I bought the Watea 98 at 186cm.? I am 6'2" and 200lbs.? I am a level 7-8 skier
Skied them so far 3 days at Snowshoe WV.? They have been a ton of fun.? The first day on the groomers, I was expecting a sluggish, slow kinda boring ski.? They were new so I had to try them out.? They ended up being a lot of fun.? I am no expert at wide skies, previous widest ski was the Watea 84 that Jim let me ski.? These feel almost as quick and just as fun for me which was a pleasant surprise.? I skied them on the factory line on the groomers the first day.?
The second day we got 8 inches of fresh powder with a lot of wind so drifts up to mid lower leg.? They were great in these conditions.? I moved the bindings back just 1cm and it made a big difference. Prior to that the tips were bogging a little and I found myself moving to the back seat.? Once I moved them, they were really great.? Super fun, quick, stable, and instantly made me a better skier in these conditions.? Mid day I was aiming at the skied up piles of powder and just blasting over or through them.?
Today I skied soft groomers and left over crud, still? 0.5 - 1 cm back and they were very fun, and stable.? I was surprised and switched to my SS mag mid day and didn't notice much benefit at all with edge grip.? I have to say it makes me suspect the tune on the Mags.? I tuned them prior to coming but didn't have time to finish the edges with a diamond stone.? The Wateas have nice sharp edges at 1 and 3 the same as my SS mags.? Still, the edge grip on the Wateas is very good if you stay centered over the binding, the mags have a bigger sweet spot for hard pack and ice.
The power rail bindings are super easy to adjust. I can now do it in 2 minutes for both skis without taking off my gloves. No tools needed. The biggest problem for me is my over 40 eyesight and when wearing contacts for distant vision, I am glad to have long arms
Over all a fun ski that should be great for my trips out west.?
Addendum - the powder hull thing is interesting to look at.? I seems to me to be mostly a marketing thing.? That said, the tips don't deflect side to side at all that I can tell.? One down side is they will be harder to wax.