Armada ANT (06/07) Mini-Review...
Me: 5'10"; ~175lbs. Advanced (?). Fairly aggressive.
Conditions: Slushy/corny groomers.
Mounted 8.5 back from center w/ p18's.
Skis I've liked: Salomon Rocket Lab, Kneissl T@nker (180), Rossi XXX, Head Supercross Ti....
Skis I haven't been so crazy about: Elan 777 (184), Salomon AK Rocket Pilot
I got these for Christmas, and though I felt a little ridiculous rockin such a big ski in the conditions we had, I had to take a couple runs on them at least. I ended up skiing them most of the night.
I found these really easy. I was sort of expecting them to kick my ass a little bit, judging from the reviews of the 05/06 model and being so out of shape. I know the 06/07 has been softened up a bit. Anyhow, no problem making any turn shape, bouncing around in soft bumpy stuff, etc. It was easy to get them up on edge and make railroad tracks, albeit big turns. Lean 'em further over and drive the tips and they'll come around faster into medium/medium-short turns. Easy to butter around and scarve most any turn shape. Still smooth when the slush froze and set up.
At first it felt like they had a lot of tail, and I still wish I'd gone maybe a hair further back, but after a few runs I didn't have any probs. We'll see if the tips dive at all when we get some pow.
I'll post more later if we actually get some snow. I'm really excited to get these in some fresh(er) snow.
Edit: Lost some weight, still ski these everyday, still love 'em at ~145 lbs. Definitely not pow skis, still haven't softened up by much after two 30-40 day seasons. I'll get at least one more (08-09) season out of them.
