Anyone a Fischer fan out there? Demo'd 09 Wateas's today. Sweet! Can't get my hands on the 08 model. Wondering if there's a noticable difference?

Nope, the 08 and 09 are the same except for topsheet graphics. I have the 08s in 184cm, and they are awesome skis for soft snow and powder. Not the best choice on hardpack obviously. More details here:

http://forums.epicski.com/showthread.php?t=67551

The Colonel here.
Welcome markmatty to DCSkie. Tell us a bit about yourself.
Where live? Ski or board? Age (at least in decades)? Etc??
The Colonel

The 09's are being advertised as being able to handle the hard stuff as well. I took them down some skied off runs and they held their own. They carved well through crunchy and soft stuff without getting caught up. Suprisingly, they weren't so hard to work and my legs lasted a bit longer than expected.

The reason for all this investigation is money of course. To purchase and set up the 09's is gonna cost over a grand. I've seen the 08's in my size for reasonable coin, but don't want to order them and be sorry. Any other comments would be welcome.

What size are you looking for? I got my 08s for $329 last February, so prices should be at least as good now.

They are great on soft snow and passable on hard snow, but there are *much* better ski choices if you spend a lot of time on hard snow. I wouldn't want to use the 84 as my only east coast ski, but it's perfect for days when there is new natural snow on the ground. If for western skiing, they would be fine as a primary ski.

I'm a skier. Tried boarding in Snowmass once and nearly permanently wrecked myself. I kept going only because my instructor was a wonderful lil bunny.

I live in Colorado and won't leave because of the skiing here. I've been slinging myself down the mountains now for about four years so I'm still just a baby at this.

I'm at least 4 decades young! Second childhood?

My main purpose of these posts is around around equip. Last year I fell in love with the Rossi B74's. Pretty much a frontside ski. I never purschased the ski (long story). This year I went to the demo day up at Copper and tried everything my legs could handle. I left more confused than ever. So many fantastic skis out there! The only thing I figured out was that I'm more apt to purchase an all mountain set up now. Though CO resorts are usually very well groomed, they can get messy in a heartbeat so the quick groomer skis can get me in a jam real quick and a possible face plant.

Like I said, tried the fischers yesterday, and really liked them, but wow! They are pretty pricey. I've noticed to some degree that current ski prices drop pretty dramatically at the end of the season. So I'm figuring why not buy last year's Fischer of the same model, unless there is some huge difference.

I skied the 167's yesterday at Copper Mtn, CO. I am prone to smaller sizes for now. I'm not so good yet. Anything over 170 and I lose a great deal of confidence.