motorized edge tools

Anybody have any experience with the motorized edge sharpening tools now on the market?

They have been out for a couple of years and some of the race dads claim these provide super sharp edges in a small fraction of the time I am spending tuning.  The Winterstiger and the Fogman are $1500 to 2000 so I never really seriously considered one.  Kenny at PP showed me the new Swix tool that is under $500 and I have some extra cash from my Xmas week teaching.  I actually need some new diamond stones so I was going to blow about $100 on them.  With this it sounds like you just need the fine stone.  The other nice option is that it is the easiest of the bunch to change the edge bevel angle as I do my and my wifes skis at 2 degrees and my son's at 3 degrees.

I bet it would be a great thing for you Coach, being a race Dad and all. If they work well and save a lot of time, you should buy one.

Kenny at Placid Planet only got one in as they are brand new and said the swix rep only got 5 for his territory.  I have Kenny holding it for me and I am going to pick it up this week.

I like the concept and Swix is usually good quality.  The Fogman is actually designed and made by a race dad from Saranac Lake.  I think his is a bit over engineered in that the whole thing is machined anodized aluminum so it is big and heavy and the balance seems too high to me making it a two handed tool plus its like $1500 which is a non starter for me.  Swix spent some money to tool molds for this bringing the cost way down.

I'm going to practice on some older skis and some of my skis before I use this on his race skis.

what's up with that dude sharpening the tip of the ski!  that ski is gonna hook up like a long horn in a hawthorn patch!

I have used several of these. They all are poorly designed as the weight is in the wrong place.

PT
I agree the others are very top heavy which then makes the partn the skis much beefier to balance it out and driving the price up.  This Swix unit has the best balance of any of them.

Coach, post your results after you test it out please.

ScottyJack wrote

what's up with that dude sharpening the tip of the ski!  that ski is gonna hook up like a long horn in a hawthorn patch!

i laughed

I tested it and decided to not keep it.  The spring tension on the grind wheel engagement is very tricky.  I tried it on a rock ski and kept dinging the edge.  No way I would trust my son to use this when I can't safely use it myself.

Another ski race dad was trying to talk me into ordering a Snow Glide tool but a $1850 price tag is a non starter for me.  I bought a new spread of diamond stones instead.