Movement Fly Swatter review

[N1masto]

ski: "Fly Swatter" by Movement
dimensions: 150-125-145@ 185cm
concept: some camber under foot; tip and tail: huge rocker, some negative sidecut and quite soft but not nearly as soft as hellbent, stiffer than S7 (if I remember correctly). One could possibly say, the Swatter looks like an exaggerated version of the JJ.

skier: expert (ca. 60days), mostly backcountry and big mountain some park, rather playful, but not jibberish. Currently skiing Rossis "steeze" (equivalent to s6) mounted on the "addicted" line, ca -3.5 from true center, as one quiver ski. I used to be on the scratch bc. I mostly ski in Europe, first season in Canada and Washington.

ski tested for about 1.5 hours in whitewater b.c.
center mount
conditions: moderately dry snow, 1.5-2 feet of fresh.



My first rockered ski. I skied pretty steep, narrow and "technical" lines that day. My favorite kind of deep pow skiing: tree skiing with lots of spines, pillows and many small drops (3-10ft), where you have to react very quickly. Being used to the steeze, a ski that is considered playful I had to redefine that very term after my first run. The Fly Swatter turns absolutely effortless, even in the deepest pockets. With the huge rocker you gather speed really easily at the same time it is no problem to maneuver the Swatter, it responds rapidly and you can turn in those super narrow spots in between two pillow drops. When I had to make aggrissive turns to slow down it was no problem, despite the center mount the tail seems not in the way, it didn't hook (in contrast to my steeze). I very nice thing was the possibility to slash your turns in pow and having nice face shots.

Airs: Landing cliff drops was giving me hard times occasionally. I didn't really manage to find the sweet spot of the Fly Swatter, I sometimes landed slightly too far in the backseat and ended up doing pretty unconrolled wheelies which requiered quite an effort to avoid bailing. You have to land absolutely centered! Stomping landing is much different compared to stomping on my steeze. So it might have been my technique that was problematic and not the ski.
Because of the pretty steep and difficult terrain I didn't do any tricks, I was afraid of losing those skis in the pow. I can't say how the ski feels while rotating, I can only underline that the Swatter really is a light wheight.

The Fly Swatter felt undoubtfully great in chopped snow. Keep in mind that I conditions were close to perfect, which means there was hardly any chopped to ski =) Needless to say, there were no groomed or icy slopes... what a day!

Skiing switch in pow was good fun, too. It seemed as if I was skiing a shorter version of my steeze on the groomed,

Unfortunately, Whitewater didn't offer any skiable open faces that day. Therefore I cannot say how the Fly is at high speeds and gs turns. Taking into account what I experienced that particular day I would say it is not the ideal big moungtain ski, it simply felt too unstable and turny. But again, maybe it just takes some getting used to this "modern" kind of ski.

Bottom line: I would say a really playful backcountry ski, for riders that need a turny ski in deep pow, with potential to be ok on groomed I guess.

I was happy to test those skis since I am very interested in buying a pair of JJs or S7s, as a powder allround tool. After the demo, however, I was pretty unsure whether I should persue my plan. Do you guys think the S7 or JJ have the same unstable note and wheelie-effect? Or is just a matter of getting used to it?

Cheers, enjoy your summer(-skiing) =)

[D(C)]

Thanks for the review...

I got about 4 runs on my 188 S7s, mounted on the 0 line. I would say they definitely have less substantial tails than, say, my Salomon Rockers or my XXLs. I did try some very small drops and you definitely need to be more centred. But I got the S7s for their maneuverability and have other skis for charging.

If you want something rockered that gives you the most stability in landings, I would look for something with a rockered tip and a flat tail. You give up some maneuverability but gain stability. There are several models out there for you to consider, including Lhasa, Czar, Lotus 120, Salomon Rocker, next year's Rossi RC 112, Dynastar Big Dump, etc.

[verbier61]

tried the JJ and the fly swatter (there should be both my reviews here...), loved the swatter and didn't like the JJ. Never tried the S7, though.

[ulty_guy]

A guide buddy of mine showed up w/ these puppies mounted w/ dynafits last week. Looked stupid fun and he's in love...would love to try them out myself.

[verbier61]

after using the w112 and the s7 for a while, I would say the fly swatter is way too heavy to compete with those.... but actually what I tried was a first generation FS and I have seen the second generation was a bit different from the first in terms of camber... dunno about the weight

[murph]

I was super stoked on this ski as well, until I saw the weight.

[slopeside]

s7 is 9.6 vs Flyswatter at 10.5...

[JONG Q Public]

I would agree with the OP on everything he said except the weight. I think they are heavy. I also don't think they shine doing GS turns at speed especially if they are mounted on the line. They are a deep snow, pivoty short turn radius ski. They do carve fun short radius turns on groomers to get back to the lift.