Armada Locator 112 Review

We took full advantage of the downhill performance of the Armada Locator 112 on powder days. We appreciate this ski's durable design, including a tapered cap-sidewall construction and a metal binding reinforcement plate – you get all of that in a fat ski that's still a respectable weight for any touring ski.

Performance Comparison

Weight

We weighed our test pair at 1558 grams per ski, which is impressive for a 179 cm ski with 112 mm underfoot. Even the long-time backcountry ski brands – companies known for designing lightweight skis – aren't doing much better than Armada to produce a powder ski that's light enough for touring. At 0.70 g/cm, the Locator 112's weight-to-surface area ratio is much closer to the lightweight end than to the heavy end of the spectrum.

Recognize, however, that wider skis demand bigger skins. They will also collect more snow on the top sheet than narrower skis – a 1500-gram ski at 112 mm underfoot will tour 'heavier' than a 1500-gram ski at 95 mm underfoot. But to their benefit, the light tan topsheet on the Locator 112 will collect less ice in sunny conditions than a darker-colored topsheet, thanks to its reflectivity.

Firm Snow

To put it bluntly, we did not like these skis on firm snow, and you likely won't either. A fat ski like this clearly favors soft snow, but even compared to similarly sized skis we tested, the Locator 112 had a tough time. Even after a fresh tune, skiing these on hardpack felt like their edges weren't sharp – that clearly wasn't the case, but that's how it felt. To stick with the blunt comments, our lead tester noted, “Don't choose these skis on any given day or ski trip if you have any chance of encountering firm snow.”

Powder

Now, this is why you buy the Armada Locator 112: for skiing shallow early-season powder or deep mid-season powder; for good powder skiing or tricky powder skiing. With ample flotation and plenty of bounce, this ski is designed for powder skiing. On gentler terrain, it has a slight preference for longer-radius turns. In the steep and deep, you can make short-radius turns, but some testers noted they needed to hop to bring the tips around.

Crud and Poor Snow

You're inevitably going to encounter tricky snow in the backcountry. However, if you're disciplined enough to take out the Locator 112 only on powder days, hopefully you'll only encounter poor conditions in short spurts. Even if your internal forecast is off, these skis will do well enough when the going gets rough. No one ever felt like they were being pushed around, but a few testers noted that these skis can get “squirlley.” Specifically, as the snow consistency varied between turns, the tips would twitch and dodge slightly from turn to turn. But as long as we kept our speed under control and our technique conservative, the Locator 112 would reliably rise out of breakable crust and sloppy, wet snow.

Stability at Speed

When the terrain was mellow and the snow was good, our testers were encouraged to open it up with the Locator 112, making fast, long-radius turns. However, we had to slow down considerably in steeper terrain. Steep and deep on the Locator 112 forces you to make more technical jump turns, as opposed to fast, round, higher-speed turns. As long as the snow is soft and predictable, this is about as good as one can expect from a relatively lightweight backcountry setup.

Should You Buy the Armada Locator 112?

It should be clear by now that we like these skis for powder skiing. If you live in a place where you're lucky enough to ski backcountry powder regularly, you're justified in buying the Armada Locator 112. The catch is that they aren't very versatile, and you will likely have to own other skis to supplement these on the less-than-perfect days. We can't tell you how to spend your money, but if you want to maximize your fun in powder, we can tell you that the Locator 112 is a great powder-specific touring ski.

What Other Backcountry Skis Should You Consider?