2023 Armada Locator 104

The new Armada Locator 104 marks a new dedication to backcountry touring for the brand. Replacing the Tracer series, the Locator line is lighter and designed to take on anything you find in the backcountry and resort side country. Armada keeps the weight down with a Caruba wood core that’s supported by a Ti Binding Dampener and Carbon Reinforcements. There’s quite a bit of rocker, although it’s more focused in the tip than the tail of the Locator 104. That’s matched with significant early taper too, again more noticeable in the forebody of the ski. With that rockered, tapered shape and the 22 m turn radius of the 178 cm length, the Locator 104 should be agile, catch-free, and allow for an abundance of different turn shapes and styles, which certainly comes in handy in tricky backcountry terrain. That 178 cm length comes in with a 1425 g weight per ski, which isn’t randonee-race light, but is pretty darn light.

Bob St.Pierre skied the 186 cm length, which he mentioned skied just a little bit short due to the lightweight nature of the ski. Some impressive scores from Bob for the Locator 104, including full 5 out of 5 marks for quickness/maneuverability and overall impression. Stability and torsional stiffness/edge grip were his lowest scores at 3 out of 5, which isn’t terribly surprising given how light these skis are. “The Locator 104 is a very surprising ski. It's incredibly light and quick, but that's not even its best part. I got to ski these in fresh snow when we are at Pico for an on-snow demo, and quickly learned that this new ski from Armada has got the powder aspect of it all figured out. I love the pointier tip for this ski, as it cuts through the fresh, crud, and chop quite easily. While they are designed for more backcountry/fresh snow use, the cut up stuff we had to deal with was a pleasure to ski. The tail is pretty responsive as well, making it a pretty energetic ski on the groomers getting back to the lift. I think it leans more to backcountry and touring versus lift-served, so more of a 75/25 ski than 50/50. Paired with a tech binding and a lighter boot, you will have a whole lot of fun on this setup.”

Marcus Shakun also skied the 186 cm length and impressively his score for stability rose to a full 5 out of 5. We’re going to take creative liberties here and assume that Marcus is judging the stability of this ski against other similar-weight touring skis. Flotation also got a full 5 out of 5 score, with all of our other criteria receiving 4 out of 5 marks. Perhaps Marcus was feeling generous, as those are crazy good scores for a ski this lightweight, but we’ll take it. Marcus described it as “super light, quick, and stable. The pin tip gives the impression this ski would get deflected and squirrely, instead it’s stable at all speed in all conditions.” Dave Hatoff also got on the Locator 104 in the 178 cm length. His scores were more reflective of Bob’s. Quickness/maneuverability and flotation were his highest marks, with everything else coming in around 3 out of 5. Dave’s feedback was brief, but described it as “very light weight with great soft snow capability. Good 50/50 tourer with the right kind of binding.”

We think Bob really nailed his analysis of the Locator 104. While we won’t discredit either Marcus or Dave, we’re not sure everyone will find 5 out of 5 stability in its performance. Similarly, we’re not sure 50/50 tourer really does it justice. As Bob mentioned, perhaps 75/25 is a better way to think about it. We can envision a lot of skiers only using it in the backcountry too, which I suppose would be 100/0. We can pretty confidently say it doesn’t make sense to lean the other way, more towards resort skiing. 50/50 is about the limit, in our opinion, and it certainly doesn’t make sense to mount it with anything other than a touring binding. Pick a binding that’s appropriate for how you’ll use it. Thinking more 50/50? An Armada Shift would match perfectly. More touring focused? We’d go lighter to a true tech binding.