Ski: Faction Studio 2.0

Available lengths: 166, 173, 178, 183, 188 cm

Reviewer height/weight: 66kg/180cm

Ski weights (per ski): 1880g

Length skied: 183cm

Dimensions: 131/102/127mm (183cm) 20M Radius

Mounted: Newschool Line

Bindings: Salomon STH 16

Locations: Whistler Blackcomb

Conditions skied: Pow, Crud, Groomers, Park, Big Mountain, bumps

Days Skied: 19

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Introduction:

The Studio 2.0 gives a new name to a ski most of us are familiar with, the Mana 2. This ski is geared more towards the all-mountain skier, featuring a 102mm waist with fairly even rocker in the tip and tail and a bit of camber underfoot. They are beefy and damp which allows you to really push it through crud and bumps, yet still nimble and snappy enough to turn on a dime. Weighing in at 1880gs, they are light enough to be fun and playful, plus the directional shape of the tip and relatively tame rocker profile allows the ski to hook-up and turn easily regardless of conditions. I rode the Studio 2.0 for roughly 20 days; mostly in the park, but still put them to the test on the groomers, in the chopped up crud and through some fresh snow. I put them to work for a few weeks, and had my brother get some clips on them to use in this review.

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Shape/Flex/Construction:

The first thing I noticed with this ski was its robustness, you pick them up and they feel like tanks. The Studio 2.0 felt You can feel the power behind the ski as you slice through chop, yet they never felt overly heavy or bulky. There's a nice sweetspot around the shovel that feels really nice when buttering and pressing, but the overall body of the ski is stiffer which provides a stable and reliable platform. The shape of the ski is dope as it was clearly inspired by a more symmetrical shape, but with a slightly narrower tail and a bit of a wider tip the ski has a directional feel without compromising how they ride switch. There is a happy balance between its rockered tip/tail and camber underfoot, allowing for easy turn initiation. Faction keeps it pretty simple build wise as the Studio 2 keeps its poplar wood core and a carbon-rubber laminate underfoot to cushion those big hits.

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On Snow:

Groomers:

I'll start this by saying that I wouldn't typically grab a ski of this waist-width to only shred groomer laps, but I was impressed on how this ski held its own on the corduroy and how it linked turns easily and remained stable at high speeds. These planks never felt twitchy or chattered on me, so driving these down the groomers with some pace felt pretty chill as I felt like I could properly lace up some nice turns without having the ski wash out under me or feel sketchy in any way. I had a great time laying trenches on these both on firm fresh corduroy and on sun-baked spring leftovers, and even with detuned edges I had the confidence to lay down some sick turns (in my opinion). The Studio 2.0 is plenty capable on the hardpack and has some legit groomer performance. I imagine that if I mounted these a bit further back, the turning capabilities would improve slightly, but having it at newschool still gave the ski all the goods and made riding switch a bit more natural. Overall I rate these for how they get on with groomed runs and was stoked to even smash some gates on a slalom course

Pow:

It was a tough winter so finding good snow was a bit of a mission, but luckily we had a storm come thru and I could finally test these out on some deep BC pillows and pow fields. The Studio 2.0 has a mellow rocker profile compared to a dedicated pow ski, yet still had enough float to keep me on the good stuff and not completely immersed in it. When riding in some tighter areas, they felt easy enough to whip around trees and make some quick cuts. After riding a good few days in some deep snow, I rarely had moments where I felt like my tips were going to dive under and cause me to tomahawk on landing or when making a turn.

Crud:

I hate riding through crud and somehow I always end up on some slope just caked in skied out bumpy leftovers, but luckily these skis are stiff and damp enough to plow through it all. I really got the impression that I could just straight-line through everything on this ski since it felt so stable and powerful. The tips of the skis don't get deflected easily and the ski has the stiffness to carry speed and maintain control in rougher conditions

Park:

When I look at a ski in the context of park riding, the build and how they will hold up over time is massively important to me, so I was hyped to see the Studio 2.0s thick edges and how burly they were. After a bunch of laps, I found the best quality of the ski to be how they performed on jumps due to their damp construction and relatively stiff build. Both my brother and I put in a day of hitting the XL line on Blackcomb to see how these would handle some big booters. Our intensive research concluded that you can definitely go huge on these and not worry about the ski giving out before your knees do. Riding fast into jumps both switch and forwards feels nice and stable and give a consistent and reliable pop off the lip every time. The swing weight on these is minimal so they are easy to spin in the air and not feel like they're holding you down. I don't think the directional shape of the ski negatively effects how they ride in the park to be honest, they always felt comfortable jumping forwards and switch without being center mounted or anything like that. My main takeaway on riding rails on these was just how well they held up without edges cracking. I rode some hard kinks and did some naughty disaster to flats only managed to get my first edge cracks about 7 days in. I’m a fan of wider skis on rails, and these definitely fit the bill. Switch ups and swaps were really fun with the bigger platform underfoot, plus a bit of rocker is always nice to prevent catching the extremities when stunting on the metal. The tips load up really nicely when doing the nosebutters and have good pop. Again, the low swing weight makes these easy to whip around on rails and the ski is playful enough to press and butter. Overall the Studio 2.0s are awesome in the park and should be considered as a park ski for someone who wants a stiffer platform to throw down on but still heaps of fun in the rail yard.

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Durability:

Durability is a tricky thing to test since everyone skis a bit differently, but I’d consider myself a pretty aggressive skier and was happy with how they held up. There's obviously the classic topsheet chipping from my sloppy riding, otherwise the Studio 2 showed no signs of slowing down. I made sure to do a proper detune before hitting any rails to try and prevent some edge cracks, and haven’t had many. In my opinion you have to manage your expectations when you think about the durability of a ski you’re going to ride in the park since nothing is going to survive repeated smashing on rails. Inevitable; I'm sure there will be a day that my new Faction Studios are going to call it quits, but after putting a beating to them I’m confident these are going to last me a good while. After experiencing my fair share of sidewall blowouts on a number of skis in the past, I am happy to report that these skis are pretty damn strong and show no signs of delamination of the sidewalls or tips.

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Comparison:

Prodigy 2.0 vs Studio 2.0

Having ridden both the Studio 2s and Prodigy 2s, I can say that the Studio 2 is more of an all around hard charger whereas the Prodigy 2s have a bit more playfulness and aren't as serious. The Prodigy 2s can be really jibby and fun to mess around on, but they don’t tackle big drops or mashed-up snow like the Studios 2s. Both skis lend themselves to a good time in the park, but i would say the Studio is more versatile in its build and can handle a bit more gnar than the Prodigy

Vs Atomic Bent 100 (pre-2024/5)

Both of these skis fall in the same category of an all-mountain 100mm waist ski, yet the performance gap between the two is pretty nuts. The Bent 100 is a fun ski to cruise around on and hit little features here and there but doesn’t give you that confidence that it’ll be there for you when you’re launching into a mogul field. They are not damp or stiff enough to handle charging through cruddy snow. The Bent does outshine the Studio when it comes to low-speed jibbing around the park and pressing sick butters, since the ski is overall much softer and lighter, but it simply can't compete with the Studio 2s anywhere else on the mountain in my opinion.

Vs Salomon Depart 1.0

I spent a lot of time riding the Depart and found them to be significantly softer than the Studio 2.0s. The Depart is a lot of fun to ride at lower speeds and is great at buttering and jibbing around, but they lack the dampness of the Studios which compromises how they ride at higher speeds and in chopped-up snow. The Depart is a bit wider at 106mm underfoot and features a wide shovel in the tip that gives you better float in powder compared to Studios. Being much softer than the Studios, they don't charge as hard and are out-performed on groomers and rougher off-piste riding, but make up for it in their playfulness and ability to pop really well. Overall these are two different skis that cater to different riding styles, so if you are looking for a hard charger to take all over the mountain, the Studio 2.0s takes it, whereas the Depart is better suited for jibbing around in more tame terrain.

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Conclusion:

My final thoughts on the Studio 2.0s are all positive, basically if you're in the market for a hard-charging ski that can do it all, this is it. These skis never felt out of place whether it was in a foot of fresh snow, on groomers or flying through a mogul field, they have a damp feel to them that gives you the confidence to push it a little bit more. This is a ski you can take to the mountain and ride just about everything without worrying about the conditions. I had a great time riding these skis and am impressed with how they've held up over time, especially after tons of park laps.

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About The Tester:

I’m tdollo, I’ve been a member of NS since 2010 and have been working in a ski shop for a few years now. I ride out of Whistler-Blackcomb and try to get out on the mountain as much as possible. I spend most of my time on the forums here, primarily in Gear Talk. Here are some clips of my brother Dan testing out the Studio 2.0s for a couple laps in Blackpark.

https://www.newschoolers.com/videos/watch/1099175/faction-mp4