2007 Volkl AC3

[Traverser]

Has anyone tried them? What did you think?

I enjoyed the hell out of the stiffness and speed of the Supersports, but I need a ski with a bit more float on powder days. I was about to get the '06 AC3's and then came the '07 model along with the ipt system. -Hopefully this will be a good compromise.

At 6' and 210 lbs I bought the 170's Can't wait to try them out, sure didn't have the patience to wait until they become available for demo. And the snow keeps falling herre on the west coast. . .

T

 

[John84]

Seems like someone has a Napoleon complex.

 

[BeanoNYC]

I have the '06 AC3's and I really like them. The '07's may be a better fit for you out west as I believe the waist is a few centimeters wider than the '06's. What's the difference between the '06 pcos system and the '07 ipt?

 

[awf170]

Has anyone tried them? What did you think?

I enjoyed the hell out of the stiffness and speed of the Supersports, but I need a ski with a bit more float on powder days. I was about to get the '06 AC3's and then came the '07 model along with the ipt system. -Hopefully this will be a good compromise.

At 6' and 210 lbs I bought the 170's Can't wait to try them out, sure didn't have the patience to wait until they become available for demo. And the snow keeps falling herre on the west coast. . .

T

Not trying to mean at all. But those skis for out West soft snow days are way to short and way to skinny.(unless you are an intermidiate skier, which I guess it is fine)

 

[Traverser]

I have the '06 AC3's and I really like them. The '07's may be a better fit for you out west as I believe the waist is a few centimeters wider than the '06's. What's the difference between the '06 pcos system and the '07 ipt?

Both the '06 supersport and the AC3 I demo'd had the pcos -Piston Control Oil Suspension ("a vibration absorbing piston unit linking the Motion binding to the ski.") The Supersport had the ipt -Internal Power Transmission which puts the binding interface into the ski, the AC3's came with the AT motion system. I fell in love with the superports on the groomers, but I decided to get the slightly wider ac3's so I could ski on softer conditions as well. Once at the shop the guys showed me the '07 model which had just arrived. They looked alot like the supersports with the extended woodcore and they had the ipt motion system as well. The dimensions were indeed a little wider than the '06 model as well: 118-76-104 compared to 116-74-102.

I am an intermediate skier at best; I'm just now starting to feel comfortable on the single black runs, and in varying conditions. I'll eventually figure out exactly what kind of skis I need. In the meantime, it was time to make a decision and buy a pair of skis since the demoing cost adds up quickly. I hope 170 lenght was the right choice for my height and weight. . .

PS.
My appologies to Kramer for coming across as such a pompous ass

 

[John84]

PS.
My appologies to Kramer for coming across as such a pompous ass

My "napoleon complex" remark was about the guy who posted directed below me who had his post deleted.

 

[BeanoNYC]

My "napoleon complex" remark was about the guy who posted directed below me who had his post deleted.

Yes the John84 was defending you from a troll. We don't take kindly here to people who grow muscles and shoot off their mouth when hidden behind a keyboard. Welcome to the forums. You should be fine with the 170's at an intermediate level. I'm 5'10" and 185 and have the same length. Good luck. I finally googled the '07's to get a looksie and I like the grey graphics. Nice looking ski. Thanks for the binding information, just one more thing I'm curious about, do the binding have a dial (a la rental bindings) to change for different size boots like the PCOS?

Edit: Fix an error in my height. I'm certainly not 6'10''

 

[Traverser]

First off, thanks to John84, I apprechiate you putting the troll in his place. There is enough grief in our everyday life to where we don't need it here. Especially not when we're talking skiing. I feel bad now for my remark to you, but I didn't know, please accept my sincere appologies. . .

So, yes the bindings come with the super easy re-adjustments for bootsize. Pull the lever, turn the adjustment screw using an oversized phillips screwdriver, and there you have it. I can now re-adjust it quickly and easily for all my friends who'd like to take the skis for a test run. (for a nominal $10 fee per run, of course)

Thank you for the welcome to the boards. I realize I'm on the other coast, but hey I'm here now. I'll attempt to write a review when I get back from finally trying the skis out next week.

Mike

 

[John84]

First off, thanks to John84, I apprechiate you putting the troll in his place. There is enough grief in our everyday life to where we don't need it here. Especially not when we're talking skiing. I feel bad now for my remark to you, but I didn't know, please accept my sincere appologies. . .Mike

It's cool dude...welcome to the boards.

 

[BeanoNYC]

Be sure to post a review of the skis when you do get on them Traverser. Where in the west are you?

 

[tiedeb]

2007 Ac3

I skiied the Volkl 2007 AC3 for 3 days at the end of the season at Steamboat. I am 5-6 about 160# and was on the 163 and this was plenty of ski for me. 35 years of skiing, accomplished. This is a great ski and outperforms the 2006 AC3 on the hard pack and ice. Had a chance to ski a foot of spring pow (where any ski will float) but these were very nice and stable. Arced nicely on the early AM ice (except for one turn where I drifted into the bullet proof powder and blew off a ski!). The one thing that mystifies me is why the bindings are set back. I've been told this gives a little more ski up front to help with "float" but it takes away some tail that I sometimes need, might just take some getting used to. There is as much ski infront of the toe on the 2007 163 as there is on the 2006 AC3 at 170. This has been bugging me! Not sure I like the binding set up, cannot independently adjust the heel...my boot center mark was a cm behind the ski mark and the binding tech had to disassemble the binding and adjust an internal mechanism to get it to line up. I might consider moving my boot center mark another cm forward if I can. Overall a very good high performance all mountain ski that I think could be best sized by the usual chin-nose-forehead sizing...don't be afraid to go on the shorter side. Would like to hear what others think about the binding set up

 

[Traverser]

The Review. . .

Well I finally got to hit the slopes with my new ski's. I went to Kirkwood, CA Since it is towards the end of the season I figured I'd make the most out of it and I made it a 3 day trip. During the 3 days I got to experience fresh snow, hard pack, ice, iced over powder, and slush. The base temperature ranged from 26º to 57º Although I'm quite the novice here's my review for what it's worth:

Item and Brand Name: '07 Volkl AC3 (+ a free 3 day ski demo, and a hot box treatment which I gave to my girlfriend)
Date Purchased: 04/13/'06
Retail Outlet: California Ski Berkeley, CA
Purchase Price (optional): $850.00
MSRP: $1195.00
Description of item and your experiences: Everything I had hoped for and more
Overall Rating (1-5 with 1 being "horrible" and 5 being "outstanding"): 5
Would you recommend the item? Absolutely
[Optional] Internet link to manufacturer and/or photo and description from company: LINK

Fresh snow: I arrived monday and got to try them out on some fresh deep ungroomed snow. Unfortunately I got there a bit late so I had to venture away from the "normal runs" to find virgin snow. I ended up traversing as the terrain was a bit steep for my comfort. They did float nicely on top, didn't sink through at all, but I felt a little out of my element, I decided to head over to the groomers.
Groomers: I felt like a was riding a rocket ship. The feel of the ski was very similar to the feel of the supersport, like a coiled spring. I loved every minute of it and much too soon the lifts closed for the day. . .
Ice: Tue morning; I was there first in line anxious to try them out on the first run. It had been a cold night following a sunny afternoon so there was Ice probably even by eastcoast standards to be had. No problem with these ski's; The edges bit in beautifully, and I felt in complete controll, as the day progressed the snow softened gradually.
Hardpack The ski's performed like a dream on the hard pack, never in my life have I gone so fast and had so much fun. This is where the ski's really shined in my opinion; my confidence grew, I felt bold, I ventured off the groomers and in between the trees, no problem with my new allies. Next I ventured off to try the ungroomed snow again.
Iced over powder The fresh snow naturally had a thin hard layer on top which kicked my ass. I had a really hard time turning, and it felt like the ski's wanted to take off from under me as soon as I started initiating a turn. I spent about an hour eating snow before giving up.
Slush: Wednesday, Day started off cold and then progressively got warmer. I tried the race course which was pretty chewed up. Not quite moguls, but not a groomed run by any stretch of the imagination. I had a blast kicking off the small bumps and enjoyed the spring in the ski's as I was bouncing around. Soon the snow started to get really soft, and it began to feel like I was skiing on mud. I had to lean back on my heels, It was now 50º and rising, it became increasingly harder to ski, everytime I leaned forward it felt like I hit patches of sand. -Weird. . . At 1500 I called it a day with a smile on my face, what a great purchase!

 

[Mr.J.J.]

Bought the 2007 AC3

I'm 6'1'' and about 220lb, 48 years old, and have skied since I was a little boy. If I'm not quite an EXPERT skier, I would say that I am a very advanced all-mountain skier who can essentially ski anything (although I did meet my match once on breakable crust on a heli-skiing trip in BC).

I demoed the 07 AC3 and then bought a pair (170cm) in time for a Spring Break trip to Steamboat. Had thigh-deep! powder one day there, and the skis floated beautifully! They were great in the spring-like slush and crud, and held tenaciously on the early-morning bulletproof groomed stuff. Skied pretty well in the bumps too, but I did not get a chance to do a serious mogul field on this trip.

In an earlier posting, I saw the concern with the bindings mounted so far back and I thought the same when I put them on. I didn't notice this when skiing under most conditions, but I did blow out of one ski when I really needed more tail during a screaming turn on corduroy boiler plate first thing in the morning.

I think these skis are the closest thing to a perfect all-mountain carving cruiser that one can buy! Next season will tell the whole story, but my five days on these 2007 skis were pretty awesome indeed. I have always had several sets of skis, but I'm thinking that the AC3 will be the one do-all ski for me.

 

[kidrice]

The biggest difference between this years and next years ski is the metal top sheet. The biggest complaint for this years ski was stiffness. I had the chance to ski next years AC3 at the convention show in Mammoth. I tried out other skis, but the AC3 was my favorite. My other friends, who are different type of skiers (short radius), liked the Fisher RC4 Worldcup SC. I like to let my skis run and these skis like to run! The conditions that day were packed to hard packed so wasn’t able to determine floatability, but don’t think it would be a problem. Like most of us who don’t have a sliver of skis to choose from or don’t want to lug around 3 pairs of skis and the kitchen sink, then this would be a great ski. But everyone is different and has different preferences. So if you are in the market for skis I would suggest finding a reputable store that demos performance skis and would apply the cost of renting demos towards the purchase of new skis. I am 5’6” 165lb and consider myself an expert skier, but have slowed JUST a bit since my younger days. I patrolled for a number of years, but succumbed to the harsh realities of money now I am desk jockey.

 

[highpeaksdrifter]

The biggest difference between this years and next years ski is the metal top sheet. The biggest complaint for this years ski was stiffness. I had the chance to ski next years AC3 at the convention show in Mammoth. I tried out other skis, but the AC3 was my favorite. My other friends, who are different type of skiers (short radius), liked the Fisher RC4 Worldcup SC. I like to let my skis run and these skis like to run! The conditions that day were packed to hard packed so wasn’t able to determine floatability, but don’t think it would be a problem. Like most of us who don’t have a sliver of skis to choose from or don’t want to lug around 3 pairs of skis and the kitchen sink, then this would be a great ski. But everyone is different and has different preferences. So if you are in the market for skis I would suggest finding a reputable store that demos performance skis and would apply the cost of renting demos towards the purchase of new skis. I am 5’6” 165lb and consider myself an expert skier, but have slowed JUST a bit since my younger days. I patrolled for a number of years, but succumbed to the harsh realities of money now I am desk jockey.

I skied the AC4 last year and found it to be an ok ski, but nothing special IMO. After reading this thread I'm going to be sure to try the AC3 this season. BTW some really good reviews and well thought out posts on this thread. As a gear junkie I really enjoy reading them.

 

[JimG]

Welcome aboard Mr. J.J. and kidrice. You guys both have alot of good input, hope you'll both stick around and contribute.