Swix EVO Pro Edge Tuner

[EricG]

Does anyone have experience with the Swix Evo edge tuner? I was looking at it as a nice quick way to tune (once over the tools learning curve). Are they worth the $$? Any suggestions?

Thanks
Eric

 

[Bnet_Bandit]

I would skip the Swix and go to at least Razor Edge and above. The RT index's off the base which is a huge plus vs the swix. Unless you are doing a ton of race skis its going to be a waste of money, my skis are the only ones I am responsible for tuning and I still like what I can do by hand . I would not even consider it for a Rec ski, you are still going to need to plane the sidewall regardless which is beyond most peoples level of tuning. For the cost of either the RT or Swix, you could get a stellar toolbox of hand tools.

If time really is an issue, the RT is fire ! Race family from New York, great guy, if there is an issue it goes to a person not a company customer service pool.

 

[BLspruce2]

I recently got it on sale so it was affordable and would give it a thumbs up. I seems to be the way of the future but I am still figuring it out. It is a time saver for sure. I am still trying to get my tip and tail approaches right. I seem not hit it right so I have to correct with a file edge angle tool every time. Others may be better but the Swix is fine for casual use and you know you will be able to get parts in the future.

 

[RobSo]

One of the race parents purchased one last year and I had a chance to play with it. The Evo Pro is capable of producing excellent results. The edges are sharp and very little material is taken off with each pass. I believe you would be happy with the product. Would I recommend it? Depends. If you can buy it on "SALE" and plan to use only one ceramic wheel.... then yes. The price makes it a great buy. However, if you plan on getting all 3 wheels, I would recommend the Razor Tune. RT is superior in almost every way. I didn't want to get into RT vs Swix debate but you asked if it were worth the $$$. For my money I choose Razor Tune. Troy Scriven of RT really backs his product and provides great tech support.

 

[Swiss Toni]

The Swix Evo is made in Italy by Ski Man http://www.skiman.it/ a company that makes most of the tools sold by the bigger wax companies, it is sold in Europe as the Skiman Bravo Sharp World Cup https://www.tesmasport.com/ski-tuning-waxes/edge-tuning/machines/skiman-bravo-sharp-world-cup

Smoothrides checked it out last season https://www.pugski.com/threads/side-edge-grinders-performance-vs-return-on-investment.6388/page-3

I would also go for the Razor-Tune.

 

[sparty]

I picked one up this fall because my tolerance for time spent tuning vs amount of edge work to do changed with a move back east and moving in with my girlfriend (so I get to tune her skis, too). I had the opportunity to pick one up on a limited-time deal at a pricepoint I didn't think I'd be able to match with the RT, plus had the ability to get it into my hands quick, so I pulled the trigger.

Overall, I'm quite happy with it. The other options may be even better, but the results I've been getting so far have been good both on my race skis (which I'd be perfectly willing to tune by hand, given that I generally manage to keep them close to sharp to begin with) as well as all-mountain skis that get beat on a bit more. The ability to knock down rock damage with a ceramic stone and then take one or two passes with a coarse disc, plus one with a medium, to return an edge to being able to bite on conditions like I expect to find later this week make it worth it for me; even factoring in the setup and break down time, I think it turns a 30-45 minute job into a 15-minute one, and that adds up quickly with multiple pairs of skis.

I don't enjoy wearing a respirator while working, and I worry a bit about the possibility of transferring metal dust to other areas of the house via clothing (despite dedicating a hoodie to the tuning room), but if I can continue getting the results I've seen so far with the reduced time to get them, I'm happy with the value proposition.

 

[EricG]

Thanks for the feedback guys.

I’ve ton a ton of hand tuning over the years for myself, the teams I’ve been part of and the shops I’ve worked at. After looking at the RT I find that one more intriguing than the swix/ski-man. I’m not doing many skis at this point, I could stick to hand tuning, but using one of these tools sounds so intersting..

 

[Polo]

For a relatively inexpensive tool, the Swix Evo does a VERY good job. Unlike some of the other more powerful side edge tools the Evo isn't particularly powerful, but I think that's a good thing because with a less powerful machine it is easy to use without getting yourself in trouble. With the Evo, if you use it incorrectly and come on to the edge at to high of an angle it'll stall the motor and stop the disk from spinning instead of putting a gouge in the edge. The Swix Evo unit has just enough power to do a great job but not so much it'll get you in trouble during the learning curve.

 

[Jeffc7]

Will the Swix Evo do the base edge or just the side?

 

[RobSo]

It is for side only.

 

[Jeffc7]

It is for side only.

Thanks!

 

[skifastflylow1]

I have both the EVO and the Razor Tune.
Hands down the Razor Tune is better. It is easier to use, less cumbersome, and built better.
I was going to originally keep the EVO to do family non race skis- I’ll probably sell it since I don’t care for it compared to the RT.

 

[hbear]

I know a few guys that regret buying the swix machine. Feels cheap, one burned out the motor and another had a motor issue as well.

When they worked they did a decent job (replicable via hand tune) but not like the better units which put a superior edge on a ski.

 

[Captain Furious]

I bought a Pro-Tek last year and really like it. I had purchased the Swix EVO first but was not a fan. I didn't like having to balance it vertically as it seemed way to easy to screw up the edge angle if I moved it imperceptibly away from the base. The ProTek sits flat on the base like the RT. What really sold me was the low RPM on the ProTek, which means it doesn't create dust.

Bill

 

[sparty]

I bought a Pro-Tek last year and really like it. I had purchased the Swix EVO first but was not a fan. I didn't like having to balance it vertically as it seemed way to easy to screw up the edge angle if I moved it imperceptibly away from the base.

While I 100% understand the concern, my experience so far has been that a minor f*** up in letting the Evo get away from the ski base doesn't introduce a lot of edge damage. Just like a diamond stone or a file with an edge guide, the key is to keep steady pressure on the base and very light pressure on the top (side) edge, letting the grinding disc do the work.

Like any power tool, I'm sure it makes screwing things up more efficient as well as it does getting them right, but careful attention—especially while starting the edge and removing the device from the ski edge—seems to be sufficient. I'm sure having tuned skis by hand for many years helps, and I'd have to think long and hard about recommending one to a 16-year-old for the same reasons I'd think long and hard about recommending a roto brush to a 16-year-old, but for anyone comfortable using power tools in other contexts, I don't see that being a huge issue.

 

[hbear]

Protek is great, I believe Scotskier uses one and Smoothrides had one for a while when he was mobile. Nothing but good reviews.

Swix just isn’t well built, lots of plastic, but then it’s also at a very budget price point as far as edgers go.

I’m very much a buy the right tool the first time and based on feedback of guys I know with them I’d pass and pony up a few more bucks for a proper tool (razor tune being cheaper and Snowglide and trione if one wants to go full bore)

 

[sparty]

Protek is great, I believe Scotskier uses one and Smoothrides had one for a while when he was mobile. Nothing but good reviews.

Swix just isn’t well built, lots of plastic, but then it’s also at a very budget price point as far as edgers go.

I’m very much a buy the right tool the first time and based on feedback of guys I know with them I’d pass and pony up a few more bucks for a proper tool (razor tune being cheaper and Snowglide and trione if one wants to go full bore)

My two cents, after living with the Evo for a bit, is that it's solidly built for the higher-end home-tuning market.

I did a full tune (sharpen edges, quick bronze brush, and wax, not including final scraping) on three pairs of skis Monday night, in about an hour and a half, including pulling back sidewalls on one pair. One pair (my touring skis) had not seen any edge work in..erhm..a while. The other two had a few hard-snow days since the last tune. I took one pass with the coarse disc on the beat-up touring skis (after knocking down the damage with a ceramic stone), one pass on my girlfriend's all-mountain skis with a medium disc, and one pass on my slaloms with the fine disc. I think the total time on edges was probably under 40 minutes. Getting the same results with hand tools would have easily taken 1.5 hours, maybe more given the condition of the touring skis, and the ease of keeping things up means that I expect I'll have sharp skis more often. I suspect any power edge tool would have similar benefits, although I do have to note that the ease of bevel swaps on the Evo is really nice when going between race skis at 3 degrees and all-mountain skis at 2 degrees (I could set them all to 3 degrees, I suppose, but that's a different discussion).

For my money, it's easy to justify the Evo pricepoint, even at MSRP, given the time savings. I can't say the same about justifying three times that for a ProTek or similarly priced tool, for the same reason my garage is full of decent hand tools but not Snap-On or Mac quality—I'm not using them all day, every day, or even all day twice a week. The plastic casing doesn't bother me at all; the tool still feels solid in my hand.

I haven't done a real comparison to the RT—as noted previously, I had a limited-time opportunity to get the Evo at a pricepoint that short-circuited further comparison—but I wouldn't write the Evo off as not being well-enough built for doing a few to a handful of pairs once or twice a week. If I was tuning 12 (or more) pairs each night, most nights, I might feel differently.

I'm hoping I still feel the same way years from now, but only time will tell on durability.

 

[BLspruce2]

Polo is completely right .....The built in stall feature of the low power Swix Evo will save your bacon from ruining the edge. Ask me how I know....haha

 

[hbear]

Glad it is working out for you guys.
Just going off what some other ski race dads have experienced.

Just beware of plastic parts wearing down (I believe the gears are plastic) and finding media not lasting as long either. There is a reason a grinding wheel is $300-350 on the higher priced machines.

As mentioned it depends on how much you use it. My daughter alone has 6 sets of skis (5 race pairs) I’m maintaining after every time they hit the snow, never mind my (another half dozen pairs that actually get skied on) and my wife’s quiver. I know the Swix would certainly not be able to handle that usage like the Snowglide. Thing is near bombproof.