I've recently gotten into skiing and want to buy second hand equipment since renting is crazy expensive. I imagine coming out of season, the next few months would be good time to get in?
Any advice on where to buy, what deals to look out for would be appreciated!
Who are some good boot fitters youd recommend?
Ajays Snow Country Sports in Heathmont are fantastic - Expect to spend about 3 hours in store for your initial fitting, plus come back again to get it adjusted to really fit properly.
My no-go list is Bumps Snowsports in Elsternwick. They sold me a pair of boots that were too small (it was my first pair, I argued with them for hours and they kept telling me that because it was the first pair I was buying I didn't know what I needed and they were the experts), in what I felt was an attempt to close the sale and move onto the next customer. Additionally, I got custom footbeds made that were really average - the footbed for my slightly longer right foot is actually shorter than the footbed for my left foot. I've taken the boots and the footbeds to a couple of boot fitters both down here and at the ski fields, and the general reaction was "you are a size bigger unless they made you custom inners (they didn't), and these footbeds look like they were made by someone on their first day and should never have been allowed the leave with a customer". I spent my first few years of having my own boots skiing in pain. I'm sure some customers there have had a positive experience, but mine was negative enough for me to not go back, especially with how much ski boots cost.
Aussieskier in prahran has a good boot fitter.
However I have not been there in 4 years.
I'd consider myself a reasonable skier, skied all over the world, have owned 7 or 8 pairs of ski boots bought at various shops including in the US. Best fitting boots I've ever owned I bought and had fitted at Aussieskier. I think one of their bootfitters broke away and opened up his own place called the Boot Lab on Toorak Rd. Footpro in Malvern is also pretty good. I've tried buying cheap boots online and then taking them to a fitter, you need to be very careful as, although there are things a bootfitter can do, there are limits. You want to get the right boot for fit and ability or as close as they can to the right boot. You also normally get custom footbeds moulded to the soles of your feet to keep your feet in position. Finally, all those little canting adjustments on the boots you need to setup as well. Although i love a bargain, I'm not buying discount boots online, there's a special corner of hell for poor fitting ski boots and I dont want to waste good skiing time sitting in a coffee shop rubbing my aching feet because I bought the wrong boots online.
You might get second hand ex rental gear at end of season, but generally ‘deals’ aren’t to be had, just a good price for used stuff in good condition.
dont rent at the resort, rent from cooma, its so much cheaper.
I have my own equipment, but if i didn't invest so much in my stuff, my best advice is to just hire. you don't have to buy a roof rack, ski and snowboard holder, boots, ski poles, waxing every year, sharpening every year, storage, etc…..
its worth paying extra for it to be hassle free imo.
Just Hire
I believe comfortable boots should be the first purchase. And slowly build from there. Though the rental boots at ski plus at Mt beauty looked real good for rentals. They said they were actual boots for sale to public, not the shitty ones made specifically for rent.
I didn't even mind the rent ones to be honest haha! But good point!
cheap ski gear, facebook marketplace, there are a few ski sales groups. A good time for discounts is often the very start of the new season on Queens Birthday long weekend. Some of the big shops dont discount that much before then because they often sell stuff to Aussies going overseas to ski at the end of the year. If you go up the hill at most of the major resorts on opening weekend, particularly if its a season with no snow on opening weekend the shops have big clearance sales. these are great because you get internet prices but you also get advice and to try them on. We've done this a few times from a shop in Mansfield on our way up to Mt Buller.
If you are buying 2nd hand know what you are looking for. I'd be very wary buying 2nd hand skis, particularly bindings. I'd look at the base and the edges but I would do my research on the model of ski first. No point buying yourself a cheap set of 120mm waist powder skis for skiing at Mt Buller. No point buying some AT Bindings if you aren't doing backcountry skiing.
Also, ski technology does advance, buying an old set of skis that are going for $20 because they've been sitting in someone's garage for a decade might be worse for you than the rental skis.
Have a look online at www.levelninesports.com they're a US based ski shop but they ship to Australia. Their prices are in USD but they often have cheap past season skis. They have a great help chat function and you can chat with a ski shop rep to advise about which bargain set of skis you're going to buy. Unless I was after a specific set of skis such as a set of Nordica Dobermans for carving/racing and I knew exactly which length, binding DIN range and boot length for the mounting of bindings I needed, I would be wary of buying cheap 2nd hand skis.
If you do buy 2nd hand skis, the bindings on the skis get 'mounted' to the board. Whoever owned them first would have had the bindings mounted for their ski boots. Most bindings are adjustable but some dont adjust far. If your foot is massively different to the original owners (they had a sz 7 foot and you have sz 14 feet etc) you might need to have the bindings remounted by an experienced ski tech. The cost to have this done at a proper ski shop would possibly be more than you pay for the skis. If you do it yourself and stuff it up the skis would be toast, if you do a bad job your bindings might let you down at the worst possible time and leave you injured.
I have bought my son a cheap snowboard once in March on an eBay % off sale from a local Australian shop. Great deal on a great board that he then left in the storage cage at the inner-city apartment he lives in meaning that by now it is probably sitting on a shelf in a Cash Converters.
Thanks mate!
FB market place or gumtree.
Rental stores also sell ex-rentals at the end of the season
I usually buy discounted new boots with a good boot fitter.