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PTO Review
We skied them. Here's how they stack up.
SL — advanced-to-expert skiers who live on hard snow and want a genuine slalom ski for short, quick turns - one that is damped at the interface rather than built as stiff as possible. 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 | SL | Laser SX |
|---|---|---|
| Carving | 10🏆 | 8 |
| Park | 1🏆 | 1🏆 |
| Playfulness | 2 | 5🏆 |
| Forgiveness | 2 | 6🏆 |
| Stability | 7🏆 | 7🏆 |
| Powder | 1 | 2🏆 |
Advanced-to-expert skiers who live on hard snow and want a genuine slalom ski for short, quick turns - one that is damped at the interface rather than built as stiff as possible. It suits the recreational racer and the gate-day skier who wants one sensible binding instead of a race quiver, and anyone who would rather buy a ski that is already on its plate and already tuned than assemble a setup.
Beginners and intermediates: a 12.5 m slalom build is demanding no matter how the catalogue frames it, and 'now everyone can' is a marketing line, not an ability rating. Anyone who leaves the groomer should not buy this ski at all - 67.5 mm on a race construction has no float in soft snow; the H-Power 89 or the Freeride line is that ski. Skiers who want a long, fast, big-radius arc are on the wrong tool: the SL stops at 165 cm and 12.5 m, and the PRO and the GS skis are where the big arc lives. And a serious racer who wants the full race setup wants the SL WORLD CUP, with the stiffer INTERFACE plate and the race bindings - up to a COMP 30 - that the SL does not list.
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 SL is best for advanced-to-expert skiers who live on hard snow and want a genuine slalom ski for short, quick turns - one that is. 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 Van Deer SL 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 Van Deer SL leads in Carving with a PTO score of 10/10. Its edge grip on hard snow and groomed runs is the strongest in this comparison.
The Stöckli Laser SX is the most forgiving option with a Forgiveness score of 6/10. It doesn't punish imperfect technique, making it the easiest ski to progress on among these.
Not sure? Ask us.
