S bound 98 vs excursion 88

[JakubGulik]

Hello guys, I search a lot but still dont have enough answers. I am 187cm tall 76kg. I live in Slovakia and terrain I prefer is mostly uphill from valley to some mountain ridge and than downhill, of course the ridge is often wavy, and mostly off track. The snow condition are variable sometimes powder sometimes icy snow.
Question is which ski is better for me s-bound98 or excursion 88.
Thank you for your help.

[riel]

Hello guys, I search a lot but still dont have enough answers. I am 187cm tall 76kg. I live in Slovakia and terrain I prefer is mostly uphill from valley to some mountain ridge and than downhill, of course the ridge is often wavy, and mostly off track. The snow condition are variable sometimes powder sometimes icy snow.
Question is which ski is better for me s-bound98 or excursion 88.
Thank you for your help.

I cannot tell you which ski will be better for what you want to do, since I am not familiar with your terrain, your local conditions, or how steep and hard you like to go, but I can tell you how these skis are each a slightly different tool for a slightly different job

The Excursion 88 is a stiffer ski, which should give you more efficient kick and glide, as well as more flotation in deep soft snow, because a longer section of the ski will be supporting your weight. Arguably, the Traverse 78 and Excursion 88 are the only skis in the OTX lineup that have a camber and flex that are almost like that of traditional nordic skis.

The S-Bound 98 is a much softer ski, with more sidecut, which may make it easier to turn in some situations. However, the soft flex do mean that the fishscales may end up dragging on the snow pretty much all the time, and the tip quarter of the ski may flap around a bit when skiing on hard packed snow. On soft snow, these will probably be the easiest to turn.

The TL;DR:
E88: better kick and glide, maybe better float, worse turning in soft snow
S98: slower kick & glide, maybe worse float, better turning in soft snow

I do not know whether either of the two would do well in icy conditions or breakable crust.

[UtahBrian]

The S-Bound 98 is a much softer ski,

At the shop, the 88 and 98 appear to have the same camber and the same glide pocket geometry. The only obvious difference is width.

[RabbitEars]

I now own both. I have really loved the s bound 98. They’ve been my gateway ski. After struggling on some other skis but persisting. The only thing that I’ve had left to desire is better down hill on the really low angle powder. I’m a big guy and I end up snowshoeing in those conditions and watch my girlfriend float on by on her 98’s so I know it’s possible. With the limited length of the 98’s I’m going to embrace long skis this year. Hopefully the 88’s give me the little better experience. I’ll let you know how it goes.

[Woodserson]

E88: better kick and glide, maybe better float, worse turning in soft snow
S98: slower kick & glide, maybe worse float, better turning in soft snow

I do not know whether either of the two would do well in icy conditions or breakable crust.

The 88 (and 78) are very decent at breakable crust. Stiff shovels with a bit of rocker.

[lilcliffy]

I don't own a current 98- I have skied earlier versions of it- and have flexed the 98 many times in the shop (I have not handled the current model yet with the skin-tip-notch).
I own the Fischer Excursion 88.

My impression-

Back "in-the-day" the old Fischer Boundless (same sidecut profile as the S-Bound 98) was a very different ski than the Outtabounds (same sidecut profile as the S-Bound 88/Excursion 88). The old Boundless ski was low-cambered and round-flexing.

Every iteration of the S-Bound 98 that I have seen does not have the flex pattern of the old Boundless ski. As others have mentioned- my impression of the S-Bound 98 is that it has a very similar camber and flex to the 88- the primary difference being that the 98 has more sidecut.

Personally- I would not describe the 98 as being wider than the 88. The 98 has more sidecut than the 88- they are the same wdith underfoot. And- in my experience- the primary downhill advantage of the 98 over the 88 is on consolidated snow- not fresh soft snow.

In my limited experience- the 98 is not wider and does not offer more float than the 88.
The 88 has less sidecut and tracks better as a traditional XC ski.
The 98 has more sidecut and can get a bit "squirrelly" when XC skiiing.
The extra sidecut of the 98 give them a tighter turn radius on consolidated snow/hardpack.
Having tested them back-to-back before (several years ago)- I did not find the 98 to be a better downhill ski in deep soft snow.

This may of course be pure speculation- perhaps the "new" 98 is less cambered and softer than it has been in recent years?

[Tom M]

Both great skis in my opinion. There is a pretty big difference in how they feel. In general terms, the 88 tracks straighter, and has more spring in the kick for kick and glide. The 98 is a turner and my "go to" ski with leathers for XCD on moderate terrain in good snow conditions. For rolling terrain, the 88 or 78 would be a better choice. I ski the 78 for rolling terrain and Julie prefers the 88. Here are a few photos and some measurements you might find useful.

This photo shows the camber difference between the 88 (top) and 98 (bottom). The tips and tails are touching in this photo.

For a camber measurement, I've placed the skis together, one on top of the other, supporting the skis at the tips and tails, letting gravity hold them together. The gap for the 88's is 45 mm, for the 98's is 30 mm.

Lastly, I set up a simple test to compare the "stiffness" of the camber between the two skis. I wanted give you something more quantitative than the squeeze test, so I placed one ski on a flat beam, placed a 3.1 mm spacer between the ski and the beam, placed a strap around the ski at the balance point, then pulled the strap downward to measure the force required to compress the camber to the point where the bottom of the ski just touches the 3.1 mm spacer. The 2019 88's required 17.1 lbs of force and my 2015 98's required 11 lbs. Just for kicks, my Voile Objectives required 3 lbs of force.

In this last photo you can see the differences in the side cut between the 98 left and 88 right. The 98's are 179 cm long and the 88's are 169 cm long

Those with sharp eyes might notice the new 2021/2022 98's in this photo. I plan to set them up with the new Xplore binding for a comparison. Stay tuned later this winter for a review.

[lilcliffy]

Totally awesome Tom.
Thank you for this- EXTREMELY helpful.
So the 98 is clearly softer and less cambered than the 88- this makes sense to me.

[Woodserson]

I don't own a current 98- I have skied earlier versions of it- and have flexed the 98 many times in the shop (I have not handled the current model yet with the skin-tip-notch).
I own the Fischer Excursion 88.

My impression-

Back "in-the-day" the old Fischer Boundless (same sidecut profile as the S-Bound 98) was a very different ski than the Outtabounds (same sidecut profile as the S-Bound 88/Excursion 88). The old Boundless ski was low-cambered and round-flexing.

Every iteration of the S-Bound 98 that I have seen does not have the flex pattern of the old Boundless ski. As others have mentioned- my impression of the S-Bound 98 is that it has a very similar camber and flex to the 88- the primary difference being that the 98 has more sidecut.

Personally- I would not describe the 98 as being wider than the 88. The 98 has more sidecut than the 88- they are the same wdith underfoot. And- in my experience- the primary downhill advantage of the 98 over the 88 is on consolidated snow- not fresh soft snow.

In my limited experience- the 98 is not wider and does not offer more float than the 88.
The 88 has less sidecut and tracks better as a traditional XC ski.
The 98 has more sidecut and can get a bit "squirrelly" when XC skiiing.
The extra sidecut of the 98 give them a tighter turn radius on consolidated snow/hardpack.
Having tested them back-to-back before (several years ago)- I did not find the 98 to be a better downhill ski in deep soft snow.

This may of course be pure speculation- perhaps the "new" 98 is less cambered and softer than it has been in recent years?

I agree with all this quoted above.

I used to have a 189cm Sbound 98 Green/black version like Tom has above. It was so stiff I sold them to a friend. Indistinguishable from my Excursion 88's. But both Tom and Riel have indicated their 98's were softer. Maybe an anomaly maybe a year-to-year issue? Maybe QC?

Tom mentions above the "spring" in the Excursion 88. This is a real thing. That ski just loves to hop through unbroken snow, once I get a rhythm going I feel like I'm walking on the moon. This is a great ski.

I currently have a 179 Boundless and a 179 Sbound 98 Green/Black. The Boundless is lower cambered but only ever-so-slightly less stiff - barely noticeable- however when skiing downhill the Boundless is LEAPS and BOUNDS more fun to ski, and it doesn't have rocker! If ANY ski should be resurrected, it's the Fischer Boundless Wax. They nailed it on that one.

[UtahBrian]

Picked up the S-Bound 98 at REI today. Last year on the 88s in deep powder snow, I really wanted a wider ski with more sidecut and I really wanted it substantially lighter.

It’s a lot of work to keep lifting a heavy ski up over deep powder snow every step so I wanted it lighter and floatier. I’m excited to ride them this winter.