$
After all, if you used Phantom.........why wax! Kinda' defeats the purpose!

 

[dovski]

I think what Phil was saying is that the Phantom was as good as a yellow (soft) wax. Not that he waxed them over. The advantage he says, is it does not go away like a soft wax will after time. That's my take anyway.
With that report, it still won't be as good as an HF red wax for spring snow. You will save money and time though. HF waxes are $$$$$$$$
After all, if you used Phantom.........why wax! Kinda' defeats the purpose!

Hi Jacques,

So I have used Phantom and several other similar products extensively. First let me say that both of the products I tested and reviewed worked and worked well, but not as well as a temperature specific wax, even cheaper temperature specific wax. I have gone back to waxing my skis though not nearly as often as I used to thanks to Phantom and Gigaglide. For those used to only universal wax you will not notice much of a difference and I agree not much point in waxing, but for those of you who like to play mad scientist with your wax, this just gives you some added performance for those days or ski trips when you ski it off. I will also say that at very cold temperatures like minus 20 and below traditional wax works much better - again just my personal opinion.

I do want to try the cure box with Phantom 2.0 as it would be interesting to see if that makes a difference. Have decided to hold off until next year as I am sure DPS will come out with a Phantom 3.0 that is even better … I have also heard that Elon Musk is working on a wax that will improve your form and actually ski your skis for you ;-)

 

[ScottB]

Yes, you can absolutely do this without damaging the Phantom application.

Phil is saying you can wax a ski that has had the Phantom treatment. I did that a few times this year. It didn't affect the phantom at all.

I had mostly good results doing it, the wax caused the one bad result.

The issue with most wax is its temp. range. I used wax on top of Phantom for a race I did and it worked fine in that temp.I would say I got a little better glide than just with the Phantom. Kind of hard to tell, really. A week later, in very different temperatures, the wax was sticky and was driving me crazy. I brushed it off as much as possible and used the Swix citrus cleaner. This got me back to just Phantom, and I was happy with my glide again.

Just last weekend, in warm spring conditions, I used a Phantomed ski for a few runs and it did well. For kicks, I put some Dominator Butter high fluro rub on wax on the ski. and worked it in with a cork. It worked even better in the really wet mashed potato snow. I would say about 20% better glide. Less sticky when walking in the lift line, too. That is the noticeable thing about Phantom, it doesn't feel super slick in the lift line, like a fresh wax job does. The Butter wears off before the end of the day, so I didn't have to clean it off for future use.

I am so used to Phantom working pretty good in all conditions, I forgot how bad wax works in the wrong conditions. I don't wax much anymore, so not a big deal to me.

 

[Ryan Dietrich]

I am so used to Phantom working pretty good in all conditions, I forgot how bad wax works in the wrong conditions. I don't wax much anymore, so not a big deal to me.

I felt like my Phantom 1.0 100+ day skis struggled a bit in the slushy snow last weekend, but I typically just went home cause I never super stable in those conditions anyway.

Anyone got any intel on a possible Phantom 3.0? I got two pairs of new skis that need some juice!

 

[Philpug]

We are at A-Basin right now and with 5-6" of fresh, after we all stopped after a half run we all said in unicon, "Boy the snow feels slow...." that was actually relieving because it was't the Phantom. After a few runs..the Phantom ran on ar with all the other waxes on all the other skis.

 

[Sibhusky]

You're essentially telling me Phantom doesn't fix the problem of slow snow any better than wax does.

 

[Jacques]

The right waxes will beat it, but won't last as long!

 

[Prosper]

When applying Phantom any known issues if Part B is applied a couple of days after Part A is fully cured?

 

[cosmoliu]

Mammoth over the weekend was sunny and in the 50s. Sure the snow was sticky, and sure it was unpleasant at times. I can't swear to it, but it does seem that my Phantomized skis did pretty OK. It would take a perfect memory of an identical day on snow, or a control pair of untreated skis to know for sure. But I've had all my skis treated, so I guess I'll never know.

 

[nemesis256]

When applying Phantom any known issues if Part B is applied a couple of days after Part A is fully cured?

Pretty sure their FAQ says this is fine.

 

[ScottB]

I called them and asked about how long can you go between parts A and B and they said a week is fine. Its not time critical, but don't wait a month. I waited 3-4 days due to weather and all was good.

 

[Skibie]

But this means the Phantom doesn't go completely go through the base.

I wonder if DPS had ever released lab tests of friction between an unwaxed base and a treated one?

 

[Unpiste]

But this means the Phantom doesn't go completely go through the base. [Emphasis added.]

What means that?

 

[Popeye Cahn]

So I read all 36 pages of this thread, and granted I didn’t read every single post (those that were repetitive, argumentative for the sake of it and the jocular humor ones got the Evelyn Wood treatment at best lol), but I wanted to see overall what the cognoscenti thought of this product, because I went into the thread fairly convinced that it would be worth MY while to invest in but I needed to see some real world experience and feedback in order to justify the bennie I was going to drop (it arrived today).

That said, I will be applying it to a new set of skis and while my experience in the modern age of skiing (anything post 1978) is very limited, I figured it would be prudent to treat the skis to provide an overall good performance level on a variety of conditions. And given that I don’t possess any waxing knowledge let alone equipment, Phantom seemed to be a smart compromise between input and output. I may go back through this thread for some tips but I think the DPS instructions are fairly straight forward. We are currently experiencing Santa Ana conditions and have clear skies scheduled til forever it seems (as long as no fires erupt...). Wish me luck!

BTW kudos to Phil and co for providing a great resource to skiers of all levels and life experience!

 

[dovski]

But this means the Phantom doesn't go completely go through the base.

I wonder if DPS had ever released lab tests of friction between an unwaxed base and a treated one?

I have a pair of skis that were treated with Phantom. Had them tuned while on vacation to put in a more aggressive structure and the tuner messed up. When I got home we had to run them through the machine about 15 times to get the bases level. After that Phantom was no more.

 

[Started at 53]

So being I am excited for ski season, I took our skis to a shop recommended to me by a top ski rep as the best around. He said one pair needed some work, and both needed wax. I told him both were treated with Phantom and he said then you are good to go!

I then asked him his opinion of the DPS Phantom and he said he and a buddy did an experiment. He Phantomized his skis, and he waxed his buddies with a universal temperature wax, then they hit a slope and glided.... He says he out glided his buddies freshly waxed skis. He is a believer.

 

[Andy Mink]

I have a pair of skis that were treated with Phantom. Had them tuned while on vacation to put in a more aggressive structure and the tuner messed up. When I got home we had to run them through the machine about 15 times to get the bases level. After that Phantom was no more.

Probably too late now but I think I'd be asking the shop that screwed up for $100 for the Phantom. Did you know it was gone because of a performance difference?