Reflex Zen Origin - Review

General

The Reflex Zen Origin is the latest ski from the historic French ski company. The ski design incorporates very round bevels, firm flex, and a deep tunnel. The result is a ski that makes a lot of speed into the wakes, slows down approaching the ball, and turns hard.

Ball to wakes

Leaving the ball and heading for the first wake the tip of the ski stays down and pulls away from the pylon. The ski creates angle and load automatically.

The ski is noticeably stable through centerline. Skiers who overload at the wakes will find an unexpected level of forgiveness. The wake crossings are my favorite thing about the Zen Origin.

Wakes to ball

The Zen Origin flows out off the second wake and rolls out freely. The ski does not feel loose in terms of roll but it flows away from the centerline enough to initiate the turn early.

Because the ski rides deep in the water it feels stable and sheds speed quickly approaching the ball.

On Side

Riding deep in the water and arcing in early results in flowing fast on side turns. The ski carries plenty of speed through apex and back toward the wakes. If needed the ski will turn very aggressively at on side.

The tail rides deep in the water and the overall flex of the ski is relatively stiff. This means that if the skier tries to force the tail of the ski to slide it will overpressure and the tip will come up.

Off Side

Off Side turns on the Zen Origin are dependable and consistent. The ski can be turned with the skier's weight centered or turned more aggressively with additional front foot pressure.

As with on side it is recommended that the skier refrains from pushing the tail of the ski at apex.

Quirks

The Zen Origin does not make extra speed at gate pull out. Skiers will need to pull out a little later and with more intensity than normal.

The ski can be set up to be ridden with a neutral or back foot bias but these settings do not work past 32 off. The settings used for the bulk of this review required a front foot bias on both sides.

My settings are below. The DFT of .665 seems unusual until you take into account how round the trailing edge of the ski is. In other words, the shape of the back of the ski changes the reference point.

29 7/8 - 2.505 - 6.855 - .665 - 7 Degrees

Click here to demo the Zen Origin https://reflexwaterskiusa.com/demo