Pros: good flotation
Cons: torture on firm snow, unstable edge hold at high speeds
I am glad to see that so many people love this ski. However, this was not the ski for me. I am reluctant to write negative comments because I don't want to ruffle anyone's feathers. I feel some affection for my favorite skis and I know that many others do too. From reading the other reviews I can see that many people have been happy with this ski. However, for me, this ski was a bad fit.
I tried the 181 SFT. I'm 6 feet, 175 pounds, aggressive level 9 skier. I spend nearly all my time off-piste looking for good snow. I demoed lots of skis this year in hopes of finding something that would be fun in deep snow but still good enough on firm snow to enjoy the inevitable laps back to the chair. I found these to be pretty good in deep snow but not the best powder skis I have tried. In heavy powder, turn initiation was not effortless and they got knocked around a fair bit in crud. They were also fine on firm snow at low speeds. However, they could not hold a stable edge in high speed turns on firm snow. They would hold briefly, then release and skip sideways, then re-engage, release, skip... you get the idea. They didn't do this at low speeds, only at high speeds. This was very unpleasant... actually it was painful. I think that the problem was that this ski is way too soft and lacks the torsional stability that is needed for someone my size who skis the way I do. It's not the width. I have skied lots of skis wider than these that perform well on firm snow and blow these away in powder.
I hope I have not hurt anyone's feelings, but I felt obligated to share my opinion on these skis. Obviously, no one ski works for everyone, and this one was not for me.
I tried the 181 SFT. I'm 6 feet, 175 pounds, aggressive level 9 skier. I spend nearly all my time off-piste looking for good snow. I demoed lots of skis this year in hopes of finding something that would be fun in deep snow but still good enough on firm snow to enjoy the inevitable laps back to the chair. I found these to be pretty good in deep snow but not the best powder skis I have tried. In heavy powder, turn initiation was not effortless and they got knocked around a fair bit in crud. They were also fine on firm snow at low speeds. However, they could not hold a stable edge in high speed turns on firm snow. They would hold briefly, then release and skip sideways, then re-engage, release, skip... you get the idea. They didn't do this at low speeds, only at high speeds. This was very unpleasant... actually it was painful. I think that the problem was that this ski is way too soft and lacks the torsional stability that is needed for someone my size who skis the way I do. It's not the width. I have skied lots of skis wider than these that perform well on firm snow and blow these away in powder.
I hope I have not hurt anyone's feelings, but I felt obligated to share my opinion on these skis. Obviously, no one ski works for everyone, and this one was not for me.
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