Reviews by User: Ben Lyman (9)

heh. heh. heh. these things rock. absolutely, without a doubt, the sickest skis I've ever owned. or borrowed, rented, or even heard of. I may have only skied on them for one run, and I may have been taken in by how easy it is to skin up a mountain when your skis are this big (yes, get the 130 mm Black Diamond STS skins and a releasable heel for them--you'll be glad you did), but with skiing everything from rime bearings 1" x4", tight chutes with breakable wind crust, windbuff, some moderately-sized airs into who-knows-what, and a little raincrust to finish things off, I'm pretty sure that I've tried them out in just about every type of snow they could possibly suck in, and they don't. Congratulations, Volkl, you did it again. Oh, the Buddha sticker is offensive on a mass-produced ski made by underpaid workers in China, but I chose function over form (and ethics?) this time.

What can you say about the Targa other than that it's basically "industry standard" for telemarkers? Everybody (OK, so 3 out of 5) uses it because it works, and it works well. But I hope G3 staff read this, because they screwed one thing up in an incredible way. What the hell is with designing the heel piece to accept two climbing bars but only designing the ice-free heel plate to accept one? Come on guys--you even sell multiple length climbing bars, so you obviously meant for us to be able to use the bars with the heel with the plate. Oh well. I still own three pairs, and wouldn't buy anything else.

Yeah, what StokedOnPow said. I must have looked at every helmet on the market, and this is the only one I drooled on myself over. (But if you think it's ugly, then hey, buy something else.) On its first day, I hiked and skinned an ascent for over two hours, and couldn't believe I actually had a helmet with me at the summit, it was so light. The dial-do-hickey at the back of the helmet allows you to adjust it to a wide variety of head shapes & sizes--although I had to exchange the L I ordered (due to the size chart--order small) for a M. Lucky me, a friend loved it so much he just took the L and ordered the M for me.

I don't know about "waterproof," but I've also been loathe to try it out when it matters (and when it's pouring out). It's thin enough and form-fitting enough that it'll fit nicely under a shell, and it works wonders as a mid-layer in the most horrid weather I've tried it in (38 degrees F, 45-60 mph wind, and pissing rain). It's also been great for that first bit of a hike or tour when you want that extra warmth but don't want to overheat--and with the pit zips, it'll keep you comfy until you get so warm that all you need to hike in are your thermals. I'm usually a M, as I've got a pretty small frame, but the L fit me much better (172 lbs, 6' 2").

I've read complaints about the "dying duck" sound that is created by breathing through the avalung, and although I can attest to the fact that this noise is indeed a bit disturbing, it can't suck as much as not breathing at all. In my (as recommended) time walking around the house getting used to breathing through the avalung, I've found that the noise is reduced if the avalung breathing tube is bent to reduce sharp angles and "waves" in the compression of the tube bellows. That is, if you fully extend the tube's accordian folds and THEN bend the tube to fit in or right in front of your mouth, it makes less noise than if you just pull it out enough to get it into your mouth. I've also read several reviews of the entire avalung concept that criticized the product for not being fail-safe due to user error (if you ski with the breathing tube out of your mouth, it tends to fill with snow and thus wouldn't work as designed). In my experience, users can always find a way to render a piece of equipment useless, so that's a stupid argument against using an avalung. Perhaps the best argument for wearing one: http://vimeo.com/6581009

These are a very light, very nimble, very precise ski that excel in climbing (the bindings are great too--see my separate review of them) due to their light weight, and that are capable of billy-goating sketchy lines that require exact turn execution. They aren't made for dropping big airs, skiing switch, or floating deep powder. But as a telemarker who locks the heal only for sketchy descents, I have found this setup to be exactly what I was looking for on those days when stiffer snow or hairy lines require a less laid-back or full-speed attitude than you generally see these days. The B78 Respect is made for European touring (hard snow and steep, dicey lines), and when that's what you're headed for, grab this nimble little ski and set your edges exactly where you want them.

I'm with Ron. The heel throws are problematic, to say the least. I've got three pairs of these bindings, but probably won't buy them again (but damn, they're a good deal). The heel piece will allow you to install two heights of climbing bars, but if you do this, the rear throw will collapse while you're skinning after just a few uses (it's simple physics, don't ask me why G3 hasn't figured it out after all these years). Furthermore, the "ice-free plate" that goes over the heel piece doesn't fit if you have more than one climbing bar installed--another stupid design flaw they should have fixed years ago. The material they use on the ice-free plate is also pretty fragile--I've got chips and chunks missing from a pair used for 1.5 seasons. After years of skiing on the X-mountain cartridges, a couple of friends convinced me to upgrade to the world cups--holy moley, if you have any intentions of being a decent telemarker, get the world cups. It doesn't even matter how much you weigh--one of the people who converted me can't weigh over 115 #, and her husband is around 195 #, and both swear by these bindings.

These things are WAY bigger than the size chart indicates. I ordered the size that correlated to my waist size, and had at least four extra inches of material around my waist. Kinda funny looking, too.

In all honesty, I haven't skied this particular model of Voile, so my review is strictly on their release system, which blows. Oh, it'll release all right, don't worry about that--your legs are safe in these bindings. The problem is that unless you're on hardpack (and who wants to tele on hardpack?), you'll NEVER get back into them. I once had to traverse, on one ski, a half mile BACK INTO A SKI AREA in order to get the F*#$!ers back on. In order to keep from pre-releasing, you have to tighten the screw way down, and then you have to exert the same force to get back in that you had to exert to get out--creating those forces is hard to do when you're not jumping off a cliff or skiing 60 mph, which are both tough while putting your ski back on. What a stupid design. Update: I find it interesting that this review has gotten negative feedback from others. I'd appreciate a comment explaining what the problem is. I honestly hate the Voile release system, and I've had it on several pairs of skis in every condition over a period of many years (I still have a pair of rock skis with Voile releaseables on them). In any case, I'm standing by my review no matter how many Voile fans give it a thumbs down, because potential buyers deserve to know what they're getting into. On a completely different note, I lived in Salt Lake City for years, and found Voile to be a fantastic company to deal with--I could walk into their shop with broken gear and they'd hand me replacement parts over the counter, no questions asked. Most of their stuff is incredible and innovative, and their customer service rocks. I just hate this release system.