I been selling and working on skis for a lotta years. In terms of the big brands, cost go up, quality go down. K2 is the prime example. I got buddies still on their old Petittors, hellbents, maidens etc. but nowadays k2 group products are the worst victim of shrinkflation. Putting 10 year old skis right beside their modern counterparts is really telling. So if you’ve got skis that are priced way higher than competitors, with few exceptions it’s because their inflation strategy was to increase prices instead of cost cutting their product with cheaper materials and outsourcing manufacturing.
Nowadays consumption in skiing is off the chains. Every year, new graphic, blow out the old ones. That’s reason 1 that you see poachers for 300$.
reason 2 is they’re outsourced. mass produced in China. Cheaper to risk it for the biscuit and have 15% of them blow up than make sure every ski is dialed. Most warrantys are 2 years, and that’s based on the average consumer who skis 14 days a year.
even though I’m grinding planks all day, I still stop to admire when a gorgeous pair comes in. On3ps, J’s, etc. so are they gonna be twice the ski for twice the price? Honestly, yeah. The craftsmanship is second to none. It’s in the details for sure, but you can really feel the difference in trim.
Caveat being, if you hit a big enough rock, the 850$ skis are gonna blow up just the same as the $300 sale pair. So that’s where the point of diminishing returns is. Ideal conditions, I do genuinely believe a pair of 3ps would outlast the poachers by more than double. But if something non-ideal happens, you’re still out double the $.
