Thread: Why DON'T you like your armada JJs?

I have a line on a pair for next season. Never skied them or anything with tip/tail rise. I won't have a chance to demo them. I'd love to hear why you do, and don't, like yours. Already searched other threads.

Will be mounting them with tele bindings- axls. I won't be doing any huge tours with them, but some day trips and plenty of side country- lift accessed backcountry.

Why I don't like for touring:

A tad bit heavy at 2100g, but definitely not outrageous.
Long tails/Centered Mount make kick-turning a bit tricky.
Significant Tail Rocker/Twintip makes it hard to stick tails in snow.

What I like about them:
Amazing skis for every condition - Bought them to replace my powder skis, but they replaced all of my skis.
Quick turns - Can sneak them through tight trees easily.
Stiff enough, but still playful.
You will be amazed at how much they float if you never had a ski with tip/tail rise.
Low swing weight because tips and tails are light.
Really durable - I've put about 70 days on mine, barely any scratches on the bases and no significant top sheet chipping. I've destroyed almost every other ski I've owned after 70 days.

What some people don't like (I haven't found):
Some people say they are squirrelly at speed. It seems most people who have this problem are heavier. I weighed 147lb when I first bought them up to 173lb now on them, and seem fine for me.

CONS
In tracked crud (read resort pow day after your 2nd lap) the short radius and soft tips make them scary at speed, especially if you like to drive your tips... they will fold. The mid section of the ski is a quite stiff too so they can trick you into thinking there's more there than there really is. They can be skied in a variety of conditions but I eventually found the rocker profile to leave too little ski on the snow in firmer conditions, just felt like skiing around on extra wide little slalom skis.

PROS
That being said they are dreamy and brainless in untracked pow, and a supremely easy ski to up your game in trees...the ease with which you can turn them has probably saved my life (or at least a lengthy hospital stay) on more than once occasion I keep mine around only for the little "touring" i do, which is usually untracked tree skiing.




and I have no idea how this translates for tele.

I can confirm what shu shu said. They are awsome in untracked, but are squirrely in crud at speed, although not nearly so much as Rossi S3s, for comparison.

Cons:
I have the AK JJ's, so they're a bit wider, stiffer, longer. I still thought the turning radius was a little too short for for crud, tracked snow, they tend to want to make quick little turns rather than long arcs through it, and because they are so light they definitely get bounced around a bit. (keep in mind my other skis are Dynastar Big Dumps, so its an unfair comparison in that category.) At really high speeds on hard pack snow, they really start to chatter and flop and around, they don't have any metal, and are not made with that in mind, but I have just about shit myself while trying to scrub speed while bombing Regulator on an icy morning. Also, and I know they are built for this, but I think they almost float a little TOO MUCH. We had a 50 or so inch cycle move through this winter and I had to really drive the tips into the snow to get my face shots, but I think a lot of people would love this about them.
Durability was a bit of an issue for me as well, I put more coreshots in my JJ's in one year than the past four years combined, bases seem a little soft. And the hybrid sidewall does not take a beating the same as a traditional sidewall.

Pros:
Super light, they really can go anywhere, do anything kind of ski. They are by far the most fun I have had on the groomers and in the park with a ski this size, they make tree skiing effortless and are pretty stable at speed, they aren't a "BIG MOUNTAIN CRUSHER" in my opinion but rather a everyday powder ski that can jib with the best of them if you're into that kind of thing.

I know my pros list is a little shorter than the cons, but the overall feel of these skis is indescribable and must be skied to experience. I really do love these skis, I don't think you'll regret picking yourself up a pair.

Why I don't like them at all:

They have the stability of a middle school relationship between two bi-polar meth heads.

Why they are not the absolutely most worthless ski ever built:
They are light, and float half decent in soft snow, and perform decently well if you have the body composition and balance of a professional ballerina, I do not.

My frank opinion is that it is a ski that desperately needs refinement. It was a game changer when it came out several years ago, it has not seen any changes since, while the rest of the ski industry has explored and refined rockered and reverse sidecut skis.

I got the year that has the neon skeleton/head, it was never a problem until I stopped smoking dope but now I put the skins on backwards all the time

they are heavier than I want for skinning but not so bad

they standup pretty good to top sheet & core hits

I would mount according to Armada's rec's, ski them centered/forward you never go over the tips ...they always rise to the surface

The JJ is a best selling jibbing type ski with a short turning radius built for some skinny french guys SO instead every man and his dog doesn't read the spec sheet buys em and complains that the ski isn't something else

don't buy the JJ's and complain they don't do those big turns that you see the pro's do on the TV in the ski hill bar

the VJJ were popular with the ladies last season and they should be even bigger next season

I took a pair for 1 run while cat skiing, just to see why they were like.
Compared to the 186 ehps (my skis) I was on the rest of the day...

JJ's scared me. The floated great at slow speeds, were playful at slow speeds, but anything faster and I had a hard time finding their balance point. It was easier to make short "bouncy" quick turns than it was to lay on them and slarve medium to large radius turns. I was constantly afraid of going over the bars.

Basically take all the bad attributes of the s7, amplify them and you'll get the JJ.

They ski themselves, so easy.
Bases are unreal, I have hit shit I KNOW is going to core shot and not a scratch.

But I'm a snowboarder turned back into skier wanna be

Now you guys got me doubting this decision. I'm also looking at the k2 sidestash.

theyre an incredible resort ski. if you ski trees or have the energy to make a lot of turns theyre great. your ability to ski trees at speed under control will dramatically increase. you have the ability to pivot like with a r/r ski while also holding a super solid edge on piste. engaging the edge is different than a traditional ski and short to mid range turns are favorable. in my opinion it is an awesome ski that can make you a much better skier if you have the energy/athleticism/skill to take contol of the skis, rather than let them ski you. really for an aggressive, energetic skier. old men need not apply.

Originally Posted by James H

Will be mounting them with tele bindings- axls. I won't be doing any huge tours with them, but some day trips and plenty of side country- lift accessed backcountry.

I missed that you are a telewanker

some tele dudes have trouble falling in the back seat with the JJ but i think they might with any rockered ski cuz there just isnt much ski on piste but that lets you pivot & butter,stomp landings but you gotta stay upright & centered



I'm an old man with me ski pants pulled up to me tits and they still ski great

i forgot the tele comment as well. stability may be interesting with how turny the ski is. i dont know enough on tele to comment.

i retract the old man comment and replace it with lazy/relaxed

I havent tried the JJ free heel but maybe " traditional " skier who can't get with the short running length, centered stance would be more aproppo ?

Locally we had a ski instructor from back east who couldn't get with a JJ's /FR+ combo so he sold em cheap to my buddy

I had NTNs on some JJs this past season. While the skis sit up nicely in softer conditions they were not as forgiving on hard/iced up conditions. A fun ski, really poppy and playful, light, but were too soft for my liking. The tails washed out or the nose would fold if I got on them really hard. Definitely a fast turny ski and I had fun on them, only downside for me was the softness I experienced.
185 JJ w/ NTNs on a 160# 6ft knee dropper

I tele ski / tour on the 185 JJ 2010 mounted with BD 01's. I am 135lbs and 5'5'. So take that into consideration when reading my opinion. I had mine mounted -2 from the center line and to make a long story short it was terrible. I was in the backseat all the time which ultimately resulted in me ripping out the toe piece of the BD 01 from the ski at mach looney on a resort day. Im lucky I found the ski again. I now ski it mounted +2 forward from the line and it skis like a completely different ski. Everything I hated about the JJ I now love. For someone my weight I can drive the ski super hard on groomers / hardpack and the edge hold is fantastic, yeah there is chatter from the floppy tips but that is only if your are tracking, all you need to do is engage the tip... Pow = effortless. Crud = pretty much what everyone else said. Tight trees are super fun due to the swing weight and the fact that the JJ planes at very slows speeds in pow. I have found that the tails wash out in some situations and the ski sucks for skiing moguls. But if you ski this in bumps you are dumb. I have never experienced the Tipdive>cartwheel that many tele skiers experience when bombing in heavy / deep pow. Lastly, the JJ is reliable... I know exactly how the ski will respond in a given condition...My one CON with it is the bases are shallow. I think there is not enough base material separating it from the core, and as a result even just the grazing of a rock or pebble can result in a core shot, or some ptexing. PM me for more info...

I can only really give input on how it's skied in-bounds in off-piste terrain, may help you out a bit though.

My two cents:

Lightweight, short turn radius, good pow ski. Heavier skiers (I'm 6'0, 187ish, lbs) tend to find it squirrelly/unstable with speed, I personally like a ski with more camber running through it when I'm in significantly steeper terrain, but I don't always find myself in those situations while touring, so meh. Has a hybrid cap in the tip and tail with a vertical sidewall underfoot, the cap keeps weight down but doesn't give as much edge grip, underfoot the sidewall still gives you grip where you need it most though. Tracking across terrain is a little more difficult as your effective edge is quite short, meaning you have probably closer to 130cms of effective edge on a 185cm ski, sometimes resulting in 'slarving' downhill while tracking sideways across the fall line. If you're skinning up somewhat steep terrain, you may notice that you have less skin in contact with the snow as well from the rockered tip and tail.

Hope that helps a little bit.

They always felt super weird to me in anything but untracked pow. Hooky, unstable, short wide and stiff.

Theres a lot of good, but you want the bad? If i had to be critical they can be a bit hooky at the end of turns in certain conditions but this has never bothered me really. My main gripe is that when really bombing on them on firmer snow they are not the most confidence inspiring ski.

They are still one of my favorite skis though

well are the JJ really a bad ski OR did some folks just not ski them at their advertised design perimeters ?

Demoed the JJ AK in crudish-pow snow. Easy to turn and playful, but the tips felt like cardboard at higher speeds. Not a bad ski, depending on what you like.

Originally Posted by XXX-er

well are the JJ really a bad ski OR did some folks just not ski them at their advertised design perimeters ?

I just think they are quite limited.

I know i am not the best skier around, having said that, i have never felt scared hauing ass in scetchy snow on my jj's. In fact, the jj's are one of my better crud skis. My only issue is they ski short hauling ass in powder. No probs in bottemless, but feels a little like you will go over the handle bars sometimes in varied conditions. Like you need a little more ski. I will be scopping the magic j's at 190 and putting my jj's at 185 on sale later in the week.

Its possible to haul ass in perfect pow doing bigger turns but 185 JJ was designed by skinny ass little french guys to do a 14M turn the 175 has a 12M which are pretty fucking small

http://armadaskis.com/product/skis/jj/

IMO what the ski does well is jibe feature to feature at the speed it designed for, I found if I trusted the ski I never go over the handle bars

I ran it 2 years at the hill and last year it was my touring ski

JJ's are the shit! Magic J's would be something to consider as well. Slightly wider, with a bit of a different rocker profile. Kind of the next evolution of the JJ and more of a pow/charging ski where the regular JJ is better all around.