That’s some good real world stuff there. You’d never know based on the very sparse descriptions of the skis on the company web sites.riel wrote: ↑Sat Jul 31, 2021 10:26 pm
The Fischer Outback 68, like the Rossignol BC65, is a ski that has good traction, forgiving kick action, and easy, stable control. It gets that by having a relatively soft flex, which slows the ski down when you wanted good glide.
The Fischer Traverse 78 is faster, turns better, and has better float in deeper snow. It gets that by having a stiffer flex, and a slight second camber. The downside is you need to apply more careful kick and glide technique, the upside is you can go faster, further, and turn better with less effort once you have acquired that little bit of extra skill.
For a beginner who wants to stay in the tracks, the Fischer Spider is probably a good choice. For a beginner who wants to go anywhere (not too steep), the Traverse 78 is almost certainly a better choice than the Outback 68.
I have the Outback 68s, seem fine for a basic XC ski for BC trails. They kick, glide, turn. They fail the paper test though, so not really a double camber for fast kick and glide, too soft apparently. Also, they are sketchy on icy trails due to the high camber and soft, light brittle feel. But, mostly that sketch is due to soft boots. I tried to fix that by using my T2x boots, but those boots are very rockered, and the 3pin binding is flat on the ski, so tons of rocker launch and so still really sketchy on ice!
I used to have some waxless E99s which probably were faster kick and glide, but I can’t tell if they really were. The E99 had a double camber but soft tip.