I agree. I often wondered if a reader of the SKI Magazine annual gear review could really get anything out of the reviews. The reviewers are all "big name" skiers with lots of years of skiing, I could never believe that they could relate very well to what I wanted.
I have always felt that the hardest part of reading ski reviews (and this is especially true on forums) was determining how the reviewers skill set, body size, and preferred terrain related to you. Svend writes great reviews, but he's a bigger man than I, skis a longer size than I, and the same model ski in a dramatically different length is a different ski.
I would love to hear Phil or Snowhot or Liam's thoughts on how shop staff relate to the gear requirements of the customer that they don't know? At least he has history with you on how you ski and what skis you've liked in the past.
I know Gary and Alice participated in a ski review session in Canada where the magazine invited regular people to do the ski reviews. I think that may be a good approach, but still you have to figure out where the reviewer is coming from. Alice didn't like one pair because of the sexy chick graphics, for example.
I think a good example is my Progressor 8's. Most people ski and rave about the 9's and 10's, but for an older and slightly slower skier, I love them. They're versatile and light and quick and hold a good edge -- other's feel they have a speed limit up in the mid-20's but that hasn't been much of an issue for me.
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