The 'Buying the Right Ski' Thread

[billski]

Originally Posted by riverc0il

i would like to note that reading the ski rags gear reviews in an attempt to help buy the right ski is not a good idea. most ski mags write short, unhelpful reviews with superfluous generalizations that often boarder on innuendo and worse. they are often meant to solicit a giggle more than disceminate knowledge. use a ski rag to help yourself catagorize skis and see what skis are in the same field and why. general base knowledge and that is all. a supremely good resource for ski gear is epicski.com's gear forum. i don't make a ski purchase without consulting that site's incredibly thorough back log of information, generally posted from reliable sources that state their bias, physical dimensions, and limitations.

also in regards to ski rags, they won't post a bad review of a ski because the ski companies pay for ads. consider that one long and hard before buying your next ski based on information from a source biased by money. can't advise enough against reading any ski mag for gear info.

I have to agree that there is no bad ski review that is published by the big mags. However, it's also been my experience that if the ski is in fact real bad, it's probably not gonna be rated/tested/published. So if it's omitted, don't bother. (Lisa Feinberg Densmore)

[Marc]

Yeah, the editor of SKI mag wrote in the gear issue this year that the reason they have no bad reviews published is for that reason, they didn't publish them.

He claims they tested far more skis than they publish in the magazines and then pick the best ones to go to print.


Whether you believe all that or not is up to you, but it seems like a reasonable explanation.

I also like the fact that this year they listed all the testers and their gender, physical stats and skier type and background, and then listed under each piece of equipment who particularly liked or disliked it. Very helpful imho.

Sure doesn't replace demoing but has helped me narrow down and fine tune my selection.