D3 ARC Mid Review

Horton

Ski reviews are about describing a ski more than judging. THe D3 ARC is one ski that is going to be hard to write about. Hopefully after the next 10 rides the words will come to me.

What I can say is that in the first 9 rides on the ARC I ran equal to or one ball short of to my all time PB 3 times (2 @ 39). That means that I have run 38 on 33% of my rides so far. What this stat misses is that I do not shorten to 38 every ride. I think I have only shortened to 38 4 or 5 times on the D3 ARC. I do not know the actual percentage but the ARC is clearly in MOASS territory.

jdarwin

John - really curious to read your yellow/blue comparison.

Horton

@jdarwin so far I feel like I can be smoother on blue but yellow is not very different. I might ride yellow Wednesday for a change of pace.

sfriis

MOASS territory ?? please explain

LeonL

Mother of all slalom skis.

wskierman8

@Horton did you ever ride the Quest 45? I have both the Q45 and arc-s in for a demo now and after 10 rides, 6 on the q45 and 4 on the arc the data is pretty clear. [email protected] 36mph on the q45 and not less than 4 @38 in any set. while the arc has yet to get past [email protected]

*Note my favorite ski of all time is the X7 and using the fin settings I used on that the quest feels nearly identical. Stock settings not so much

Horton

FYI - I have gone a little quiet in this because I have had a touch of the flu. No point in skiing if I do not feel 100%.

The_MS

Tape it up and play with pain.

Horton

@MS hard to ski when you just feel like poo

thager

Get off the bottle!!!

Horton

yea yea I am back to skiing. I took ride # 133 of the year yesterday - that is ride # 13 on the D3

Horton

Ride #14
2 @ 39 then back to dock

Howa1500

Still on the blue??

brettmainer

If you look to your right, you will see there is a 3rd ball.

Horton

@Howa1500 Yes Blue but back to Yellow tomorrow

Horton

@Howa1500 I do not totally understand but for sure like Blue better. I rode Yellow for a few days and skied ok and then went back to Blue and things just flowed better. The difference is small(ish)

Horton

@bananaron I think it's going to come down to personal preference. Blue to me seems smoother exiting the buoy. I think skiers who are over aggressive might find yellow to be better. I also don't think the difference is massive

jdarwin

I tend to "push" my offside turn on occasion and find the yellow responds well to my "over-skiing" and doesn't pitch me out the front. I can't imagine the blue would be better for me. This ski has exceeded my expectations - now I just need to spend some quality time on it. Just now starting to "tweak" it a bit. Going from 7 deg to 9 deg and moving my front binding up 1/8".

Howa1500

@Horton when can we expect a video?!? We are all waiting!!!!

jimbrake

@Horton and @jdarwin - bingo. I'm the poster child (or poster old dude) for over-aggressive skiing and the yellow is WAY better for me than the blue. My goal should be to make my skiing more blue-worthy. For now, though, the yellow is awesome.

skiboat38

Rode the Blue one for a week and got very comfortable with it, then got on the yellow for a week and found it to be very similar, not as fast or stable out of the turns. My buddy went from the yellow to the blue and agreed the blue was much faster. Last night I switched back to the blue and my passes were effortless (sealed the deal for me). However my buddy got back on the yellow and likes it better. With that said they are very similar, well made, and dealing with D3 has been a pleasant experience compared to past experiences with ........well you know

Howa1500

@skiboat38 what settings are you running, I'm struggling with mine

jimbrake

@skiboat38 - interesting. My yellow ARC is way faster than the blue I tried. As with any ski, you have to dial in binding position to get to the optimum spot. Maybe I didn't find it on the blue, but I certainly did on the yellow. I also tried to other companies' skis during the same time period and had to really search for the right binding position on all of them. In the end the yellow ARC was the fastest of the four skis I tried, by a long shot.

Stevie Boy

@Horton do you think that where you are on the weight range would make a difference to whether you like the feel of the Blue to the Yellow for instance would somebody who is nearer the top end of the weight range for a Yellow find the Blue not so Good or the other way round if you were at the bottom of the weight range for the Yellow are you more likely to prefer the Blue ?

Horton

@Stevie Boy seems to have more to do with skiing style than weight

skiboat38

My buddy that is switching out with me also thought the blue was much faster but he likes the yellow better. I'm at 2.45, 6.940, .730, wing at 7 degrees and the bindings are on the center holes....going to move them back one hole in the morning.

Horton

@Stevie Boy to be more clear. I have talked to a number of skiers about it and most like Blue best but a few are all about yellow. It is crazy. I really do not have a good answer. I have skied up to my PB on both.

When I want back to Yellow I did not ski well but I was using my Blue numbers. I suspect that the same settings are not best for both skis. I going to ride Yellow one more time but the review is 80% blue.

LeonL

@skiboat38 , I'm getting ready taste the kool aid. Your binding placement? Measurement instead of which hole? Plates are different.

skiboat38

@Leon...you know me well enough I don't buy into ski hype easily but make no mistake it's wine not koolaid....I have both of them set up at 29.75

skibug

I've ridden both the blue and yellow (68"). So has one of my ski partners. With the skis set up as close to identical as you can get with the numbers 6.950, 2.45, .748, 8 degrees, FB 30.375; we both agree that the yellow is faster and we both skied about 2 to 3 buoys better on the yellow. With that said, anyone testing them out should ride them both and come to their own conclusion.

LeonL

Well I got a pair yesterday. Gonna try the blue first. I spoke with Paul Crawford and he talked me into a blue 67" and a yellow 66"? Ski hype!! Well I fell for a lot of hype 3 months ago and it didn't work out for me! Paul recommended 29.75 on the 67" and 2.450 6.950 .745 to start.