We skied the 2021 Armada Stranger which is unchanged for 2022 & 2023.
Riding photos: Hanne Lundin
The name Stranger is no misnomer.
These are strange-looking skis.
I dont mean the graphic, which is the traditional Zero series logo, white edition.
In fact, the skis look beautiful.
But they also look like the lovechild of several different ideas, because they are.
They arent the first brand to take aim at this best of both worlds concept.
Line, for one, have made their play with the Sakana, and perhaps even the Blade.
Dare I say it, Salomons awful BBR kind of went there too.
And of course, theres the fun shape snowboard influence.
The Stranger, however, takes a slightly different approach as well see in this review.
Shape/Flex/Construction:
TheArmada Strangerhas a 139mm tapered tip and a 100mm waist.
That alone should tell you the sidecut is short, and it is 15.8m in the 180cm ski.
The tail is squared off, with more or less full sidecut, and less rocker than the tip.
Armada calls the tech springboard tail.
The ski is moderately stiff, but not remarkably so.
The rockered sections are probably around a 6 flex and the underfoot is softer than some skis.
Its definitely softer than the ARV 96/106.
The tip is edgeless past the contact points, while the tail features a full wrap edge.
All in all, its a very unique ski.
On-snow:
The Stranger was, well, strange to ski for the first time too.
you’re free to really flex the skis into the turn and bounce out of it.
That is especially true on icy days.
There is something of a speed limit too.
For that, these skis lie on the jibbier side of the spectrum than the Sakana.
For one, the flex is more fitting for a freestyle ski.
all over the hill on those, but on the Stranger, theyre a ton of fun.
The nose profile and flex are fun for buttering too.
I found it far more chill than the new ARV 106, for example.
I hit some features in the Saas-Fee summer park, spun a couple of threes, etc.
That would be defeating the whole point.
Skiing switch with the bindings at -8 is weird, but again, it does work.
I managed to get my elbow down on some switch carves and Ill call that good enough for me.
You have to really push it through the snow.
Conclusion/Comparisons:
Basically, these skis do what Armada designed them to do.
However, Im not quite sure I understand why they are 100mm underfoot.
But for Europeans and West coast skiers, 100mm is fine for most days.
The closest direct competition is the Sakana, and they are relatively easy to choose between in my eyes.
Its stiffer too, especially torsionally.
But the Stranger is much more fun for messing around on.
I also think a shorter size might have made them even more fun which would have changed my opinion.
I still really enjoyed the Stranger, it just didn’t make that much sense for me personally.
However, the Stranger certainly offers a unique compromise of attributes to achieve all-mountain performance.
I think its a ski thatll be a bit marmite.
Some people will love it, and some wont really see the point.
It occupies a space between something like the Sakana and your regular mid-fat twin.
They offer enough to occasionally venture in to the park too.
