Specs and Tech
The Faction Prodigy 1.0 has a short turn radius (16m at 176cm) and comes with what I’d call a typical rocker profile for a modern jib oriented ski. By that, I mean lots of rocker in both the tip (370mm) and tail (360mm) with camber underfoot.
The new ski has a full Poplar core with full sidewalls underfoot and ‘2.2mm edges’. The edges are definitely bigger than Faction’s other skis (excluding the Candide 1.0). However, the increased dimension (the 2.2mm) is the width of the edge along the base, rather than the height (as with Armada skis) which is the more important measure for durability in my experience.
On-snow and park review
The Prodigy 1.0s are pretty stiff skis. Combine the flex with the generous camber underfoot and plenty of dampness and you have a ski that holds up pretty well when skiing groomers for something with so much rocker. The short sidecut and narrow (by today’s standards) waist means they also feel super quick.
They are also surprisingly good at dealing with crappy snow for a narrowish park ski. They seem to cut through chunky snow nicely and not deflect too much even when riding the icy shit you get skiing down the glacier in the summer.
As already mentioned, the Prodigy 1.0s are pretty stiff and damp. That stiffness with a decent dose of camber underfoot gives you a pretty good landing platform on jumps, the skis are also light and easy to spin, making them a great ski to take on kickers.
On rails, they are nice and light for quick switchups thanks to a 90mm waist and low swingweight (and measured weight)
Durability
When it comes to durability is that you get a ‘feeling’ about skis when you ride them and to me, these never felt any more fragile than the other skis I tried this year. I still think there are likely more durable skis out there, but as far as I can tell, Faction has made durability improvements with the Prodigy 1.0.
The only tiny minor chips I got were superficial and unlike some older Faction skis, I didn’t see any delamination or edge pullout in 25+ days of cruising summer rails.