Woody74

@aspski and @S1Pitts, I grew up near here! My parents still live in Invermere, I had no idea this place existed. Growing up it was mid June before the lakes up there were warm enough to ditch the wetsuit most years.

I ruptured mine skiing in the summer of 2018. The doctor also prescribed ear drops and told me to take it easy for two weeks. It fully healed and my hearing was back to normal.

@DaveD Thanks for the response. Looks like the 69.5" is what I should be looking at.

Hello everyone. I got back into skiing in 2018 after about a 17 year break. I forgot how much I love skiing! In 2018 I picked up an HO Syndicate Omni and it's been a great ski (much lighter than my Kidder Redline from the late 90's!). I primarily free ski open water and would consider myself a good free skier. I ski 22-28' off, occasionally 32' off at 32-34mph. On the very rare occasion I get to ski a course (only 3 times in my life) I am good for 3-4 buoys @ 15' off at 32mph with one full pass at 6 buoys.

 

As I am getting into much better ski shape this year and skiing weekly I am considering moving from a crossover ski (my HO Omni) to a true course slalom ski as that is what I grew up skiing on. I am 47 years old and a fit 6'3" 235lbs. My Omni is a 69" and feels more than stable at my current weight and boat speed. The ski I am looking at getting this winter is the 2022 Radar Vapor Pro Build. My question is do I need to get the 69.5" or would I be ok with a 68" in the Radar Pro build at my height, weight and ski style? A good friend now lives on a private lake with a course so my chances to run through the course will increase but I will still primarily be early morning aggressive open water sessions. Thanks for any info/help!

 

Joe

I wanted to give a big thank you to how HO helped me out last week! I bought an HO Syndicate Omni in august of 2018. The ski only has about 20 days on the water and about a week and a half ago I came off the lake and saw that I had three stress fractures in the carbon fiber top layer just under the front boot. I called HO and asked if the ski was still safe to use or if there was anything I could do as the warranty ended in 2019? Lorin was the lady I spoke to at HO and she asked me to e-mail her some pictures and additional info. She and HO promptly sent me out a brand new 2020 Syndicate Omni to replace my damaged ski!! I am so grateful to them for the new ski and how they handled my situation. I thought I would share my positive experience.

 

Joe

@Kwoody51 everything I have been reading the last three days says exactly what you confirmed, the T factors have great lateral support and the Vapors have excellent comfort as well as excellent support. Being away from the sport for 15 years I missed a lot of the evolution of equipment and all I know are open toed boots and tend to lean toward the T factor for that reason. With all of that being said I haven't seen a single negative review of the Vapors either. Possibly a win-win whichever boot I choose?

@CCPD3 Have you tried the Radar Pulse boot at all? It seems similar to the Vapor but with a less rigid outer shell I am guessing?

@skialex perfect! Thank you. Now I just need to decide between the Vapor or the T factor. I am going to continue to run my Radar HRT on the back.

Will the D3 T Factor binding mount on my HO without any modifications?

@aupatking thank you for the reply! The more I research the more I like the sound of the Vapor boot. I definitely want something that makes me feel very connected to the ski. I believe the plate on the Vapor boot is compatible with my HO or am I wrong? I liked the rubber boots I ran in the past but I'll be honest they were less than comfortable. I assume that has all changed with the new T-factor boots though.

Short back story; I got back into slalom skiing in 2018 after a 15 year break. I have been skiing on an HO Syndicate Omni with HO Freemax front boot and Radar HRT rear. Back in the day I was skiing on Kidder with double rubber highwraps but am really liking the HRT on the back currently. I feel like I would like to upgrade my front boot though. I mostly free ski (fairly aggressively) and attempt the course @ 15 and 22 off a few times a season.

 

My first question is would the new 2020 HO Skymax be noticeably better than my current Freemax boot or fairly similar in performance? The other two options I am considering are the D3 T-factor front and the Radar Carbitex Vapor boot. Any advice or input from people that have used these would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks!

Joe

@Drago it still gets pampered after all these years, haha.

Cent, the Kidder is still mint! I plan to ski it again next summer to see how it feels compared to my HO Syndicate Omni :smiley:

The Kidder I skied on in highschool (circa 1993) and my friend's Dad's old Cut n' Jump that I keep asking him for. lol.

 

 

68ºF Standley Lake, Westminster, CO.

My new HO Syndicate Omni. I am really liking this ski so far.

 

Thanks for all of the help with this everyone! I took the rear binding off and screwed in just the screws. The Radar screws were bottoming out on the rear holes. I swapped them with some 1/2" stainless 8-32 counter sink head screws and am good to go. @Zman I kept the horseshoe and with the new screws was able to get ~6.5-6.75 full threads when fully tightened. I also added the washers to the front screws. I will test it out later this week but seems like the back screws bottoming out before being fully tight was the issue.

 

 

@powbmps Thank you!

Thanks for all of the advice everyone!. I am going to take the HRT off and check the length of the screws to see how much sticks out if and when they bottom out on the back holes and I will also grab a couple of shorter 8-32 counter sink head screws as well just to be safe.

 

@Wayne Also, I just found two black washers/spacers in the box the boot came in. I suspect I use those on the back of the boot between the horseshoe plate and the top of the HRT plate to possibly help with the Radar counter sink screws being too long for the HO rear holes?

 

Thanks!

Joe

I put a Radar HRT for my rear boot on my new HO Omni Syndicate. There were no instructions with it so I put the large flat screws on the front of the binding and the smaller headed screws in the rear. I tightened them down tight but noticed that the boot moves after I ski it. I have attached some pics of the setup. Have I mounted the HRT binding incorrectly or does it just need to be tighter? How tight is too tight?

 

Thanks for the help!

Joe

 

 

Bump for more info on whether or not we will see an Radar XL sized HRT on Aluminum plate in the future?

76F in Standley Lake. Denver, CO area.

@Nautibynature . That looked painful for sure! I had almost the identical fall last Wednesday. I landed hard on the side of my face and ruptured my eardrum. Unfortunately no skiing for two weeks until the eardrum heals says the Dr.

Thanks @blagrata ! I am currently using a Radar Senate Alloy with Vector front boot and RTP. I really like the Vector boot and figured the Xmax front would be similar in design and fit.

Thanks for the info everyone. I am going to go with the Radar HRT rear on the aluminum plate as recommended.

 

I am looking to go with the HO XMAX binding on the front. If I go with the direct connect on the Xmax is there a downside to pairing a direct connect front with a plate mounted binding on the rear?