Gear reviews | Faction Prodigy 4.0 186cm

Faction, the freeski brand from Verbier, has been on the rise for years. Most freeskiers should be familiar with Faction, at least since Candide Thovex has been riding the boards of the Swiss company. In recent years, they have also signed Sam Anthamatten to a top-class freeski team (including Duncan Adams, Adam Delorme, Alex Hall, Antti Ollila, Kelly Sildaru, Johnny Collinson) and produced webisodes and skimovies for the freeskiing public. Faction is now also one of the few ski brands to focus exclusively on freeski and touring skis, similar to Armada or 4FRNT. Here, the freeski models are not a niche product in the overall portfolio, but the core business. Candide has had its promodels at Faction for a long time, the CT 1.0 - 4.0 models are probably the brand's best-known skis. In addition to these, Faction also has a second backcountry/freeski line on offer - the Prodigy series. These are also numbered from 1.0 to 4.0. Last winter, I was able to extensively test the widest model, the Prodigy 4.0 in 186cmm.

Who tests what exactly?

I am 189cm tall and weigh 80kg, like to ski everywhere and rather playfully, jump a lot and also like to ski fast sometimes. I don't mind choppy snow in the ski area, soft landings are more important to me. My setup in recent years has been a powder ski with a 120mm center width for days with fresh snow, as well as a slightly narrower twin tip with a good 100mm center width for piste, park, firn touring, etc. I've been lucky enough to try out just about every ski that interested me over the last 10 years.

About the ski:

Length: 186cm (measured tip->Tail: 184cm)
Binding: Salomon STH2 16, approx. -2cm behind True Center
Boots: Dalbello Krypton Pro, Lupo 130C & Factory

First impression

I was actually looking for a test ski that would fit my previous pattern - approx. 120mm for the powder ski, a good 100mm for the "normal" ski. When I enquired at Faction, they "only" had a Prodigy 4.0 available in the longer lengths. Although this is the widest ski in the range, it only has 112mm under the binding. At first glance, the stated 186cm was also too short for a powder ski. Is the ski a slightly narrower powder ski or a slightly wider all-mountain twintip? I also didn't know what to make of the Prodigy line at first - Faction already has a line with a similar area of use with the CT models and I originally thought the Prodigy skis were low-budget or "consumer" models.

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Far from it. The Prodigy 4.0 reads very well on paper, comes with a lot of early taper, a not so small, progressive radius (24m at 186cm), a little camber (3mm) and a 410 mm long rocker at the front, combined with 400 mm rocker at the rear. The shape is very unspectacular, you could almost think it was boring by today's standards. It also looks rather symmetrical and from the first impression you might think that it flexes like a noodle. When testing the flex by hand, you still think that the ski belongs to the softer variety, only when you ride it does it reveal its true character. Although the shovels are good-natured and rather soft, the Prodigy 4.0 becomes significantly stiffer towards the middle of the ski. Faction specifies the flex of the ski as 8/10. At 4300g, the pair is medium-heavy, and by today's standards probably not primarily a touring ski, but feels very light-footed when skiing. The construction consists of a core of poplar and ash wood with two layers of flax, in sandwich construction with a semi-cap towards the tip and tail. The biaxial flax fibers are said to be more environmentally friendly and durable than the fiberglass layers they replaced.

There are two recommended mounting points printed on the sidewall, the recommended freestyle point is 3 cm, the freeride/all-mountain point is 6 cm behind the center of the ski. Due to my personal preference and for comparability with my other skis, I opted for a mounting point very far in the middle of the ski.

Test

As already mentioned, I initially didn't know what to do with a ski of this width. Too narrow for deep powder, too wide for an all-mountain - I thought. I had the ski at my disposal from the end of February 2019 and only had it in the car for two weeks until I used it for the first time. When I finally used it, however, it remained my main ski for all conceivable conditions and areas of use until the end of the season. Since then, I've used the ski on over 30 days in fresh powder, spring powder, slush, park, firn and also compact, rolled snow and was very impressed. It was only out of the question for touring due to the alpine binding, although I could imagine it very well as a touring ski (e.g. with CAST).

In terms of its basic characteristics and area of use, the ski is very similar to the skis I've skied in recent years: Freestyle-heavy twintip with lots of rocker, lots of taper, not too hard. The Prodigy 4.0 has the same package, just in a center width of 112mm, which is unusual for me.

During the first test on snow, I realized that the ski is much more stable than I initially assumed. It has very good edge grip for a ski of this width, which is probably due to the high torsional rigidity. I have already skied narrower skis with less good edge grip. This torsional stiffness also has a positive effect when the ski is being ripped, while at the same time the tips are slightly dampened so that they don't start to flutter quickly. The slightly longer radius for a freestyle all-round ski is well suited to higher speeds. At the same time, the ski is extremely maneuverable due to its rather narrow tips or early taper and the resulting low swing mass. It can always be turned immediately if required, both on hard ground and above all in powder, which is a real pleasure on tight treeruns. If you ski through rutted or even slightly frozen terrain, you won't get stuck anywhere, because the transition from camber to rocker in combination with the beginning of the early taper or the widest part of the ski looks excellently worked out and very harmoniously tuned.

I would describe the flex as symmetrical, with softer shovels and a rather hard ski center. The hard ski center forms a stable platform towards the front and back, and the rocker doesn't start right before and after the binding. Although the ski is rather short by my standards, I never had the feeling of having too little support at the front or rear. There is always enough tail left, nothing flexes or bends. In really rough conditions and at very high speeds, the Prodigy 4.0 naturally becomes unstable at a certain point, but who wants to ski like that all the time and exclusively? For me, the ski is stable enough for almost everything I encounter on my skiing days. Only for fast lines with bigger drops would I probably prefer the ski to be a length longer in 193cm.

The ski looks very durable so far, the edge and base are still in top condition (of course we had good snow conditions last winter). The topsheet also still looks very good and not scratched - the sidewalls are well protected from the edge of the other ski by the semi-cap! The original flex is still very good after 30 days. The ski still feels relatively fresh, has hardly lost any torsional stiffness and still has enough pop.

For me personally, this was the ideal ski for the second half of winter. For deep, fresh powder in January, I had a wider ski with a little more float, but for the snowfall and snow depths from March onwards, the 112mm under the binding is more than adequate. At the same time, the ski also works very well all day on foot in the ski area, as it is more maneuverable and slightly narrower than some "fat skis". Especially in the spring firn and slush on the piste and in the park, the ski is pure fun.

Conclusion

The ski doesn't want to be anything special, but it combines everything that ski development has progressed in recent years extremely well. You can tell that time has been taken and that the developers have optimized and coordinated all parameters. It cuts a very fine figure in powder and the all-mountain characteristics are remarkable, where it can also keep up with skis that are a little narrower in the middle. So if you are looking for an all-mountain ski that is also convincing in fresh snow, the Prodigy 4.0 is certainly very well positioned. The freestyle-typical look and the curved tail may put some people off at first, but the character of the ski is definitely more than what you might expect at first glance! The ski is an absolute recommendation for everything except the really cold and deep days. Whether you want to consider it a narrower powder ski or a wider all-mountain ski depends mainly on the skier's previous preferences and also on what other skis are available besides the Prodigy 4.0.

Advantages & disadvantages:

+ Ease of turning
+ Very good carving properties
+ "Pop"
+ Durability
+ Weight (for a robust ski)
+ Many lengths and, if you also consider the narrower models, medium widths available
- Doesn't float quite as well as a wider powder ski
- RRP relatively expensive

Details

Length(cm): 186 (Available lengths: 175, 181, 186, 193)
Sidecut: 136/112/128
Radius: 24m (at 186 cm)
Weight per ski: 2150g
Bias: 3mm camber + tip&tail rocker
Construction: poplar and ash wood, flax, ABS sidewalls with semi cap to the ski ends
RRP: €649

Here is the link to the Faction website with further information.

This product was provided to Powderguide.com by the manufacturer for testing. You can find out how we tested it in our test statement.