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Big company skis vs small companies?

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InQcKillinIt
Posts: 377 - Karma: 17
Well i've heard a few bad reviews from salomon skis and line skis because of durability problems, which are the bigger ski companies. Although i've never heard bad reviews for atomic punx or rossi scratches, i'm starting to wonder about the slightly smaller companies like bluehouse, apo, amplid or rmu. Are the smaller companies more better buys now? and if so, whicha re the best more unheard of skis/
May 24 2012 4:20PM
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tomPietrowski
Posts: 7225 - Karma: 18,139
ll skis will snap eventually. I have seen skis from every brand break. sometimes its a default in production, more often its rider abuse.

What you have to remeber though is the big brands sell alot more skis. Take salomon for example, for every ski bluehouse sell, salomon may sell 20. Having that many more skis in the market means chances are someone will break one. So just because you may see more complaints for bigger brands does not mean there worse, it just means more people have them.

Overall the percentage of broken skis for say atomic may be much much lower then a smaller brand, but because more people have them you hear about them more.

Overall, all skis will break, so get a ski you enjoy ridding, as thats the most inportant thing.
May 24 2012 4:32PM
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snakerton
Posts: 2434 - Karma: 1,977
Idk but there might be a reason why big companies are big. Cause their skis are better.that might not be true and a lot of small companies have good skis. It's just a theory
May 24 2012 4:43PM
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Forcillo
Posts: 3801 - Karma: 3,580
I've heard great things about most hand-made skis. That may make a difference
May 24 2012 5:15PM
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TimRiley
Posts: 1873 - Karma: 1,327
I believe it's all personal preference in who you want to support and give your money. All of them are trying to produce a quality product.
May 24 2012 5:15PM
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InQcKillinIt
Posts: 377 - Karma: 17
+k for explination i never thought of! that seems to be whyi hear alot about all that.
May 24 2012 5:47PM
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Pipe_Munky
Posts: 10888 - Karma: 2,184
the bigger companies are more likely to warranty a broken ski than the smaller companies simply because they have more money.
May 24 2012 5:51PM
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ikindalikeskiing
Posts: 1381 - Karma: 142
ive heard of all line skis having delam and cracking on edges but really the only salomon skis that you hear breaking are the suspects which were just made shitty. all park skis will take a beating or are supposed to i mean they are park skis i dont really know how to explain it but it really depends on how they are used in the park i mean i know people who go through punx and afterbangs monthly and i dont ski park and have never had any damage besides a core shot once.
May 24 2012 5:52PM
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pghjibber
Posts: 1298 - Karma: 329
did you know every ski is handmade right whether it's from atomic or ON3P?

May 24 2012 6:17PM
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rozboon
Posts: 1642 - Karma: 868

There are many different degrees of hand-made... there's profiling your cores with a router and some rails you made in your garage, and then there's profiling your cores with a gigantic CNC router that churns out 1000 a day within .01" of each other. In terms of consistency and quality, I'm inclined to say big companies have the edge... but they're also, due to sheer volume, more likely to let a REALLY bad ski slip through (i.e. one with a bad batch of resin that will delam in a day) and since there's a lot more out there you'll hear more about them breaking, naturally.

A statistic you're never going to see is failed (due to manufacturing faults) skis vs skis sold... I suspect the ratio would be higher for the small companies, to be honest.

May 24 2012 7:04PM
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RudyGarmisch
Posts: 25443 - Karma: 13,844
And smaller companies might be more willing bend the rules of whats under warranty to make a customer happy. Customer service shouldn't be better or worse based on a company's size.
May 24 2012 7:33PM
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momentz
Posts: 875 - Karma: 285
preached from a god of the ski world! :)
May 24 2012 8:06PM
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tomPietrowski
Posts: 7225 - Karma: 18,139
It should not be no, but obviously big brands have much more lee way to replace things. I have worked as a returns manager before and I can definatly say its much easier to deal with big brands then the small ones. However this is from a company stand point. If your an indivual you may actually find it easier to contact the small brands.

Either way, generally you would hope all brands give good customer service, but generally big brands will have more room to replace skis.
May 24 2012 8:23PM
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SlurrP
Posts: 172 - Karma: 26
ive always had great experiences with smaller companies as far as warranty goes. liberty actually has the best in the business (3 year full warranty ) and the small issue i had with one of my 4FRNTs was actually dealt with by the owner himself. im all about the personal touch that the smaller companies give and lets face it, who wants to have the same ski that everyone else has on the hill? i can almost guarantee if you buy a ski that you research and hear good things about on forums like here and TGR, you will love it
May 24 2012 9:22PM
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onenerdykid
Posts: 6713 - Karma: 11,477
I like that you think Line is a big ski company :) They are strong in freeski, but even then not in the top 5 (in terms of units sold). Rest assured, they are still small and thoroughly legit.

It all comes down to how much attention to detail a company puts into their skis. I've seen "small company" skis that look like they were pressed by driving a car over them, and "big company" skis that look like works of art. It just depends.

It also depends on what you get price-point per price-point. To compare a $600 ON3P to a $300 Line is not a fair comparison. Different materials go into each ski which dictate why it costs what it costs, why it skis the way it does. If Atomic wanted to make the world's most amazing skis ever produced in the history of skiing, we could easily produce a ski that would cost you $10,000- we have the R&D and the processes to do anything. But does that really make any sense? No of course not. There are realistic limits on what technology you can put into a ski that you plan to actually sell.

The trick is, in my opinion, to load every ski with as much value as humanly possible. If you spend $600 on a pair of skis, you want it to be worth every penny that you spent on it. These are the skis that you will be stoked on. These are the skis that you want to tell your friends about.
May 25 2012 11:50AM
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InQcKillinIt
Posts: 377 - Karma: 17
ok thanks, but ya, i never heard of line skis until i got into freeskiing :)
May 26 2012 10:50AM
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mackcamp
Posts: 1210 - Karma: 243
Not true at all necessarily, Im still waiting on K2's warranty department form skis I broke 2 seasons ago. Meanwhile, I have had no trouble at all getting skis warranted from smaller microbrew companies. I find they are much more understanding and easier to get a hold of than bigger ski companies.
May 26 2012 11:22AM
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mackcamp
Posts: 1210 - Karma: 243
Not true at all necessarily, Im still waiting on K2's warranty department form skis I broke 2 seasons ago. Meanwhile, I have had no trouble at all getting skis warranted from smaller microbrew companies. I find they are much more understanding and easier to get a hold of than bigger ski companies.
May 26 2012 11:22AM
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Balto
Posts: 25985 - Karma: 4,403
all skis are hand made hurp durp
May 26 2012 11:56AM
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momentz
Posts: 875 - Karma: 285
thanks balto reading this was drving me crazy! :)
May 26 2012 8:13PM
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NotGhood
Posts: 2809 - Karma: 1,255
i hear surface skis have great durability
May 27 2012 6:30PM
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loomis
Posts: 945 - Karma: 176
Big companies-mass produced skis, not much time spent on quality.

Small companies-more dedication and passion for the skis being made, higher quality most of the time

It's just an observation, not entirely true for all companies
May 27 2012 6:50PM
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Session
Posts: 5402 - Karma: 22,484
That's why you should by my Folsoms on TGR.
May 27 2012 8:55PM
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cobra_commander
Posts: 16909 - Karma: 4,681
more or less

http://www.blizzard-ski.com/index.php?id=5#70,1,0,0,0
long video, longer if you don't understand German, but pretty impressive.
May 27 2012 11:32PM
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onenerdykid
Posts: 6713 - Karma: 11,477
Like you said, this is not true for all companies. Plus I would say this is more of a perception of the industry rather than what actually exists most of the time.

Small companies can produce shitty skis just like big companies and vice versa. It all depends on how dedicated and passionate your company is. Atomic (not including Salomon or Armada) produces more skis than any other ski manufacturer, from a town of about 3,500 people in the middle of the Austrian Alps. The people here live and breathe skiing and are super passionate about making the best skis possible, yet we're a big company. The size of your company does not dictate the quality of your skis but the passion put into them surely does.
May 28 2012 3:51AM
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Session
Posts: 5402 - Karma: 22,484
I would count Atomic as one of the few big companies who I would buy ski's from.

And I think people don't realize what a small ski company is, or they have a different definition.

IMO if you don't press your own ski's then you're not really a small ski company. And you don't really have as much pride in your product. Most of the "small" ski companies that people know have the bulk of their ski's made by someone else.
May 28 2012 10:41AM
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cobra_commander
Posts: 16909 - Karma: 4,681
I try not to let the 'size' of the 'company' determine where I spend my money. You do not earn my money just by being smaller than the other guy, you earn it with a good product and a good reputation for producing quality products in the past. You stop producing good products, you will see my money leave.
May 28 2012 11:48AM
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bdarb207
Posts: 3057 - Karma: 443
I like to support smaller companies but one advantage of going with bigger companies is they have the resources to warranty you and keep you as a customer. Most smaller companies just cant afford to be giving away inventory.
May 28 2012 12:05PM
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InQcKillinIt
Posts: 377 - Karma: 17
man they're completely legit
May 28 2012 4:58PM
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Dr.Gonzo
Posts: 2552 - Karma: 87
no, they just got into the game earlier. So they were able to shut down the market by 2006, get your econ down.
May 28 2012 7:22PM
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InQcKillinIt
Posts: 377 - Karma: 17
so i've made my decision...i think i'm going to go with smaller ski companies. Now in YOUR opinion, which are your favorite or best park skis by a small company... I'm looking at bluehouse and on3p atm but if you have any other suggestions it would be very helpful!
May 29 2012 4:24PM
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.ZT.
Posts: 5679 - Karma: 2,792
Just pick up some good skis. I doesn't matter what company. Go look into other threads and see. Look at my review of the AR7 for one or check out scratches. ON3P's are great but find a ski that you think will be good not a brand. Sorry to rant.
May 29 2012 4:38PM
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