Park ski

Yes I can help you. I’m on a pair of armada 96s. They are on the stiffer side but if you are worried about butters don’t be because they work just fine. I will say I recommend a stiffer park ski. Makes it way easier for me to Ollie and nollie on n off features. Also feels great on landings. I’ve ridden a few pair of my friends skis like line blends and they’re way too soft. And they are a little heavy but that shouldn’t be an issue either. I’m 6’3 165 (string bean) and I have no problem with whipping them around. All in all great the top sheet has chipped a bit but what ski doesn’t. And I’ve never ridden the 86 so I can’t rly speak on that but a wider underfoot feels a lot better on rails in my opinion. also super durable no problems after a full season of skiing

**This post was edited on Aug 23rd 2021 at 10:24:57pm

You might want to check out the B-dog if you're looking at Armada and want a super soft park ski. The Edolo is also super popular park ski, which is pretty much a softer spin-off of the ARV 96.

Check out their reviews https://www.newschoolers.com/news/read/The-Roofbox-Review-2020-Armada-BDOG

https://www.newschoolers.com/news/read/The-Roofbox-Review-2019-Armada-EDollo


As far as Armada goes as a brand they belong in the OGs park ski gang, while vishnu is the cool brand of the moment.. Bottom line don't worry Armada knows how to make a good park ski

**This post was edited on Aug 23rd 2021 at 11:13:37pm

ARV86 is based off a traditional park ski construction which is skinnier and with generous camber. I like park skis like this. You want some heft for landings and stuff. I actually had a pair that I ordered when I was abroad. I got drunk one night and wrote a stupid stupid thread asking @Twig to review the arv86. Thankfully, he was a great sport and obliged. Here is what he said:



“ARV 86 short review (I haven't spent enough time for a Roofbox but maybe 3 days total over the years):

Basically, the ARV 86 is the most traditional park ski left in Armada's lineup. There's a lot of DNA from the AR7 in these, with the narrow waist, similar shape and sidecut. They have a tiny amount of rocker, but I'd say that only really contributes to the turn initiation rather than making buttering any easier than a full camber ski of equivalent flex. The flex is slightly softer than the old AR7 but not by a huge amount. That makes them a bit more accessible to ski, but they definitely aren't a surfy or buttery ski. They basically ski like a traditional mid-80s park ski with all that entails. I quite like them on groomers and skiing fast, they feel stable there, and on landings too. They aren't particularly forgiving of sideways landings and they aren't very buttery. The butter question was specifically asked and with a mid-flex and near full camber they are one of the less easy skis to butter on the market today (in terms of park skis). Full-camber, stiff options like the Punx, Revolt 87 and NFX are worse but that's the territory they are in. Compared to the Revolt 95s that @BradFiAusNzCoCa mentioned, they are a totally different ballpark. The Revolt is waaay more buttery and those are still fairly average skis by the butter metric.

In the park they are great on jumps, in the resort, they are good for hard snow but I wouldn't choose to use them for anything other than that. If you're skiing any soft snow, the ARV 96 is way better, as is the EDollo.”

I had a pair of these for like a month before someone stole them off the rack while I went to take a piss. They were great, traditional park skis for the price. Wouldn’t recommend if you spend any more than 50% of your time outside of a terrain park though.

Thank you all for the replies this has been very helpful!!!

i have ridden the arv 86 for 2 seasons and just baught a new pair. they have been holding up super good and mine have almost no damage even if i have shreeded hard in the park. really recommend them.

keagan.karstensYes I can help you. I’m on a pair of armada 96s. They are on the stiffer side but if you are worried about butters don’t be because they work just fine. I will say I recommend a stiffer park ski. Makes it way easier for me to Ollie and nollie on n off features. Also feels great on landings. I’ve ridden a few pair of my friends skis like line blends and they’re way too soft. And they are a little heavy but that shouldn’t be an issue either. I’m 6’3 165 (string bean) and I have no problem with whipping them around. All in all great the top sheet has chipped a bit but what ski doesn’t. And I’ve never ridden the 86 so I can’t rly speak on that but a wider underfoot feels a lot better on rails in my opinion. also super durable no problems after a full season of skiing

**This post was edited on Aug 23rd 2021 at 10:24:57pm

The 86 is basically how you described the 96 just smaller, I was pretty dogshit when I used them so butters were not really a trick in mind, but I’m sure they are good, Ollie’s are pretty G but the durability is Very good. Rode like 35-40 days on them(keep in mind I was just starting park skiing) so they weren’t being ridden very hard but still no edge cracks and minimal topsheet damage

Can verify durability. I've been using ARV86s w/ warden 11s and too-long race boots for park and ski instructing for three seasons and although the topsheet has its scratches, chips, etc. the edges are perfect and I have never had delam issues. Granted I'm 160lbs 5'5" and don't do any huge disasters or anything so ymmv.
As for stiffness they definitely aren't vishies for what I know, but they're very "poppy" and charging up and releasing ollies/nollies is easy with no severe loss of energy.