Me: 5'9" 145 on the scale. I like to consider myself to be decent.
Skis: 180 Kneissl Tankers mounted on the line w/ mojo 15s
Location: Bridger, AKA bumps, trees, chutes and straightlines
Similar skis that I ride: 183 Gotamas, 191 Ants, 176 Big troubles.
Boots: Garmont Andrenaline
Underwear: Soiled. (post use)
What I was looking for in a ski:
Daily Driver when there is no new snow, or minimal new snow. Able to handle everything, that includes bumps, drops, jumps, groomers, trees, chutes, etc. Need to replace my Big troubles.
First day out: there was no new snow. Everything was icy, and I am not at all used to fresh edges. (i.e. I havent tuned my big troubles, other than wax, in 40+ days of use) These skis basically kicked my ass. I was used to a wide version of a park ski with soft tips and tails, and I used to make finesse turns and find the best line through the moguls. I got on these things and learned that moguls are no match for them. They skied the fall line, not the bump line. They railed on groomers, but scared me everywhere else kind of.
Second day was much much better. 2+inches fell around the mountain, and made everything significantly softer.
Bumps: Once I understood these skis, I could ski bump lines like I had never imagined. If I want to ski the normal bump line, I can ski the line. If I dont want to ski the line, I can go wherever the hell I want and still be in total control. These things are not amazing in the moguls in the traditional sense, but once you find the line you want to take, they will rock it. I used to wash out on the tails all the time, that is no longer.
High speed choppy bumps: GS turns all the way. I used to straightline this stuff because my tips would be too deflected in the chop. If I wasnt doing that, I would just make dinky turns that were sketchy if I went too fast. Now I can just arc a carve at any speed. I can make the dinky turns too, but what fun is that?
Top speed: Found a 50 foot 45ish degree straightline with a small drop in the middle and a long sustained run-out full of choppy bumps. First time I went down this thing I made a couple of turns at the top, and then gav'er. I soon realized that these skis dont have I speed limit that I could find. So far anyway. Skied it again, straight off the top and pointed the whole thing. So much fun. As long as these skis are on the ground, I could not max them out. So confidence inspiring that I felt entirely comfortable doing it again and again. Seriously, these skis felt like cheating.
Groomers: Suck at slow speed carving. High speed they carve ruts. Decent edge to edge, great for the width. The Big Troubles were probably better at holding a harder edge on the groom, but not by much.
Drops and jumps: Did a few things about 5-10 feet that I have had some previous experience with. These things stomp landings just fine. Not only that, but I can recover much quicker than I used to on the Big Troubles. The stiffer ski definitely takes much less time to bring everything back together. On the jumps, I am not always very clean. Bridger doesnt have a park, so we hit natural features that are only consistent in that they throw you off weird. I had a lot of landings that were 80-20 plus in terms of weight ratios on either ski. The platform is very stable and I did not crash when I maybe should have. Not as much pop as the big troubles, but I am more than willing to sacrifice that for stability.
Also, their spread-eagle-ability is fantastic. That is CRUCIAL because it is the only thing I can do off of a jump.
Other things:
-Hop turns were significantly more difficult for me. This is probably because of the longer length and increased stiffness. Time will tell what happens.
-Like I said, the slow speed groomer carvability is bad. Like, bad to the point that you might fall over if you try too hard.
-Side hill roller coaster traverses always suck. But they were a little worse than normal due to stiffness and their inability to hold a really solid edge on the slope.
-They are very hard to find.
-The ants might not see as much use as they have in the past. I will ride them tomorrow in comparison.
-Still need to ski in softer snow.
-I feel like a much better skier on these skis.
Conclusion: If you can find a pair, buy them. In the words of 300HP, T@NKERS R00l!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!