The Armada Invictus 99 Ti is a burly all mountain ski that’s designed to be powerful, stable, and to perform well at high speeds on the feet of aggressive skiers. Armada achieves this performance by using a wood core with titanal laminates and their Intelligrid Reinforcement Technology, which uses Innegra mesh combined with carbon fiber to enhance torsional stiffness and stability. The Invictus 99 Ti has tip rocker, but no tail rocker, which is a popular rocker profile for directional skiers who value edge grip and power out of a turn. With its 99 mm waist width, the Invictus 99 Ti will handle a variety of different terrain and snow conditions. As Armada’s catalog states, “Hard-pack? Powder? Chunder? The 99 Ti will eat it all up and come back for seconds.”
Matt McGinnis tested the 179 cm length and started his feedback by saying “the Invictus 99 Ti is one of those skis that does just what you expect. With two sheets of metal, it’s a stiff, stable ride. At low speeds they can be a bit laborious, but once you hit the speeds they prefer they absolutely rip.” Matt gave the Invictus 99 Ti 5 out of 5 for stability and torsional stiffness, scores that we expect to see out of skis with this much metal. What was a little more surprising, however, was how often our testers commented on maneuverability and the ski’s willingness to make different turn shapes. “The Invictus 99 was great at both long and short radius turns, one aspect that was a bit surprising.”
Steve Sulin had a similar reaction as Matt after also testing the 179 cm length. Like Matt, he scored it 5 out of 5 for stability, torsional stiffness, and also added in a 5 for overall impression. He too commented on the skis high performing nature, describing it as “smooth, damp, and powerful.” He also, however, added that it “turns on a dime” and “has no problem making all turn shapes.” That’s relatively unique for ski that uses this much metal and that achieves this level of power and stability.
Mike Aidala also tested the 179 cm Invictus 99 Ti and his comments focused more on power and stability than anything else. Once again, we saw 5 out of 5 for both stability and torsional stiffness from Mike, a definite theme for the Invictus 99 Ti. Mike described it as “ready to charge.” Like Matt and Steve, however, he also added that they “still offer quick, round turns,” while being “stiff, aggressive, and powerful.”
Justin Perry, who also tested the 179 cm length, thought the Invictus 99 Ti felt “surprisingly nimble and fast edge to edge.” We’re really impressed with how many skiers found it to be quick, relatively maneuverable, and able to make different turn shapes. Justin gave a lot of high scores for the Invictus 99 Ti, including 5 out of 5 for stability, quickness, torsional stiffness, and overall impression.
David Wolfgang opted to test the longest length of the Invictus 99 Ti, the 187 cm length. He described it as a “hard charging ski. Solid and very stable. Seems to prefer faster speeds and held extremely well on the hardpack.” David didn’t add the same comments on quickness or turn shape variety as our other testers. Some of that could be coming from the fact that he was on a longer length, so keep that in mind if you think you’re between sizes.
Traditionally, Armada has been known for their twin tips and playful all mountain skis. The Invictus 99 Ti doesn’t feel like it falls into either of those categories, rather it offers powerful directional all mountain performance that can rival some big name, European manufacturers. It’s an impressive ski overall: excellent stability and power, great vibration damping, but still a relatively user-friendly feel.
