All skis are much the same

Many valid and varied points made here. Call me a victim of marketing, but I feel the joy of researching, choosing and ultimately buying a set of skis(guitar, mountain bike etc) vastly outweighs the practicalities.

Its just nice to have a new set of skis!!! :D

I hired until I found a pair I really liked and then went and bought some the same (in the sale of course, J2Skiers are thrifty I have noted).

The thing that worried me most was that being brand new, they would get stolen first time out. Now that they are several years old, I am more relaxed about it and hope they will not be of interest to anyone else because I am rather attached to them.

I always browse the new ones because that is half the fun, looking at what is the latest fad but I don't feel the urge to invest £500!

I missed out on a pair of skis in the sales, they sold out three days before I got my bonus.
So I will be paying £400-500 on some new planks and bindings. I will be only too pleased to tell you what they are like.
I'm hoping to get over to Milton Keynes to test some Atomic Theorys, can't decide between them and the alibis.
My Rossinol B2s which I purchased back in 2006 have been skied into the ground and are, to use a technical term 'knackered'. I have at no point regretted buying them, a fabulous pair of skis, which at the time had won several awards and rightly so in my opinion. They replaced Salomon XScreams which again had been highly rated when I bought them.
I've taken part in a couple of ski tests in the past, one on the dry slope and one on snow. Different skis feel different to ski on, even ones with a similar shape. Different skis take different amounts of force to get the most of them, so your physicality, ability and technique will change which ski suits.
So I disagree all skis are much the same, they are not if you ski them hard enough. Whether ski technology moves on as quick as they'd like to suggest is debatable.

No they are not.
Skis have a "personality", a special feel, a performance range, however it takes a good skier to allow the ski to express itself.
Most skiers "force" the ski to turn, thus not allowing the ski to "do its thing"!
I train neophyte ski testers by making them ski with unbuckled boots for at least 3 hours. To learn to feel the ski. To learn to be "soft" with the ski.
Skis do have differences.
Problem is the marketing jargon does not help the average skier with such phrases as;
"the one quiver, all terrain ski"
"the ski will improve your skiing" ( you will improve your skiing)
"the rocker XXXX will carve better on hard packed slopes"
"the special unique XYZ material will,,,,,,,,,,," ( you fill in the blank)

My advice.
First do your homework rather than ask "experts" on net what is the best ski.
Learn what those figures mean,,,, R= 13 ( racing SL ski ) 123- 110- 15
Try all sorts of skis on easy terrain.
Learn to rate a ski with specific parameters that you think are important to you.

* Did those smart skiers pick up that mistake?

Just my opinion.
Pav

I forgot to mention one great place to get "real" honest information.
I never suggest sites or experts to others,,,but this site is the very best for advice and real comments.
Visit Realskiers site. They are allowing an open house viewing since they are changing presentation.
They do not accept free skis from companies. They do not allow reps to provide "evaluation" texts. You will notice that all evaluations do not contain "marketing" phrases or terms.
Just visit them.
Pavel

Of course they are not the same although there are models that go from year to year unchanged apart from the top sheets. But across different models from different makers in a given year there will be differences, even for skis with similar sidecut and ultimately they will be affecting performance of a given ski for a particular skier.

So what would be the suggestion this season for your intermediate/advanced skier who likes tearing around on piste and bobbing off the edges half of the time?

Bushwackers? I remember you were thinking of gettting them. But really, check online sources for gear reviews and figure out what might suit you best.