Head Ski popularity

[otijeff]

I'm curious about the popularity of Head skis in this forum. At least it seems to me they are very popular here. This prompted me to do a lot of reading online before purchasing my Head skis - obviously the information online - reviews, tests, and at the Head website impressed me. Yet, in general online, Head don't seem to get the attention that Atomic, Volkl, K2, Dynastar & Fishcer get.

Is my impression accurate and if so, can anyone provide any ideas as to why? Are they not as popular or successful on the racing circuit?

[jbotti]

Recently,? Head has been making some great skis. Head (and Fischer as well) seem to find the perfect balance between both dampness and stability and responsiveness. Too often, in my opinion, Volkl and Atomic produce skis with incredible edge hold and incredible dampness and stability, but they are way too stiff and tend to lack responsiveness, making them only skiable at blistering speeds.

French skis (Rossi, Salomon and Dynastar) are generally known for their liveliness ofen trading this for dampness and stability.

Clearly all these companies make some great skis. Head just seems to consistently nail the balance that I spoke about above.

As for their WC success. Head spent big to get Bode Miller this season. They have spent alot of time and money to produce winning WC race skis. It appears to be paying off, as their team members are regularly getting podiums and scoring well on the WC this year. This is a big change from past years when Head had minimal representation with top skiers on the WC. Atomic is still the dominant WC brand.

[otijeff]

Thank you. Very clear and helpful. It helps round out the current ski world equipment picture. It corresponds with what I heard about differenct brands in terms of ski descriptions.

Last time I bought a ski Rossignol was all the rage and no one would touch Fischer or Head. Head was purely a rental ski in my world.