Originally Posted by
gregorys
I need to actually write up a "full" review - but here's a quick take.
I have:
OG Cochises in 185. (And have skied most all sizes, all except the 193)
Carbon Cochise's (108's) in 185 and 192
Cochise 106 in 192
(I spent time the last year, scrounging Craigslist etc for the OG and 106's. I also sized up this year to 19X's. Going from 185 to 192's is a very large boost in stability - and if I'd known how much I'd like it, I'd have done this way sooner.)
I picked up a nearly perfect pair of 106's recently in 192cm.
And I've skied both the Carbon 108's and the 106 back to back - A/B'ing them.
And frankly, I'm not that impressed with the 106's. It's not like they're bad - at all. They're actually quite good.
But when we're talking small differences, those minor differences stand out.
I love the OG's because they're loose and easy to drift. If the snow is funky, crusty etc - it's really easy to simply drift them as desired. If you want, though, you can put them up on edge and carve through crud. (That's not generally my style, but sometimes.) The OG isn't as precise, as good on really firm crust. It does ok as it gets firmer, but heck, once it's pretty firm, I'm going to go to something else - so I don't care. But yeah, if it's really firm, the OG Cochise is going to slide around and suck.
The Carbon 108's do way better on firm stuff. But that also makes them a little more squirrely on rutted/packed/wet snow. They're a little more pingy - deflect a bit more, and get bounced around, because the tips are hooking up on irregularities easier and tracking "weird." The tips and tails get hung up in crust, or heavy mank easier. So, they're way harder to break into a drift. To get them to come around, you're going to really have to force them around. This isn't my style, usually, and so when that happens, I either go to the OG, or the Bodacious. Before I give the impression I don't like the Carbon 108's, let me say; I actually like this ski a lot! You just have to know where it's not going to do so well.
The 106's, IMO, fail on both accounts. They don't feel as strong as the Carbon 106's or the OG's. They perhaps don't get hung up in funky snow quite as badly as the Carbon 108's - but are not nearly as good as the OG. And yet, they're not nearly as good, IMO, on firmer snow. The short is: they drift less well than the OG, and fail to have the bite of the Carbon 108's. I'd far prefer they went way back to the OG style. But they lost some of the advantages of the Carbon 108's while never really gaining the advantages of the OG.
I'll keep my 106's (at least until I can put my hands on a OG 193) - I'm happy with them. But I think Blizzard did the "split the baby" thing. What they did isn't going to make either camp happy. It's still a very solid ski, with a very high (if not quite as high as the OG or Carbon 108) speed-limit. I can make it work just fine.
If I had a pair of 193 OG's they'd come out before either. My OG 185's do come out and I *really* love them, but the extra length of the 192's is enough to keep the Carbon 108's in circulation. If I had to pick one of the two (Carbon 108 or 106's) I'd probably get rid of the 106's before the Carbon 108's.
Perhaps I'll change my mind a bit with more days on them - I've only gotten a few so far - but I'd rate it as a very good ski, but with multiple siblings that I'd pick before it. (And yet, I'd pick any Cochise before almost anything else.)
I may come back and write something more detailed at some point in the future, but getting something written down and posted beats a perfect review that never happens...
-Greg
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