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PTO Review
We skied them. Here's how they stack up.
Octo Birdie — women who ski groomers first and want carving to feel quick, playful and unhurried rather than race-serious. Laser SX — piste skiers who want one comfortable, wide-range carver and prefer all-day ease to race-build effort. Check the radar chart below to see where each one wins.
Each row compares all skis on one dimension. 🏆 marks the highest score.
| Dimension | Octo Birdie | Laser SX |
|---|---|---|
| Carving | 8🏆 | 8🏆 |
| Park | 3🏆 | 1 |
| Playfulness | 8🏆 | 5 |
| Forgiveness | 7🏆 | 6 |
| Stability | 5 | 7🏆 |
| Powder | 3🏆 | 2 |
Women who ski groomers first and want carving to feel quick, playful and unhurried rather than race-serious. Progressing intermediates get a ski forgiving enough to learn real carving on; advanced skiers get a piste toy that stays entertaining at sane speeds. It rewards skiers drawn to the swallowtail character - a piste ski that refuses to look traditional.
Powder-first and off-piste-first skiers: at 84 mm the float is modest, and this is a piste and piste-side tool. Strong, aggressive skiers who want stiff, damp, locked-down high-speed grip: it is lively rather than damp, softer than a traditional carver, and the Octo family has a ceiling a strong skier will find. Anyone who wants a traditional carving ski or a traditional freestyle ski - the swallowtail concept deliberately sits between the two camps and looks like neither. And one-ski-quiver buyers who genuinely ski the whole mountain: that ski, in this line, is the Camox Birdie.
Piste skiers who want one comfortable, wide-range carver and prefer all-day ease to race-build effort. It suits medium-to-long-turn skiers at moderate-to-fast speed — the Laser SX runs the longest radius in the line — who value low-input, forgiving manners on groomed and variable hard snow over maximum edge bite. Stöckli's own brief calls it a genuine all-rounder among piste skis.
Powder and off-piste skiers: at 74 mm on a pure on-piste geometry the Laser SX has no float, and the wider range Stöckli talks about is range within the groomers, not off them. Short-turn and slalom-rhythm skiers: the radius bottoms out at 13.1 m, and quick edge-to-edge belongs to the Laser CX or the shorter Laser SL. Skiers chasing race-level grip and power: there is no Race Core, no carbon, and no racing sidewall here, and the 1.5° comfort base bevel is not the 1.0° race tune of the SC and WRT — that bite lives on those skis, not this one. Anyone who needs a published on-snow test before buying should wait: this generation is completely redesigned and no independent review of it exists yet — every existing Laser SX review is of the older, narrower ski and does not apply. And Stöckli lists no skier level of its own; read this as an intermediate-to-advanced piste ski, inferred from its mechanics rather than measured on snow.
The Octo Birdie is best for women who ski groomers first and want carving to feel quick, playful and unhurried rather than race-serious. The Laser SX is best for piste skiers who want one comfortable, wide-range carver and prefer all-day ease to race-build effort. The right choice depends on your primary terrain, ability level, and riding style.
The Stöckli Laser SX scores highest in Stability at 7/10, making it the strongest all-mountain option. It handles groomers, chop, and variable conditions without losing composure, so it's the best single-ski choice for skiers who want one pair for the whole mountain.
The Black Crows Octo Birdie leads in Carving with a PTO score of 8/10. Its edge grip on hard snow and groomed runs is the strongest in this comparison.
The Black Crows Octo Birdie is the most forgiving option with a Forgiveness score of 7/10. It doesn't punish imperfect technique, making it the easiest ski to progress on among these.
Not sure? Ask us.
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