Thanks for another great review. One of the reasons I like watching your reviews (and Ski Essentials) is that I feel like I already have a good baseline of what your skiing looks like; it's easier to see the differences in the ski itself since there is a wealth of footage to establish that baseline... So congrats on being able to set the standard for Pisteworks 79 reviewers! DPS couldn't have chosen a better guy and they can't possibly be dissatisfied with your content. On another note, it looks like you have SO much more fun when you're on a faster ski, regardless of the terrain. Anyone who regularly watches your reviews can see that this DPS really does return the energy that you put in. Looking forward to more reviews this season!
Super early access to a new ski?? Congrats Elliot!! Very cool. I am looking for a 88 or narrower dedicated on piste ski for those days I only ski the groomers. I did recently buy an 2018 SR88 for $230 which has been decent, but I think I will keep that for friends and family since it has a demo binding on it. I am interested to see if you can review the new Anomaly 84 and 88. Also, hopefully Volkl redesigns the Mantra 88 to add the 4D tech and they send you a pair to review before this season ends. I have discovered over the past few seasons that I like metal in my skis. The only exception to this rule for me is my deeper pow skis.
Kudo's to you for gaining respect (relevence?, traction?) as a ski reviewer. I want to say I am glad you moved the bindings and found the "proper" mount point for your body on these skis. As a friendly tip, you could have said "these skis are sensitive to mount point and had to be moved to get the best performance for my situation" which keep a lot of negatives out of the review. I think you have/will learn that mount point and ski tunes effect every ski, some more than others, and influence a review. Its part of your responsibility to be sensitive to that and point out when something doesn't work optimally from the factory. You did a good job of that in this review. Blister Reviews deal with this a lot, and they choose to only bring it up when something is amiss. They do tend to vary the mount point a fair amount due to different tester weights and styles. As a race coach, I advocate for all skis being tested to get a fresh tune so its a known good tune, but that is a lot of work and expense. The bigger or smaller you are the more mount point becomes a factor for a sensitive ski. I am very tall and heavy, middle linebacker size, so I have been dealing with it all my life. On most skis I tend to mount back 1/2 to 1 cm for optimal performance. On race skis I find the factory line works best, on rockered powder skis I always move back, and other skis vary on if factory line is optimum or not. You are smaller than me, but on the larger end of the scale, so as you get on more and more skis, you will find more variability. Since you came from racing, those skis have a pretty optimized factory mount point. My understanding is mount point is determined by factory ski testers who are typically average size guys, 5'10" and 175 lbs. If your body spec's vary a lot from them, your mount point might need adjusting. (I am 6'4" and 240 lbs). This DPS ski seemed to be an early proto and its mount point might not have been finalized, even though there is a factory line printed on the ski. I tested an early version of the Renoun Citadel 107 and its factory line was way off for me. It was adjusted before starting the production run.
I couldn't disagree with you more, Scott. I watch him because he gives me his unfiltered opinion with no BS. If he starts giving heavily nuanced reviews where he only tiptoes around anything negative then I think he will lose relevance. He's a breath of fresh air in an industry full of snake oil peddlers. Don't change a damn thing, Elliot.
The old Salomon BBR was a fantastic one quiver ski. Damp short radius ski that felt like standing on a super stable platform. Never had to worry about crashing it at any speed because it had zero wobble. You could push the ski hard without overpowering it but could relax on it too. It had no problem carving up the groomers, smearing without over rotating, floating off piste, or kicking the shit out of death cookies. For what ever reason - marketing perhaps - the shape never caught on well. If there was one shape that the industry should give a second look at, the shape of the BBR is the one I would definitely vote for.
Beside Ted, you are the first on reviewing it. Shows your relevance in the market already. How would you compare them to the Kore93 or even the Forza 70 as they are all dedicated „high edge angle“ skis? Greetings from Austria
Time to resurrect my old Rossignol Strato from 1970 then! I could not carve back then but they were brilliant skis nevertheless, particularly in Moguls.
Quite cool you could review those so early! Crazy how the mounting point change the personality of skis so much. I think you have big feets so might end up with the tips of your booths too forward on some skis. I guess the recommended mounting points of ski is calculated with the average foot length. I have the opposite problem of having very short feets of 24.5 and I had to move the bindings way forward on my new montero AR for them to feel great.
Congrats on being chosen for a review. I don't see any on YT at the moment. I've enjoyed DPS since the beginning w/ the early112 and Cassiar 78 (and not so much the 95). I enjoy your reviews and content. You provide more reality to the ol' "I wish I knew that before I bought these". Though I can like most skis, there have been a couple that were really wrong for me and would give a really crappy review against the tide. You're fair. Keep it up even though you get snubbed sometimes (badge of courage). I love skis with pop, the kind that might eject you from the drivers seat if you're not careful. Can you comment on how these compare w/ race skis as opposed to the Black Crows. I believe you, but can I just say a bit skeptically "1 click back" changed the ski entirely? Is that a cm? Skiing the line is not always the best for me so I try to buy rental bindings (adjustable toe piece) to adjust the line, or let friends try my skis. I like your theory on how they might have chosen the line. Sure depends on how stiff the tail is. Does the "1 click" observation mean this ski is really finicky about centered weight? DPS has always been super expensive, but $2500 takes the cake. Like you say, value. Off topic, but most skiing and skiers are on piste groomers. I just don't see why the folks are going so wide on groomers It's tiring over a whole day. It's refresshing to see a non-mainstream company betting the farm on a 78. Don't flinch, and keep up the good reviews Rickety. Dan
I’m late to the party here, but very curious how these compare to head shape v8 or v10, since those are also light carbon skis with a ~80mm waist and ~13m radius.
So so different, Stockli's are damp and smooth and stable the whole way through on a Montero AR for instant, but not always the most lively or bouncey between turns like this ski. This DPS prioritizes giving you energy back, VS Stockli just making sure that your turn feels super smooth. This DPS was closer to a mirus cor with a higher top speed. Great question! Maybe a car analogy would be like a Mazda Miata vs a Lexus IS.
I kinda thought this was going to be just another ski trying to be a Stockli, so I was impressed to see just how different this looks from a construction and design perspective. I don't think $2k for a flat ski is remotely viable or worth seriously considering, so for now I kinda interpret this as an interesting prototype.
It's hard bc I kind of get it on one hand where it's not a race to the bottom and they're making it well and standing behind the product. But I still try and talk honestly about price because it's always a factor. I will say though if you get a chance to test or demo it's a very interesting ski. And it makes me excited for DPS's future.
@@RicketySkiReviews That's fair, because I was thinking about skis which run over $1200 for a flat ski, and there are just very few trying to do anything besides being a smoother version of a high-performance race ski (and usually medium-long turn radius at that). It's pretty obvious DPS is not trying to just do that again, which seems bold, and I wonder if it would have been remotely viable before the Mirus Cor was launched just a couple years ago.
Hi Elliot, Thanks for the thorough review of the DPS ski! I own a pair of 2017 K2 iKonic 85ti skis that I’ve been using for carving groomers. What I like about them is that they will hold an edge even in icy conditions. I don’t get tons of use out of them because I’m usually skiing off piste lately. They are really heavy skis though . . . but I suppose that is what makes them great at carving. I’m curious how high the swing weight felt for you on the DPS skis? Since they are lighter, did they really feel stable at high speeds while carving?
I’m not sure what the benefit of this ski is versus a slalom ski like the Atomic Redster S9, a Rossi Hero, Fisher RC or any other brands slalom-type ski. They are as much of a specialty ski, maybe even more active and reactive with better edge control for essentially half the retail price.
wow.. how did you get on those skis.. you must be a VIP.. i can totally see why Ted and Bode (see how i say it like we are all good friends) picked you for the reviews of their skis.. just like you, i am an ex-racer and so are they.. we all know how race skis have to be dialed in perfectly.. i do think that your niche is racing/carving skis.. also skis with camber.. i would love it if both Bode and Ted would let you play around with the different lengths.. and i am sure that they know what i am talking about.. i am not sure if Ted ever skied on straight skis but i know that Bode has.. what the camber did for me on straight skis was to allow me to push against it and therefore holding my edge.. after 2 years of racing on the ski the ski would lose its camber so there was nothing there to hold the edge.. my straight race skis were 200-205 with camber.. shaped skis came around and camber was something that the industry had to figure out again.. my shaped race skis are 170s.. they do have camber but they also are incredible for dampening.. DPS is known for being a reactive ski with a LOT of camber.. similar to Maverick TI and similar to KORE.. sometimes a longer ski can enhance the camber and sometimes a longer ski can dampen the camber.. i would LOVE to have this conversation with TED and BODE..
Thanks for watching and thanks to DPS Skis for loaning these out to me!
Thanks for another great review. One of the reasons I like watching your reviews (and Ski Essentials) is that I feel like I already have a good baseline of what your skiing looks like; it's easier to see the differences in the ski itself since there is a wealth of footage to establish that baseline... So congrats on being able to set the standard for Pisteworks 79 reviewers! DPS couldn't have chosen a better guy and they can't possibly be dissatisfied with your content. On another note, it looks like you have SO much more fun when you're on a faster ski, regardless of the terrain. Anyone who regularly watches your reviews can see that this DPS really does return the energy that you put in. Looking forward to more reviews this season!
The brutally honest reviewer has returned with another banger.
Super early access to a new ski?? Congrats Elliot!! Very cool. I am looking for a 88 or narrower dedicated on piste ski for those days I only ski the groomers. I did recently buy an 2018 SR88 for $230 which has been decent, but I think I will keep that for friends and family since it has a demo binding on it. I am interested to see if you can review the new Anomaly 84 and 88. Also, hopefully Volkl redesigns the Mantra 88 to add the 4D tech and they send you a pair to review before this season ends. I have discovered over the past few seasons that I like metal in my skis. The only exception to this rule for me is my deeper pow skis.
Thank you for not being a total shill unlike most reviewers.
Kudo's to you for gaining respect (relevence?, traction?) as a ski reviewer. I want to say I am glad you moved the bindings and found the "proper" mount point for your body on these skis. As a friendly tip, you could have said "these skis are sensitive to mount point and had to be moved to get the best performance for my situation" which keep a lot of negatives out of the review. I think you have/will learn that mount point and ski tunes effect every ski, some more than others, and influence a review. Its part of your responsibility to be sensitive to that and point out when something doesn't work optimally from the factory. You did a good job of that in this review. Blister Reviews deal with this a lot, and they choose to only bring it up when something is amiss. They do tend to vary the mount point a fair amount due to different tester weights and styles. As a race coach, I advocate for all skis being tested to get a fresh tune so its a known good tune, but that is a lot of work and expense. The bigger or smaller you are the more mount point becomes a factor for a sensitive ski. I am very tall and heavy, middle linebacker size, so I have been dealing with it all my life. On most skis I tend to mount back 1/2 to 1 cm for optimal performance. On race skis I find the factory line works best, on rockered powder skis I always move back, and other skis vary on if factory line is optimum or not. You are smaller than me, but on the larger end of the scale, so as you get on more and more skis, you will find more variability. Since you came from racing, those skis have a pretty optimized factory mount point. My understanding is mount point is determined by factory ski testers who are typically average size guys, 5'10" and 175 lbs. If your body spec's vary a lot from them, your mount point might need adjusting. (I am 6'4" and 240 lbs). This DPS ski seemed to be an early proto and its mount point might not have been finalized, even though there is a factory line printed on the ski. I tested an early version of the Renoun Citadel 107 and its factory line was way off for me. It was adjusted before starting the production run.
Great insight, thanks Scott!
I couldn't disagree with you more, Scott. I watch him because he gives me his unfiltered opinion with no BS. If he starts giving heavily nuanced reviews where he only tiptoes around anything negative then I think he will lose relevance. He's a breath of fresh air in an industry full of snake oil peddlers. Don't change a damn thing, Elliot.
The old Salomon BBR was a fantastic one quiver ski. Damp short radius ski that felt like standing on a super stable platform. Never had to worry about crashing it at any speed because it had zero wobble. You could push the ski hard without overpowering it but could relax on it too. It had no problem carving up the groomers, smearing without over rotating, floating off piste, or kicking the shit out of death cookies. For what ever reason - marketing perhaps - the shape never caught on well. If there was one shape that the industry should give a second look at, the shape of the BBR is the one I would definitely vote for.
thanks! elliot', your speeding' stokes me up peace'
Beside Ted, you are the first on reviewing it. Shows your relevance in the market already. How would you compare them to the Kore93 or even the Forza 70 as they are all dedicated „high edge angle“ skis? Greetings from Austria
It's happening, bub!! Elliot is quickly becoming a force to reckon with .
I have been waiting for DPS to make a narrow ski. Good review.
Thanks for the review
Time to resurrect my old Rossignol Strato from 1970 then! I could not carve back then but they were brilliant skis nevertheless, particularly in Moguls.
Quite cool you could review those so early!
Crazy how the mounting point change the personality of skis so much. I think you have big feets so might end up with the tips of your booths too forward on some skis. I guess the recommended mounting points of ski is calculated with the average foot length. I have the opposite problem of having very short feets of 24.5 and I had to move the bindings way forward on my new montero AR for them to feel great.
Congrats on being chosen for a review. I don't see any on YT at the moment. I've enjoyed DPS since the beginning w/ the early112 and Cassiar 78 (and not so much the 95). I enjoy your reviews and content. You provide more reality to the ol' "I wish I knew that before I bought these". Though I can like most skis, there have been a couple that were really wrong for me and would give a really crappy review against the tide. You're fair. Keep it up even though you get snubbed sometimes (badge of courage).
I love skis with pop, the kind that might eject you from the drivers seat if you're not careful. Can you comment on how these compare w/ race skis as opposed to the Black Crows.
I believe you, but can I just say a bit skeptically "1 click back" changed the ski entirely? Is that a cm? Skiing the line is not always the best for me so I try to buy rental bindings (adjustable toe piece) to adjust the line, or let friends try my skis. I like your theory on how they might have chosen the line. Sure depends on how stiff the tail is. Does the "1 click" observation mean this ski is really finicky about centered weight?
DPS has always been super expensive, but $2500 takes the cake. Like you say, value.
Off topic, but most skiing and skiers are on piste groomers. I just don't see why the folks are going so wide on groomers It's tiring over a whole day. It's refresshing to see a non-mainstream company betting the farm on a 78.
Don't flinch, and keep up the good reviews Rickety.
Dan
I’m late to the party here, but very curious how these compare to head shape v8 or v10, since those are also light carbon skis with a ~80mm waist and ~13m radius.
Curious how these compare to any Stockli skis you've tried, since both are clearly going for the premium segment?
So so different, Stockli's are damp and smooth and stable the whole way through on a Montero AR for instant, but not always the most lively or bouncey between turns like this ski.
This DPS prioritizes giving you energy back, VS Stockli just making sure that your turn feels super smooth. This DPS was closer to a mirus cor with a higher top speed. Great question!
Maybe a car analogy would be like a Mazda Miata vs a Lexus IS.
Love the videos Elliott … 😊
I’m headed to Bogus tomorrow for the first time ⛷️⛷️⛷️
Make sure you have your snow tires on! The road was crazy today. Should be some good snow for you. Was very windy today.
I kinda thought this was going to be just another ski trying to be a Stockli, so I was impressed to see just how different this looks from a construction and design perspective. I don't think $2k for a flat ski is remotely viable or worth seriously considering, so for now I kinda interpret this as an interesting prototype.
It's hard bc I kind of get it on one hand where it's not a race to the bottom and they're making it well and standing behind the product. But I still try and talk honestly about price because it's always a factor. I will say though if you get a chance to test or demo it's a very interesting ski. And it makes me excited for DPS's future.
@@RicketySkiReviews That's fair, because I was thinking about skis which run over $1200 for a flat ski, and there are just very few trying to do anything besides being a smoother version of a high-performance race ski (and usually medium-long turn radius at that). It's pretty obvious DPS is not trying to just do that again, which seems bold, and I wonder if it would have been remotely viable before the Mirus Cor was launched just a couple years ago.
This + the shredshox to show you’re the richest on the hill 🔥🔥🔥
Hi Elliot,
Thanks for the thorough review of the DPS ski!
I own a pair of 2017 K2 iKonic 85ti skis that I’ve been using for carving groomers. What I like about them is that they will hold an edge even in icy conditions. I don’t get tons of use out of them because I’m usually skiing off piste lately. They are really heavy skis though . . . but I suppose that is what makes them great at carving. I’m curious how high the swing weight felt for you on the DPS skis? Since they are lighter, did they really feel stable at high speeds while carving?
Maybe it might be close to montero AS (haven’t skied that but has to be more springy than AR - which I found dead rather than damp)
Basically a Mirus Cor competitor but handles higher speeds better but potentially slightly longer (real) turn radius and slightly more expe6nsjve?
I’m not sure what the benefit of this ski is versus a slalom ski like the Atomic Redster S9, a Rossi Hero, Fisher RC or any other brands slalom-type ski. They are as much of a specialty ski, maybe even more active and reactive with better edge control for essentially half the retail price.
Please review Dps koalas if you get the chance, I just got a pair and there’s barely any reviews on TH-cam
Why not to create a chart with your ratings. I would like to see link to a file with ratings.
How’s it compare to the stockli montero AR?
wow.. how did you get on those skis.. you must be a VIP..
i can totally see why Ted and Bode (see how i say it like we are all good friends) picked you for the reviews of their skis.. just like you, i am an ex-racer and so are they.. we all know how race skis have to be dialed in perfectly.. i do think that your niche is racing/carving skis.. also skis with camber.. i would love it if both Bode and Ted would let you play around with the different lengths.. and i am sure that they know what i am talking about.. i am not sure if Ted ever skied on straight skis but i know that Bode has.. what the camber did for me on straight skis was to allow me to push against it and therefore holding my edge.. after 2 years of racing on the ski the ski would lose its camber so there was nothing there to hold the edge.. my straight race skis were 200-205 with camber.. shaped skis came around and camber was something that the industry had to figure out again.. my shaped race skis are 170s.. they do have camber but they also are incredible for dampening.. DPS is known for being a reactive ski with a LOT of camber.. similar to Maverick TI and similar to KORE.. sometimes a longer ski can enhance the camber and sometimes a longer ski can dampen the camber.. i would LOVE to have this conversation with TED and BODE..
Wide skis are just a fad slowly fading away. Built for sloppy skiers! Hence the masses buy theses.
Merry Christmas Elliott ⛷ great to get a review from you!