The problem with buying skis

The edges are ripping off my troublemakers (surprise), and I find myself in the market for skis again. Buying skis is one of the hardest purchases to make, not only because it is expensive or there is so much variety, but because it is usually an act of guesswork and faith. You can test drive a car or try on clothes in a store, but chances are you will never really know how your ski performs until after you have paid for it. This I think is a huge problem in the ski industry. It means that our decisions are largely based on marketing and gear reviews by magazines beholden to their advertisers (K2 was on of the only companies not to receive any ‘Editor’s Quiver’ honours in the Freeskier buyers guide, and was also one of the only companies not to advertise in that issue). So really what we are buying is marketing, the promise of something newer and better. If anyone doubts this think back to the hype surrounding the release of Armada and the subsequent selling out of their inventory in the first year before anyone knew if they were any good. I think it is detrimental to the sport that graphics and hype and largely responsible for the success of a model, and of course bad for me, the consumer. Demos at hills are the only solution, but they are very infrequent and usually much later in the season than most people make their buying decisions. I have worked in a ski shop and know the basics of how flex, construction and dimensions effect performance but it really is impossible to judge a ski without personal experience. And everyones experience will be different beased on their own style. So the opinions of others, even when not biased by ski industry propaganda, are still not a sound basis for my decision. All I want to do is try a few skis out for myself and find out which one I truly prefer. Why is this still impossible in a sport that has evolved in so many other respects?