Last year I purchased a pair of the Nordica Doberman Spitfire skis as a replacement to a pair of Head Supershapes I used to own. While not as turny (14.5 m at a 175 for the Heads vs. 15.5 m at a 178 for the Nordicas) as the Head Supershapes, the Nordica Doberman Spitfires are plenty turny. I ordered them and had them in hand within a week (fast delivery service). The skis used a propriatary Nordica plate on the ski and Nordica ski binding which interfaced with the plate. Most ski manufacturers are now offering a ski/binding combo throughout their product lines, and there are only a few stand alone binding manufacturers out there (Marker and Salomon to name two). Anyway, I got the skis and bindings and immediately thought damn, now I have to get these mounted. Surprisingly, there were no instructions included for the shop monkeys to follow, and after looking at the skis and bindings, I thought why not try to mount them myself. Well, I did, and the skis worked perfectly. It was a simple matter of sliding the bindings onto the plates, tightening down a couple of screws for the toepiece and heelpiece, turning a knob to set the bindings for my boot sole length, and tightening the bindings to my preferred DINs. NOTE: do not attempt this at home unless you are prepared to accept the consequences (ie: having a pair of skis/bindings that may not be covered by warranty, are not checked out by a certified ski shop for imperfections and problems, and not properly assembled). Me, being a perfect idiot, did it anyway. My dumb luck I didn't screw anything up. They were an eyefull too with a sort of garish combination of electric blue and yellow paint with a lot of hot pink thrown in. This year's model is a bit tamer in the paint scheme.
I took them out several time later in the season (once I knew all the rocks were covered) and let them run wild. They have a huge amount of snap and liveliness to them, and if you can stomp on them and hang on, you will be rewarded with a FUN ride. These skis like speed and firm (if not icy) snow, riding both edges hard, and rocketing you from turn to turn down the hill. They don't like crud, slow speeds, bumps, or powder. A pure pair of rockets for slicing and dicing the pistes. A perfect ski for old racers looking to hook up and ride the railroad tracks all the way down the hill. Like many super turny race skis, these things demand your full attention otherwise you will have your head handed to you. I find them super stiff both lengthwise and torsionally, and never had them chatter or skid out of a turn (unless I made them skid) no matter how hard the snow and no matter how hard I was stomping on them (and I can stomp the shit out of skis considering I weigh close to 300lbs + with all my patrol crap on). These things are bombproof. If you are looking for a pair of super carvers for your local club races, pure carving enjoyment, or just a pair of fun disco sticks, these skis are for you.
The Spitfires have a rather large carbon fiber cap extending from just in front of the toepiece up to nearly the tip of the ski and it is attached by four pins to the ski. This allows pressure from the ski boot to move up to the front of the ski and adds to the torsional rigidity of the ski overall. The bindings can flex on the ski plate so you don't have a "dead" spot under the boot when the ski is flexed in a turn, and these things carve. The Spitfires have a wood core so they should keep their liveliness for several seasons. Between the EDT carbon fiber cap, the xbi plate, and the wood core these are super snappy fun skis which should last several seasons (designed in Italy and made in Austria so excellent quality control; no crappy made in China skis these.)
The really fun thing about these skis is there is a binding adjustment tab which moves the bindings in or out along the xbi plate, and I mean it really moves it a lot. No more telling you friends with size 13 or size 6 feet, "Sorry, I can't adjust the bindings enough for you to try them." Just twist the tab until the numbers match the boot sole length in question and hey presto, you buddy can try them too. Cool stuff.
One downside is the price of the skis: $1350.00 with bindings retail. Thank god for the NSP and the pro forms. Another is these skis really are meant for carving on groomed slopes; taking them into bumps, powder, or crud is just asking for trouble (like bringing a rock to a gunfight.) Another could be the garish paint job (me, I like it. I also don't spend my time skiing around looking at my skis, I'm looking around for shit to get done.) Lastly, forgiving they ain't. Be on your toes and be ready.
In short, a pair of great disco sticks to play on the groomers with no top end for speed and carving. The will take whatever you put into them and hand you back change. Super powerful. I like them so much I will probably buy another pair next season.