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Originally Posted by blender
Well, there could be many reasons, but the main one would be cost. ON3P makes an awesome product, no doubt, but there are plenty of quality skis available that perform comparably that are available on discount. A lot of people will be happy to keep a couple hundred bucks in their jeans.
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That's a reason in their favour, not a reason not to buy them. They're freaking handmade, hand finished skis, made in the PNW by the guy who owns the company and his small group of employees. And they retail for more or less the same amount as skis made by big companies in factories in China or eastern Europe by people who have probably never skiied in their lives. So at full price, they already might as well be on discount... and they do actually go on discount at the end of the season, for whatever's left in stock. But it's a case of getting
more than what you pay for.
And incidentally, they save money on repairs... I mean, I love Armada skis, I've owned a few pairs of them. But over the past two days, I've probably hit at least 20 rocks and half a dozen partially buried branches. If I were on my old JJs they'd be a mess. Instead, my bases have two scrapes in them and no core shots. I don't understand why they're so damned durable, but they are. I have broken an ON3P - I skiied full speed into a buried stump that I thought was a pillow and snapped the ski in front of my toepiece. That's the kind of thing it takes. And those skis had 50+ days on them at the time and had no other noticeable damage. And I still skiied the rest of the day on them.
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Also, the ON3P skis I've skied are pretty burly ski. I'm not sure of they have models more suited to smaller or less powerful skiers, but I could see them being too much ski for the majority of skiers.
What model are you riding?
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This is fair, I'm mostly talking about what I would buy, so most of what they make is for stronger skiers. But there are tons of better skiers than me on the hill every day, it's not like they're difficult to ski if you're
reasonably good.
My rock skis are old Jeffreys, my daily drivers are Billy Goats, my pow skis are Cease and Desists and I'm thinking about getting some Woodsman 108s as well.