2014 Head Skis Mini Reviews

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Re: 2014 Head Skis Mini Reviews

Postby theorist » Fri Mar 14, 2014 2:35 pm

Thanks Todd. I like taking narrow-waisted highly-shaped skis into off-piste conditions, but I have trouble (in soft snow) if they're overly stiff, which was my concern about the iSpeed. But perhaps my concern is unfounded.
Last edited by theorist on Fri Mar 14, 2014 5:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: 2014 Head Skis Mini Reviews

Postby HighAngles » Fri Mar 14, 2014 3:53 pm

The Speed is a great option - I have really enjoyed he test runs I've taken on those skis. However, I actually purchased the Stockli Laser CX (current 2014 model, design revised in 2013). The CX has rapidly become my favorite ski in my quiver. If you value an "approachable" flex with damp smooth power then the CX will work very well. As a PMTS ski I can say that it readily rewards a skier that's further along in their PMTS journey (as I am), but I can't be sure how well it would work out for someone newer to PMTS. Generally those skiers will benefit from a softer ski with a deeper sidecut.
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Re: 2014 Head Skis Mini Reviews

Postby jbotti » Fri Mar 14, 2014 5:19 pm

I skied the Elan SLX Fusion today in a 170. Wow, this may be my favorite ski ever (I think I have been saying this too much lately). It certainly immediately enters my top 5. Stiffer than the SS and SS Kers but in many ways easier to control the pop out of it. Hold is incredible and the confidence that it instilled was allowing me to get angles that I had only flirted with in the past. May be a little stiff for bumps but as a front side carver, WOW!!
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Re: 2014 Head Skis Mini Reviews

Postby Basil j » Mon Mar 17, 2014 6:42 pm

The SlX. in a 170 is my go to everyday ski. I put a 1 D base bevel and a 3D side bevel on them, maintain the edges myself and keep em razor sharp and they are fantastic in hard-pack, on ice and if I don't try to bomb down a bump run, but rather kind of cruise through at medium to slower speeds they handle quite nicely in the bumps as well. I love them for working on PMTS movements because they are so responsive at all speeds. My wife now skis the speed magic which is the women''s version and is blown away by the edge hold, but complains that they are stiff in the bumps, so they may work differently for different skiers. I have yet to meet someone who has tried them that did not like them. I am intrigued to try other Elan's since I liked these so much. But they are quite an expensive line. I notice that HH used to use Elan skis in some of his instructional videos.
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Re: 2014 Head Skis Mini Reviews

Postby jbotti » Mon Mar 17, 2014 9:27 pm

Yes it's a GREAT ski! We had the élan rep skiing with us on Saturday. They make some excellent skis many which are very PMTS compatible.
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Re: 2014 Head Skis Mini Reviews

Postby marsound » Thu Mar 20, 2014 9:31 am

Would the Elan SL also be a contender for a good PMTS practice ski? Wondering if the softer flex (in comparison to the SLX) would be more appropriate for someone just starting out in PMTS...
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Re: 2014 Head Skis Mini Reviews

Postby HeluvaSkier » Thu Mar 20, 2014 11:55 am

marsound wrote:Would the Elan SL also be a contender for a good PMTS practice ski? Wondering if the softer flex (in comparison to the SLX) would be more appropriate for someone just starting out in PMTS...


My girlfriend is on the SLC, and that ski is working out great for her. It has no metal, and a 12-13m radius. She loves them. For a skier learning PMTS, I'd say it is a better choice than the stiffer SLX. The SL (I think the same shape as the SLC) is probably a better choice.
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Re: 2014 Head Skis Mini Reviews

Postby theorist » Thu Apr 10, 2014 12:42 pm

I finally managed to track down a pair of 170 cm Mya 7's -- found them at Pepi Sports in Vail. I bought their only new 170's, but they still have the demos if anyone's interested (est. use <20 days); they will discount them to $300 on April 20, but you could probably convince them to sell at that price now, given that they no longer need the demo to sell the new pair; they charge $75 for US shipping, but might be willing to throw in a custom tune. One advantage of buying them from the US rather than Europe is that the ones imported into the US have the Mya 12 bindings, while those in Europe tend to have the Mya 10 or Mya 11.

And let me tell you, these weren't easy to find. I started looking for them as soon as HH posted on Feb. 28 that they were also good for men, but was only able to find them because someone posted a brief comment, on a relatively obscure site, that Pepi's had them (HSS was already sold out of that length). Head USA was particularly unhelpful -- given that only a handful of the 170's were imported, it's surprising they couldn't simply give me the names of the shops to which they sold them. That would have saved many hours of searching, and would have enabled me to buy them sooner and thus get more days on them. Instead all they said was "check in the midwest -- you might find some there."
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Re: 2014 Head Skis Mini Reviews

Postby jbotti » Thu Apr 10, 2014 2:36 pm

So you left off the part that people care most about, how do they ski? Perhaps you have not had them on snow yet?
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Re: 2014 Head Skis Mini Reviews

Postby theorist » Fri Apr 11, 2014 2:19 pm

My main purpose was to let folks know a pair of 170's was available. I didn't provide a review partly because I wanted more time on the ski, and partly because it was recently suggested that posting of MA video (which I've not yet gotten, though not for lack of trying) should be a prereq for reviewing skis here. But since you asked:

Overall, I liked them. The only obvious downside of this ski for me, at least as currently configured, is that I felt tilted too far forward by the binding delta -- it's 4.5 mm more than the approximately flat delta I have set up on my 2012 170 cm Stockli Laser SCs, to which I'll be comparing them here. [Using calibrated digital calipers, I measured the deltas for skis+bindings on the Mya and Stockli as 4 mm and -0.5 mm, respectively.]

The factory bevel on the Myas is 2/1. Normally I tune new skis, since factory tunes are often poor, and in any case they're typically not at the 3/1 I prefer (maybe I'd like the PMTS-recommended 3/0.5 even more, but I've never tried that). But the dealer strongly recommend I not have him tune them for two reasons: (1) he said the factory tunes on the narrow Heads are spot-on (by contrast with those on the wider Heads, which he said come out of a different factory and can be lousy); and (2) he said the factory tune is case-hardened, and it's nice not to remove that, since it makes the edge much more resistant to rock dings. Though the tag on the skis indicates they were made in Head's factory in the Czech Republic, rather than Austria, I left it with the factory tune for now, and didn't notice any obvious problems.

I'm 5'7", 150#. I had one day on them at Mammoth, all on groomers with freshly packed powder two days after a storm (i.e., while groomed, the surface was soft). I first spent a couple of hours on my SCs to get a baseline, then spent the rest of the day on the Myas. I spent a few runs playing with binding position, provisionally ending up at what I'll call +0.2 cm (at a BSL of 284, I'm right on the line between what Head calls 0 and what it calls +0.4; I ski the Stocklis at -0.4 cm). Their response to inputs was quite similar to that of the SCs (no significant adjustment required): like the SCs, they responded well to tipping, and carved very well in medium- to short-radius turns (though perhaps favoring a slightly shorter radius than the SCs). However, they felt somewhat easier and less exacting -- I noticed that I felt less worn out than I would have after pushing equivalently hard on the SCs. If they can perform as well or better than the SCs on hard snow and ice (not tested here), but continue to remain easier to ski, we'll have a winner. I'll be interested to see what effect their small but real amount of rocker (the SCs have none) will have on how quickly they hook up at the top of the turn on hard snow.

The Myas did appear to have two downsides vs. the SCs on the softer snow surface. First, the Myas sometimes felt like they were close to breaking loose, a sensation I didn't experience on the SCs. I attribute this to the difference in width -- I was likely closer to over-skiing the soft conditions on the 66 mm Myas than on the 72 mm SCs. Second, I (for the first time in my life) had tip dive on a groomer. I was transitioning from soft packed powder to very soft packed powder, and the forebody of my outside ski dove under the snow, causing a hard fall when the ski stopped short. Don't know why this happened -- I've certainly been on skis narrower than the Mya. Maybe it was the binding delta, maybe I was charging too hard for the conditions, or maybe it was a freak accident. I was going to take the skis off-piste to assess their soft snow performance, but changed my mind after that. Also, I didn't have a chance to try them in moguls.

Note this is all provisional -- I need more time on the ski, in more varied conditions.

Other: The Mya has a more even flex pattern than the SC, which is soft at the tip, moderately firm at the tail, and firm in the midbody. The Mya, by contrast, is firm in both the tip and the tail (vs. the SC, it's much firmer in the tip, and slightly firmer in the tail; correspondingly, it's noticeably thicker towards the tip than the SC). Like the SC, the Mya has two sheets of metal. But perhaps surprisingly, the Myas are heavier than the SCs, even though they are narrower and have a lighter binding -- this is a dense ski! [Viewed from the side, the lower sheet of metal on the Mya appears to be about 30% thicker than that on the SC.] I'd be curious to learn how the Mya differs in construction from the iSpeed, since both come out of the same mold and (according to Head's website) share the same "10% rocker" profile.

I'll add that their graphics are interesting -- the entire topsheet is covered with circles overlaid with a diffraction grating, giving a retro-70s effect that shimmers and changes appearance as you tilt them in the sun (https://www.flickr.com/photos/111386007 ... 789277174/). The color is brownish-grey with an under-tint of mauve. Everyone thought they were cool-looking.

EDIT: ADDED SOME MINOR CORRECTIONS/CLARIFICATIONS ON 4/16/14.
Last edited by theorist on Sat Apr 19, 2014 7:06 pm, edited 17 times in total.
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Re: 2014 Head Skis Mini Reviews

Postby midwif » Sun Apr 13, 2014 8:40 am

As the one who posted the availability of the Mya's at Pepi's, your welcome.
However,my guy is crushed that you bought "his skis"s."

I only got a handful of runs on the mya's. Mine are 156 cm for a 5'4" 125lb woman.
But, I did get to ski them on northeast hardpack before the season ended and I have never felt edge hold that good before.

I am not very sensitive to ski characteristics.
But these skis are "heads" above any others I have had.

Maybe those demo's will still be available......
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Re: 2014 Head Skis Mini Reviews

Postby theorist » Sun Apr 13, 2014 4:14 pm

Actually the post I saw was by a fellow named Jim, saying how much his s.o. liked the skis, and mentioning they had the 170. I'm guessing he's your guy, and if so I owe a thanks to both of you :D. I'm further guessing he was agonizing over whether to buy them when I nabbed them a couple of weeks later -- sorry Jim :wink:! But if he liked them as a result of having been on the demos, I assume he can feel confident in buying those -- and at a very significant savings vs. the new model. Let us know if he manages to snag them.
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Re: 2014 Head Skis Mini Reviews

Postby midwif » Wed Apr 16, 2014 10:55 am

No, Jim never got to demo them.
He was impressed by how much I liked them and strongly considered buying a pair without demo.
He has also been considring the Fischer the RC 4 superior SC after an early January demo.

I am very glad that you found the mya 7's. They found a good home.
Like you, I searched and searched. I dragged Jim into too many shops on the off chance they would have the mya's.
Pepi's was a real surprise! :shock:
( we went in since they were handing out free champagne/canapes for a trunk show) :lol:
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