RVL8 2024 Playmaker Review

[piet-0]

So I finally got my new 2024 Playmakers out for a test shred (I don't know, if the 2024 model saw any changes apart from the graphics). This was my first run on real skiboards, after 25 years of skiing, 20 of which I spent on Salomon 99.9 Snowblades, but also after 7 years of break, except for one single day last year. After the plastic of my very old Snowblades finally had given in after that one day last year, I wanted something new, and since everybody is into backcountry skiing here in Norway, I wanted something for the backcountry. According to people here, there is powder only about a quarter of the times and it can get quite icy, too, so I wanted something for both powder and hard snow. jjue recommended the Playmaker for backcountry, thanks for the tips. Shipping took awfully long, and when they finally arrived, I got sick. But after it started dumping tons of powder today, I couldn't hold it and went for a test shred at Kroken Alpinpark in Tromsö. I wanna post more here once I get some more mileage in, but here are some first impressions.

APPEARANCE

The whole RVL8 2024 collection looks stunning, but the Playmakers are absolutely stunning this year. Combination with black bindings is perfect. I also like the look of the sidewall construction, I've only been used to capped so far. I like the feel and flex of the whole skiboard. Although it is a stiff model, it is still nowhere near the old Salomons. When putting the two boards on top of each other the tiny 1-2 mm camber (not sure what's the deal with that) was still easily squeezable. Overall, they got a really high quality feel to them.

By the way, it appeared to me that the tip and tail rockers are different. At the tails there's a clear point where it starts and it is a pretty linear rise, and at the tips it is very gradual and like exponential curve. Any of the experts here know what difference comes with?

BINDINGS

I'm gonna do a full section on the bindings, because I am not sure, I like them yet. I got RVL8 receptor bindings. First of all, they look awesome, high quality and robust. I also liked the grip first. Adjusting the bindings to the boots was a bit annoying, though. Having to tighten them, fit the boots in, take the boots out, unscrew them, and readjust them several times seems quite tedious. I wish, there was a way to do this with the boot on the binding to make it a lot less tiring.
I was hoping, after one binding set, I could just count the ripples and copy for the second one. But it seems they are not quite evenly molded, like one half off, so I couldn't do it all symmetrical. Not sure, if that is a real issue when riding.
Closing the bindings on the boots without a leash on the heel part or a bench to sit was absolutely tedious not being 20 and athletic anymore. I don't even know how you guys do it. The nice grip of the bindings actually hinders you completely from shimmying back into the heel piece. So holding up that heel piece while taking the weight off the foot so you can slide back while balancing your weight on the other foot that is already clipped in and trying to close the toe piece with your other hand seems nigh impossible. I think a leash attached to the heel piece would fix the problem.
Lastly, I had to readjust the bindings halfway through my riding session. I don't know how that could have happened, but the bindings started to rattle when I shook my feet and I could lift the boots slightly while holding down the skiboard. Maybe the softer boot material gave in to the very solid bindings? There are definitely some marks on the boots.
Also, very subjective thing: some parts of the bindings are a bit too sharp and pointy for my taste. Not a big issue though.

RIDING CONDITIONS

Tromsö is pretty low, close to sea level, and the Kroken Alpinpark starts right in a neighborhood. After a couple of sunny, but icy days, it had been dumping quite a lot of fresh powder the whole morning and continued through the day. Groomers were covered in powder and soft snow, and there were lots of piled up powder moguls. Almost no ice patches at all. Some supposed to be groomed parts were no groomers at all, because they were not touched at all by any machines and were full deep powder slopes. With some very ugly hidden ice patches in between. I rode center mounted through all conditions.

GROOMERS

Skating to the lift line felt quite slowed down. I hadn't waxed them and I was afraid that the factory wax maybe wasn't enough. Not having skied for 7 years, and definitely not on something that wide and rockered at all, I was maybe a little over cautious and chose a bunny hill first. Which was a red slope, funnily (I don't know that you guys have reds, but our red is somewhere between blue and black). I was surprised how easy and... normal it felt during my first somewhat skidded turns. I didn't feel the length, I definitely didn't notice the width at all. I again did feel a bit slowed down. Mid way through the run I started to get some speed and quick edge to edge action (don't know, if you could call that rusty something carving). This where I realized how I hadn't been realizing through (or over?) how many powder bumps I was just flying. That was really cool. I probably would have been on my face or butt on the Snowblades. I started to get more cocky and not account for bumps anymore by lifting the tips and it was absolutely no problem. I did realize a significant wobble, though, mostly when skidding. I took that slope a couple more times and came to the conclusion that the Playmakers where somehow both more stable than what I was used to and kinda grounded, when carving through and over bumps, and more unstable, when skidding through turns, especially steeper parts.
After tightening my boots, hoping to fix some of the wobble, I took the lift all the way up. Went for a blue - red - green path. While I mentioned feeling slowed down in the beginning, the slope which started off less steep than the previous one, had me carving a lot faster and I suddenly found myself gaining quite some speed which surprised me, because it was really not steep at all. Again I went through any obstacle with quite some speed without even noticing it many times. That made me feel very comfortable. I think once on edge the full length of the boards grip and provide quite some stability which was a positive surprise. I got so fast that I had to do a hockey stop when hitting the red section which was quite crowded. Again quite some wobble. I tried a couple of them and it seemed when performed center balanced they were quite wobbly and when leaned back accidentally the tails started to grip unwantedly and I skidded out rather than stopping fast. This was the first time I noticed the longer tails compared to what I was used to.
I used the last part of the red section to gain some speed for the green section which I just sped down without turns. I was surprised how stable the boards were, high speed but just flat. I expected a lot of wobble and instability do to the rocker, but no, I felt very safe. I barely made it through a very flat section, I got slowed down quite a bit again. I also noticed how much out of shape I am, my thighs were burning.
I took that one again and tried some proper conscious carving. I tried several times, but could not get some proper toe pressure going. Whenever I pushed the toes down, the boards slip away first before catching edge. Probably because of the rocker. You're pushing down on something where there is no edge. When trying to carve more center balance with the midfoot/whole foot the boards caught an edge immediately. They would however easily run under body so I always ended up with quite some heel pressure. I think I definitely need some carving lesson/practice, or at least learn how to carve the Playmakers.

NON-GROOMERS

Halfway through my shredding session I went for the full black run (according to the map). When I got off the lift, however, there was no groomed black slope. I found myself in completely ungroomed territory. It was pure deep powder. However, not nicely even and untouched, but completely messed up with tons of knee deep powder stashes, hidden holes betweed them, and very gnarly sidden ice patches. People had been plowing through that a ton. I had taken my old Snowblade into powder quite a couple times, but never hip deep, and never that level of uneven. It turned out to be quite the challenge. The occasional ice was actually doable, but the drops into the hidden holes were quite gnarly. With longer skis not a problem probably, but with skiboards you just drop in. Maybe something I just haven't figured out yet. I had one or two close calls where one of the boards was about to go a different way than my leg wanted to and I was wishing for some release binding for a moment. Apart from dropping chest deep once where I had to dig myself up again, I made it down all the way without issues. I was surprised how despite center mount and without leaning back significantly (or maybe I just did it right automatically and didn't notice) the skiboards were moving through (or dropping) through that gnarly stuff. I don't know that I would have gotten anywhere with the Snowblades.

LAST THOUGHTS

I got lucky and had awesome conditions. The Playmakers easily chopped through anything on groomers without problem. Good hold on ice patches. Knee to chest deep snow with ice in between was quite the challenge, but they managed even that. I fell on my back only once, but that was a very gnarly hole. Skidding is a bit weird so far, quite some wobble and sometimes unwanted tail edging. Center balanced to slightly backward somewhat pseudo carving pretty awesome and stable. Proper forward carving very weird. Don't know if that's just not meant to be? I was never good at carving, though, so maybe someone has tips. It could be my boots though. They have an extreme forward tilt already, so maybe I'm just constantly compensating to stay balanced on these short things and that's why I am automatically applying heal pressure despite being leaned forward. Don't know. Also, couldn't yet figure out when I was being slowed down and when I was suddenly gaining a lot of surprising speed.
I did not feel the width a wee bit. Is that normal? I did feel the length occasianlly, whenever the tail caught an edge unwantedly.
I was expecting quite some more topsheet to be chipped off the end of the day, but there were only three tiny spots and I know exactly when each happened. First, when I stepped on my own tail, second when some impatient ignorant in the lift line stepped on my tail, and third when I again stepped on my tip, to hold it down to check on the bindings. Barely visible, looks still very nice.
The bindings have not been my best friends yet, still need to get used to them.
The skiboards definitely turn heads. People do not know these things here. Got a lot of confused stares. And one nice comment from lift staff.
All in all I had a very fun day. The Playmakers pack some serious punch. Definitely takes some more practice and skill to access all that variety of performance when you need it.
Probably gonna add some more here, once I figured out more and also got some backcountry action in.
Thanks for making such awesome skiboards.
Thanks for reading.

[jjue]

Hi Piet-O, Thanks for the excellent review on the Playmakers. I have found for me personally the key to carving and eliminating any wobble on firm snow is to concentrate on putting pretty much all my weight on the downhill skiboard and getting the weight off the uphill skiboard, and concentrating on leaning over and getting the wide bodied skiboard right up on edge. As I carve through the turn , I then concentrate on transitioining all my weight to the new downhill skiboard and aggessively bringing it up on edge . I have been very impressed that with the torsional rigidity , zero camber , that as long as I concentrate on getting over on the one edge aggressively it holds very well on firm snow with minimal wobble . I guess I am converting it kind of into the edge of an ice skate ,ha ha. I am not sure what the issue is with your Receptor bindings . I have found that once I have set those bindings to my boot size everything stays in place with aggressive riding and does not loosen up . I adjust the binding so that the front lever snaps firmly in place over my boot but does not require alot of muscle to get it closed. It pretty much stays in place that way. More recently I have done a modification to my Receptor bindings which I use both in the resort and in the backcountry . It has a tech toe (alpine touring toe ) in the front and a telemark heel clip in the back.
https://forums.skiboardsonline.com/f...d-tech-binding

[piet-0]

I have found for me personally the key to carving and eliminating any wobble on firm snow is to concentrate on putting pretty much all my weight on the downhill skiboard and getting the weight off the uphill skiboard, and concentrating on leaning over and getting the wide bodied skiboard right up on edge. As I carve through the turn , I then concentrate on transitioining all my weight to the new downhill skiboard and aggessively bringing it up on edge . I have been very impressed that with the torsional rigidity , zero camber , that as long as I concentrate on getting over on the one edge aggressively it holds very well on firm snow with minimal wobble .

By downhill board do you mean the outside one? That is where I put my weight. But the outside leg is uphill for the beginning of the turn, but I put weight on it already.

I have not had wobble problems while carving, more so when skid turning. I also didn't feel like it was difficult getting on edge. But maybe I was just not doing it properly, because everybody seems to say it should be hard on the Playmakers.

I am not sure what the issue is with your Receptor bindings . I have found that once I have set those bindings to my boot size everything stays in place with aggressive riding and does not loosen up . I adjust the binding so that the front lever snaps firmly in place over my boot but does not require alot of muscle to get it closed. It pretty much stays in place that way.

I definitely struggled a bit to get them closed after tightening the setting, but once clipped in they didn't seem too tight at all, there was still a little bit of movement.

More recently I have done a modification to my Receptor bindings which I use both in the resort and in the backcountry . It has a tech toe (alpine touring toe ) in the front and a telemark heel clip in the back.
https://forums.skiboardsonline.com/f...d-tech-binding

Very cool. Why are you not using the Tyrolia Ambition bindings that you recommended?

[jjue]

Hi Piet-o, yes , seems like you are carving correctly , the board does wobble on skid turning , it is just something you have to get used to , it is mostly I think because of it's stiffness, softer skiboards tend to have more flex and seem to "slarve" more smoothly with less wobble when both boards are flat on firm icy snow. This is not an issue in powder where the Playmaker slaves smoothly without any wobble. Basically when I am in firm icy snow with the Playmaker I try to do the one foot outside foot carve most of the time and only slarve when it is super icy and I can't seem to get an edge. In that case I just know that the boards will wobble and accept the feeling knowing I still can control the slarve turn well without the boards sliding out from under me.
I wonder if your boot is the issue with the receptor binding . What boot do you have? The boot should be locked in tightly and not have any movement in the binding even without having to struggle closing the front lever. Some particular boots have unusually shaped nose to the boot which does prevent the front lever from snapping correctly onto the front ledge of the boot.
In fact Greco has a disclaimer on his listing for the receptor bindings

• Note: The toe height of the Tecnica Ten 2 and Salomon X-Access 80 ski boots will not work with the receptor bindings.

If you click on his link to the Salmon X access 80 ski boots , he has a picture of which nose of boots work with the Receptor bindings and which do not.
I switched from the Tyrolia Ambition with the tray riser that Jeff designed because I wanted to use Tech bindings and with Tech boot fittings to save on weight . These all require custom modifications that you do yourself . The two modifications I have done , is to modify the receptor binding as I have shown for the 110 and below boards.
For the Spruce boards I have removed the regular downhill bindings from Spruce risers and mounted Tech bindings myself as per this post.
https://forums.skiboardsonline.com/f...n-spruce-riser

The Tyrolia ambition binding and tray riser that you got from Jeff Singer is an excellent option that allows you to use regular downhill ski boots and not special tech AT boots , and the work is done by Jeff rather than yourself. No ski shop will do the kind of special custom mounts I did for myself and they did require alot of trial and error to get it right which is why I would not recommend it to a person just getting into backcountry riding . Also those modifications are not sanctioned by Jeff Singer or RVL8 and will void your warranty for the bindings. For ease of use and familiarity the frame type Tyrolia ambition binding can't be beat . The only downside is weight.

[piet-0]

Hi Piet-o, yes , seems like you are carving correctly , the board does wobble on skid turning , it is just something you have to get used to , it is mostly I think because of it's stiffness, softer skiboards tend to have more flex and seem to "slarve" more smoothly with less wobble when both boards are flat on firm icy snow. This is not an issue in powder where the Playmaker slaves smoothly without any wobble. Basically when I am in firm icy snow with the Playmaker I try to do the one foot outside foot carve most of the time and only slarve when it is super icy and I can't seem to get an edge. In that case I just know that the boards will wobble and accept the feeling knowing I still can control the slarve turn well without the boards sliding out from under me.

Thanks for the tips. Good you clarified. Cause some skiers carve with their inner leg as the dominant one.

I wonder if your boot is the issue with the receptor binding . What boot do you have? The boot should be locked in tightly and not have any movement in the binding even without having to struggle closing the front lever. Some particular boots have unusually shaped nose to the boot which does prevent the front lever from snapping correctly onto the front ledge of the boot.
In fact Greco has a disclaimer on his listing for the receptor bindings

• Note: The toe height of the Tecnica Ten 2 and Salomon X-Access 80 ski boots will not work with the receptor bindings.

If you click on his link to the Salmon X access 80 ski boots , he has a picture of which nose of boots work with the Receptor bindings and which do not.

I have some old Salomon Performa RT. Their toe height is around 55 mm. Do you know what the maximum nose height is for the receptors to work? The description and the picture don't tell.

I switched from the Tyrolia Ambition with the tray riser that Jeff designed because I wanted to use Tech bindings and with Tech boot fittings to save on weight . These all require custom modifications that you do yourself . The two modifications I have done , is to modify the receptor binding as I have shown for the 110 and below boards.
For the Spruce boards I have removed the regular downhill bindings from Spruce risers and mounted Tech bindings myself as per this post.
https://forums.skiboardsonline.com/f...n-spruce-riser

The Tyrolia ambition binding and tray riser that you got from Jeff Singer is an excellent option that allows you to use regular downhill ski boots and not special tech AT boots , and the work is done by Jeff rather than yourself. No ski shop will do the kind of special custom mounts I did for myself and they did require alot of trial and error to get it right which is why I would not recommend it to a person just getting into backcountry riding . Also those modifications are not sanctioned by Jeff Singer or RVL8 and will void your warranty for the bindings. For ease of use and familiarity the frame type Tyrolia ambition binding can't be beat . The only downside is weight.

I am planning on getting some AT boots anyways, which are supposed to fit into the Ambition binding as well. I am also hoping that those future boots will fix the forward lock of my old boots and that way my leg burning and the carving.

[jjue]

I have some old Salomon Performa RT. Their toe height is around 55 mm. Do you know what the maximum nose height is for the receptors to work? The description and the picture don't tell.ou

The toe height of my downhill and AT ski boots are around 50mm, Perhaps more important that the height of the nose is how the nose is shaped. If you look at the pictures that Greco posted , the Salomon nose is straight up and down whereas the other ski boot has a more sloping nose. I think a tall straight up and down nose may interfere with the proper closure of the front lever of the Receptor binding leading to some of the issues you may be having . One very easy way to test this theory is to bring your skiboard with binding attached to a ski shop and try a different model ski boot with the same exact sole length as your boot in the binding but with a different nose shape. You are in the market for an AT boot anyways and while you are shopping you can look for a non Salomon AT boot with a more sloping design nose and try that in your Receptor binding. AT boots should work fine in both your Receptor binding and in your Tyrolia ambition binding as long as the nose issue with the Receptor binding is dealt with. All AT boots have walk mode as well as a forward lean lock . If the forward lean of your regular ski boots is bothering you ,you will need to look for an AT boot that locks your forward stance in a different forward lean , or ski in walk mode for lots of forward flex. AT boots are very different depending on their flex rating , some are very rigid much like performance downhill boots and others are much more flexy.

[piet-0]

Thanks. Are there any AT boots you can recommend?

[jjue]

Thanks. Are there any AT boots you can recommend?

I am very happy with the current Dynafit boot that I am using which has been rebranded as the Dynafit seven summits .(It was previously called the Dynafit Radcal). It is available in Europe at very good price , is very comfortable and good for skiboarding and for touring. The most important thing for me is that it has a very wide last 104 last which is good for my
very wide feet . If you have narrow feet it might not be the best choice.
Here is the Dynafit blurb
https://www.dynafit.com/seven-summit...-08-0000061910
But you can get the boot much cheaper from European online retailers
https://www.alpinstore.com/en/557252...BoCMJMQAvD_BwE

[piet-0]

Thanks a lot. Certainly gonna try them. I might need wide boots anyways, I am always in pain in my old ones.
And if they fit with both receptor and ambition bindings, that's perfect.

[Steeps]

Receptors are always a pain to set up the first time. When I loan boards to friends I speed the process up by choosing a heel position and screwing the heel piece down tightly, then keeping the screws very loose on the toe piece. That way, it can be slid into position on the toe of the boot. It won't be tight, but after that I get them to take their boot out, move it two notches back, and tighten it up. That's not always perfect and may need to be adjusted another notch tighter or looser, but it's pretty close.

I do find that they will dent the plastic of my ski boots over time, and usually about once a season I'll find that I have to tighten a binding up by one notch. I would guess that the loosening up on your first session was probably your boots adjusting to the bindings. I find that one of my boots can be a little bigger than the other, so sometimes the bindings are at slightly different settings. I also suspect that the plastic of my boots shrinks and expands with temperature changes more than the bindings do, so a large temperature change might change the fit of the binding. Once I tighten my bindings, I've never had to loosen one, so I guess my boots just keep denting in a little further. I've ridden these boots for at least 9 seasons (8 with Receptors) with no permanent damage. Very old pairs of Receptors will start to show some wear at the point the steel bail passes through the toe clip, and can start to fit a little inconsistently, but this takes many years of heavy riding.


To put my bindings on, I usually keep my toe lifted up a little bit as I slide my boot back into the heel piece, instead of putting the boot flat on the binding and sliding back into it. As I lower my toe down to the binding it lifts up the heel piece a bit and keeps it in place, so I don't have to hold the heel piece up as I'm clipping the toe. My mountain has a gondola as the main lift, and a lot of hikes, so I might need to remove my boards 10 to 20 times a day, and it's not something I have to think about. The biggest issue is usually snow stuck to the bottom of the boot, but the ripples on the bindings work well to remove it.

Overall, your experience sounds pretty normal with a new pair of Receptors! You'll get used to them.


New boards seem to wobble a lot more at first, and I think it's because the sharp edges of the tips and tails catch more easily than they should. You can manually detune the tip and tail edges a little bit on new boards to reduce the wobbling, but it will naturally decrease as you use them more.

[piet-0]

Receptors are always a pain to set up the first time. When I loan boards to friends I speed the process up by choosing a heel position and screwing the heel piece down tightly, then keeping the screws very loose on the toe piece. That way, it can be slid into position on the toe of the boot. It won't be tight, but after that I get them to take their boot out, move it two notches back, and tighten it up. That's not always perfect and may need to be adjusted another notch tighter or looser, but it's pretty close.

Thanks for the tips, that is also what I tried to do in the end.

Overall, your experience sounds pretty normal with a new pair of Receptors! You'll get used to them.

Yeah, I will. It is not that I wasn't used to non release bindings. I was. My Snowblades had them, too. But made of plastic. They obviously look and seem lower quality, but handling was a lot easier. Their grip wasn't anywhere close to the Rvl8 receptors, so I could always easily slide back in. The heel piece would lock in to some upright position, so didn't need to be held up. Plus I had a leash on it to pull it up. And the toe piece was a lot blunter, and would not make any dent into the boots (I used the very same boots with these).
I'll get used to the new setup, though.

New boards seem to wobble a lot more at first, and I think it's because the sharp edges of the tips and tails catch more easily than they should. You can manually detune the tip and tail edges a little bit on new boards to reduce the wobbling, but it will naturally decrease as you use them more.

I think the part getting used to was just when they would catch an edge. It seemed it heavily depended on my posture. When leaning back to much the tails would suddenly catch an edge when I didn't want to, so I ended up making a skid turn/stop, when I actually wanted to hockey stop.

[piet-0]

Got a couple more rounds in. Also got new boots. I don't what it is, the boots, the conditions, the decrease of the initial sharpness of the edges, or getting used to the Playmakers, but it's going so much better than on day 1. I absolutely love them. They are the best snow sliding device I have ever owned. Truly awesome.

Steeps: I have found your review on the Playmakers and understood that you rode them center mounted, even off piste. Have you tried set back? What was your reason for going center? I feel like when center mounted the tail feels a bit long to properly balance the weight on the tails for off piste. I kinda don't trust the rocker enough to balance my weight center in deeper snow. Or did you just ride them like on groomers and it worked?

[Steeps]

The year I got my Playmakers had fantastic snow coverage, but not a lot of big powder days. Most of the riding I was doing on them was on fairly crusty snow with a bit of wind-drifted powder. I guess with the big rocker on them, I didn't feel that I needed any additional setback. I keep my bindings set back pretty far to start with. I really liked the feel of central mounting in "do or die" terrain where I needed precise control. It felt like that position put all the pressure on the flat center portion of the board and made them grip the snow like mountain goat's hooves. It also gave a nice symmetrical feeling when I needed to do quick changes of directions.

I'm usually riding very steep terrain in powder and almost all of my float comes from my tails on fast descents. I'm not sure that I'd have enough support if I set them back. The tips of my boards are angled up compared to the slope of the mountain (closer to the horizontal) and mostly off the surface of the snow. I'm also used to riding longer boards like the Spliff that don't have the setback option with Receptors, and have a lot of tail to ride on. I've had issues with my tips sinking on my DLPs, but not with the Playmakers or Spliffs.

This video sums up all of the above - you'll see what I mean about riding on the tails in powder near the end of the video.

[piet-0]

I keep my bindings set back pretty far to start with. I really liked the feel of central mounting in "do or die" terrain where I needed precise control. It felt like that position put all the pressure on the flat center portion of the board and made them grip the snow like mountain goat's hooves. It also gave a nice symmetrical feeling when I needed to do quick changes of directions.

So what you're saying is that you kept the toe and heel pieces of the bindings set back, but mounted the whole thing centered on the skiboards. Is that correct?
Cause from what I understand in your review, you said your boots were even closer to the tips of the boards than the tails, which means set forward and not back. Am I missing something here?

I'm usually riding very steep terrain in powder and almost all of my float comes from my tails on fast descents. I'm not sure that I'd have enough support if I set them back. The tips of my boards are angled up compared to the slope of the mountain (closer to the horizontal) and mostly off the surface of the snow.

Yeah, I totally get what you're saying, and that is how I used to ride, too. My feeling was, however, that with that additional tail support, it felt harder and also pretty exhausting to lean back and keep the tips up, because the tail felt so massive and difficult to press into the snow. That is why I was asking.

This video sums up all of the above - you'll see what I mean about riding on the tails in powder near the end of the video.

Yeah, I've seen this video, it's pretty awesome. All of your videos are pretty sick.

[Baldybob]

I used my 2011 RVL8 KTPs back East for a day at RoundTop and WhiteTail with softboot bindings and snowboard boots. Both mountains were ice man made and under the lights until closing at 10pm

I got home to LA and went twice to my only snow at Mountain High for 2 days on the new 2025 RVL8 Playmaker SEI with the System MTN rear entry binding.

My impressions after 12 runs on new sharp edges are that they have even more edge hold in ice and man made then the high cambered. just a bit shorter, KTPs.

I tested going off to the ungroomed sides of runs and heard them grind and cut right thru the ice. They do seem a bit heavy for jump turns versus my small cambered 25 year old MNPs.

And that is to be expected. They are definitely slower edge to edge for that roller blades on snow type of fast turn fun. They love to Slarve and I can stand up straighter and run them from my heels.

That makes longer turns and a rest on the mountain for this 75 year old a nice treat mid day -- Steeps review said they "grip the snow like mountain goat hooves" --I don't know from mountain goats down in SoCal - -but I agree - -the most secure edges I have felt on Skiboards. And the stiffness reminds me of the KTPs and their little brother, the Line MNPs.

So now my quiver has 2 Rockered RVL8 Skiboards --one stiff, the SEI as an all mountain Skiboard and one super Flexy Rockered Condor for deep powder. Add my Line MNPs =SoCal "Baldy Boards" which are 25 years old, skinny and ready to travel over ice, snow or rocks!!

I started the first few runs trying to protect the new boards and their bases, edges --and by day 2 and the last few runs, it was OK to have these as my new "Baldy Boards" and let em go thru the trees and over a few stumps and hard stuff. Hell they were a 75th Birthday present and let's ride em til I need to buy another pair and keep Greco and RVL8 in business!

The KTPs are back in Pikesville, MD in my son's house. The are at home on the mountains in Southern PA - -EPIC mtns btw - -

Final shout out to DPS Phantom which I applied to all my Skiboards - -the one time base application now costs a bit more in the new formula from DPS in Salt Lake. I used half an application to coat the Playmakers, MNPs and a pair of Line Jedi plus a quick 2nd dose for the KTPs. DPS Phantom, Don't leave the Chairlift without it! But shun their $2000 skis without bindings!!!!!