Easiest 'Out of the box' high end ski with stock settings

[jenksski]

What's the easiest high end ski straight out of the box for an intermediate course level skier.

Only ski a set a week maybe two on a rare occasion.

As I don't have too much time on the water each week. I'd rather not tinker with fin/wing settings and boot placement.

Currently skiing on a 2016 Radar Senate Graphite since new.

Max speed 34mph.

 

Be great to hear what peoples opinions are........

 

Cheers guys

[Horton]

@jenksski if you want a high end ski and don't want to mess with settings buy it from a top ski shop like @perfski. They will get you set.

[jjackkrash]

At minimum someone is going to need to measure the fin to make sure its "stock"; then you need to periodically check it and measure it to make sure it stays there. There is no real good way to get around learning how to measure the fin (or at least skiing with someone who can measure it for you) if you are going to run a high-end ski.

[jenksski]

@Horton, thanks for the tip. Can you recommend a high end ski which is easier and takes less technical ability to ski on?

Cheers

[jenksski]

@jjackkrash, totally understand where your coming from. I want to learn ski setup and tinker. I can reach out to high end skiers to help me. I just wanted to see if there's particular higher end ski's which take less technical ability.

Cheers

[pregom]

I think you will find as many different opinions as there are skiers. Something that works well for one skier doesn't work well for another one. Different styles, different speeds, different rope lengths. Maybe if you provide more details about your skiing, people here will be able to provide you with some options to consider.

[Stevie Boy]

@jenkski we do not know where you are based, if in Florida or California there are good people around that can help you set a ski up, spend a little money and find a good coach that has the understanding of how a ski works, avoid the Guy on the dock who thinks he knows and starts plucking numbers from nowhere, that he thinks should work.

Best to get somebody who works from the stock fin numbers or binding placement and makes alteration based on what he sees and what you are feeling.

Always keep a record in a small diary or your phone, of your skis setup, get a sharp pencil and scribe a line along the base of the fin, where it meets the ski , this will serve as a quick reference, to show if your fin has moved.

[Horton]

@jenksski none of the currently popular high-end skis are more difficult to set up than the others. When you read long threads in this forum about set up it is generally for very short line skiing. Unless you're running into 32 off or shorter you really should set this ski to factory stock and leave it alone.

[lpskier]

2020 Radar Senate Pro, based on my experience with it. BUT “out of the box” is a misnomer. I set the ski to stock settings, but the brand new ski arrived nowhere near stock settings. I thought it was a very good ski, even though I was just being polite when I tried it.

[Jordan]

Throw a whisper fin on any of them. Easiest fin to set up. Horton has a video where he set one up with tape measure and the lines inscribed on the fin.

[jayski]

D3 ION

[ktm300]

I tried a number of different skis this year. Radar Vapor was friendliest of all. Had three setups: the 2 on their website and one from Rini. All three skied well and I ran same score on all three. Also tried a different shaped fin and skied well too. Seems to ski reasonably well no matter what.

 

If you are new to measuring fins, it is as simple as falling out of a tree. The length and depth are easy. The distance from tail is a mere approximation. Set the fin "stock" and move the dft to suit.

[escmanaze]

Thanks for asking the question. I think there are a lot of folks in your shoes.

[aupatking]

I have found most Radar Pro Builds I get from my dealer to set up for his clients are usually pretty darn close. Most of the time. Find a buddy who knows how to use a caliper. Even the $30 8” caliper from harbor freight is plenty accurate, so it’s not hard to do yourself. You definitely want to, at least, check to make sure it’s close to suggested “stock”

[customski]

Agree with the above comments and have always thought any D3 model you can get on and ski well with stock settings.

I quite like owning calipers and Denalis though.

[ForrestGump]

You could ask 10 people and get 10 different answers, as this is very subjective. I will say, going back a decade....the ski that really allowed me to not just pick up buoy count but also improve my technique was the Radar Senate C. Other skis like the Goode Mid and HO A2 got me from 35 into 38. But the Senate got me from 15off to 32 off in one season. Radar has always had "something" with the Senate concept and design.

[APB]

RADAR

[jenksski]

From what everyone's saying, I think it's time to purchase a caliper measuring tool and learn how to set my ski or any new ski in fact to stock settings.

 

Thanks guys

[Stevie Boy]

@jenksski just one important thing to remember when measuring a ski especially depth, always have the ski to you left or always make sure that you measure the same side every time, it is not unusual for the the depth to be different on one side.

[Horton]

@jenksski I would suggest you find a shop or local skier with the knowledge and let them do it.

 

[Jody_Seal]

Radar Vapors and Senates seem to be the most user friendly as i see a lot of them on the dock at tournaments here in Florida.

Bang for the Buck..

[Dacon62]

@jenksski get some calipers and a set of wing angle gauges and get your ski set up yourself. That way you don't have to rely on anyone to check or change your fin settings. It's not that difficult. The link below shows and explains exactly how to do it.

I have had several iterations of the Senate and have found them all to be easy skis to ski well on without any weirdness's.

 

https://radarskis.com/finsettings

[jjackkrash]

The Fin Whispering book is worth it just for the "how to measure consistently" sections. Because there is a technique to measuring consistently that is not necessarily intuitive.

[jenksski]

@Dacon62 Thanks for the link. I've checked this out today and did a few measurements without changing any settings to make sure I'm getting the same measurements from Radar.

Just want to use stock settings, to check it now and again to make sure the setting's haven't changed.

As you've said, it's not hard to check and adjust. A few YouTube videos help too.

 

[jenksski]

Thanks for the feed back guys, looking forward to the next learning curve.

[pregom]

Radar has a page for fin settings that shows how to use a caliper for the different measurements. Other manufacturer may recommend other methods, especially for DFT.

[mike_mapple]

@jenksski you can always give me a call at the shop if you have any questions as well.