ARG review

**todug27** · 03-27-2008, 01:32 PM

ARG review
So I got 2 days on the ARG's with Mojo 15's this past weekend at W/B. I'm about 5'10, 155. Gotama's are my everyday ski and this was my first time trying rc/rs. Initial flex showed they were very stiff underfoot, very very soft in the tail, and a little stiffer in the tips.

First day was a Saturday after the Friday storm with cut up pow everywhere you could see from the lift and some freshies left over in the trees. I hopped into the horseshoes right of the bat, made about 3 or 4 turns, realized how much these things float over the cut up and straightlined to the flats. I was completely amazed with the stability in some very cut up conditions and never felt out of control. There is simply no way I would be able to ski at the same speeds on Gotamas. Anyway, kept skiing bowls for a little while, going faster and faster over the cut up until I met up with filthyfrenchbum, who was testing out his new praxis, and we headed over to gunbarrels for some pillow drops. Landing in untouched with these is stupid easy as long as your weight is forward, however, if you are in the backseat I found it much harder to ski out of any backslaps as the ski seems to wash out a bit more if you aren't on top of them. The flat in the middle of the ski is very nice though, you can definitely notice it.

After that we headed over to peak chair and found are way over to frog's hollow where we ended up getting cliffed out. This was one of my major concerns about the rs was how much edge would i have in technical spots. They performed decently enough, no unwanted sliding, which was all i was afraid of. Again they stomped drops into fresh snow below.

My second day on them was about 5 inches on top of over a foot from the day before on blackcomb. They performed as expected in fresh bowls, incredibly fast and stable on fresh snow, but I tested them out more in the trees. They were quick and nimble as long as you kept your weight forward. Again the big issue is if you fall in the back seat at all the super soft tail/rc washes you out fast. Took some more drops and everything was stable, even onto some harder landings and they still stomped. Occasionally the tips would dive, give me a brief heart attack, but then they would pop right back up.

as for the boring stuff, groomers are a non issue with the 1mm sidecut you can get them on edge fine, but who really cares. Barely any spat splits. cat tracks are slow, even with the newer, faster base. My friends on praxis were flying past me, even with a fresh wax job. I think its because they go from a fairly narrow tip (narrower than the gotamas) to 135 before the boot, creating a more drastic reverse side cut than the praxis, which is continuous throughout, where as these have a tiny sidecut in the middle. Anyway, I'll be trying out the praxis as well in the next week or two and I'll do a side by side comparison.

**gramboh** · 03-28-2008, 09:35 AM

Cool, thanks for the review, thinking about grabbing a pair of these on closeout prices, maybe with Dukes. Is the 07-08 production year ones the ones with the newer bases? It was the 06-07 protos that were uber slow right? It's weird, when I was at Blackcomb this season I would get passed on the glacier road on my ANTs (and I weigh 200 lbs) sometimes by a guy on Praxis, and my skis were tuned/waxed prior to the trip, maybe it's whatever material Armada is using in the base.

**rugbydave** · 03-28-2008, 09:48 AM

FWIW my Praxis were real slow too until I waxed, scraped, brushed them like 5 or 6 times in 2 days... First time I've done a race style tune in a long while.

**wren** · 03-28-2008, 10:20 AM

The white 06-07 protos (like the ones bossass has or had) were fast by comparison. They had a race base that is supposedly better than both the first year production models and this years as well. I have the first generation ARGs and they are fucking slow. I wax them every second use. Armadas have slow bases, my JP vs Juliens (yellow base, broken ankle promodels) were extremely slow as well. They are however, extremely hard and durable as a result. I have smoked a bunch of rocks/stumps and landed on some, and it has just resulted in scratches and one 3 inch long mark that was about 5mm deep. Not even close to a coreshot. I ski my Thugs the same way and they have 4 coreshots, a compressed edge and a cracked edge. Maybe they aren't very durable, or maybe I trash my skis too hard, but the Armadas have held up very well.

Keep them waxed up nicely (sometimes tough at W/B with the huge variations in temps I know) they aren't too bad. You just end up getting really good at your tucks. I still love my ARGs, I just wish they were longer.

**flyby** · 03-28-2008, 10:29 AM

yeah, if I remember correctly the the protos had the race base. which, IMHO, = not good b/c it is much softer (more porous material to absorb wax better, methinks)

**todug27** · 03-28-2008, 12:43 PM

These are the 07-08 bases and ya i still found them slow.

one other comment about these skis, that didn't really change performance much but bothered me was the lack of a true tip. There were times where it would have given me a little extra comfort, plus at slow speeds in heavy deep snow, it might help initiate the turns a little better.