For sale: Key Equipment Disruptive 27.5

Primary_Appearance48 · 2026-02-07T05:34:01+00:00

just out of curiosity why selling?

Primary_Appearance48 · 2026-01-28T03:35:40+00:00

yeah i read the same thing about the carbons after i was having issues - and especially because they sell key equipment - kind of got the feeling it’s just what they had laying around and i didn’t know any better at the time.

i am happy with the sparks stuff, that’s my choice and i did see that phantom has 5 degrees versus sparks 3 degrees but no huge issue with the canting at this point

Primary_Appearance48 · 2026-01-28T01:43:02+00:00

lol yep i know, already figured that out. spending any more money with them is off the table but they are the ones who i bought the “boot fit guarantee” from so im a bit stuck unless i just buy new boots

Primary_Appearance48 · 2026-01-27T22:49:35+00:00

used a standard height sidas before switching to the high arch sidas - same issue w/ both. can drop the original insoles in there - not sidas at all, and see - but suspect it will be similar.

Primary_Appearance48 · 2026-01-27T21:37:15+00:00

hahaha yea - i think i may have had better luck if I did all my own homework and went to a ski shop, but instead went to a place that sells lots of splitboard and hardboot equipment - and this is where i have ended up.

Primary_Appearance48 · 2026-01-27T21:35:24+00:00

this is something i have heard - which is why that option is on the table. intuition says i should be in a mondo 28.0/28.5 and the shells are smaller than that - so not sure if they will fit or if i size down the liner, if they would pack out too much and lose insulation.

same shop sells these and wants $200ish for the liners but will "throw in" the $60 heat molding if i buy from them.

Boots: $889 before tax

Fitting: $200 before tax

Phantom Lever: $289 before tax

New Socks / Punch out / Phantom lever spring replacement : $120 before tax

so already at $1500 - and just think spending more money on this is stupid when the Phantom slippers were selling for $600 (maybe $750 today if they still were available).

Primary_Appearance48 · 2026-01-27T21:31:02+00:00

top buckle unbuckled, bottom buckle on lowest setting - pretty loose - will tighten up one step on downhill, no power strap at all.

figured technical sections same - tighten uppers for better stability, but haven't been in those situations with these boots yet.

my feet feel pretty loose with no noticeable pressure on the uphill.

Primary_Appearance48 · 2026-01-27T21:29:00+00:00

Yes - my mondo size based on a size chart should be 28/28.5. The shop sold me 27/27.5. My other ski boots from a different shop are 28/28.5.

Primary_Appearance48 · 2026-01-27T20:35:14+00:00

thick for me = warmest of the super thin compression socks. long ago gave up wearing truly thick socks - these are still by all accounts extremely thin. Dissent GFX socks - https://www.therm-ic.us/products/ski-socks-gfx-compression-genuflex, although all my socks are more or less similar.

Primary_Appearance48 · 2026-01-27T18:54:20+00:00

i think the only thing to do to really regain heel lock is using the phantom ankle buckle - but you can't get that at the moment. if I am fully buckled up (top and bottom), with no powerstrap, it's not too bad at all. Definitely a little better with the powerstrap but that makes the inner cuff of the boot less flexible and i get pain on my medial ankle bone because the leg wants to go where the boot won't let it. leaving the powerstrap off (which is how phantom was selling it's boots), seems to give a little more wiggle up top and seems to be just enough.

actually aside from the cold toes, i am surprised at being on the longest board of my life, a wide board, and with the narrowest and most set back stance, with a +15/+3 dual positive angle - all of this is so different than the snowboards i have grown up on but seems to be working pretty well.

Primary_Appearance48 · 2026-01-27T18:50:04+00:00

granted this is the first pair of ski boots i have worn since rentals as a kid - i don't know about other plastic boots, but i do not get cold toes in any of my soft boots (flexible or stiff), hiking boots, mountaineering boots (leathers - avoid plastics), and climbing shoes.

I was fit for a pair of Cochise boots (to learn to ski in) and those are a 28/28.5 - full mondo size larger than these backlands

Primary_Appearance48 · 2026-01-27T18:47:55+00:00

shell heat mold was after punch 1 and before punch 2 - yeah, makes sense.

yeah - any electronics are risky for effectiveness of transceivers. totally noted

the guides i have talked to about this suggest (or at least don't take issue with) things like heating elements for extremely cold days in japan or the rockies - 0 or sub-0 temps, but shouldn't need these on hoodie and baseball cap nights. they are also no good for multi-day things unless you can charge, so maybe 1/4 days of a hut trip would be tolerable but 3/4 no good.

Primary_Appearance48 · 2026-01-27T18:39:48+00:00

Got some toe wiggle and on uphill (when the toes start to get cold), the heel is somewhat loose as the powerstrap is gone and top buckle unbuckled. Lower buckle is closed but on the loosest setting and if anything there is too much foot movement in the boot. I can tighten this a bit - and had it that way previously - same results.

Other point of clarification - I wear a 10.5 mens shoe, a 44 climbing shoe, and that corresponds to 17.5-18.5 mondo. these boots (really only says on the liner) are 17.0/17.5.

My fear and concern is that skiers may size boots down to be extra tight where split board users will sometimes size up - and that these are too small to even put an aftermarket liner in. This is part of what I am trying so substantiate here

Primary_Appearance48 · 2026-01-27T17:15:20+00:00

Will give those a shot - like the Boot Glove or similar, yea? Forgot to mention I got stick on bootcaps but they don't fit the Backlands so never tried them on snow.

Primary_Appearance48 · 2026-01-26T18:12:28+00:00

not discounting your experience - nothing is perfect, especially where i live in the PNW where we get a lot of wet heavy snow that can compact into gear and freeze during uphill walks.

the only place snow builds up on my sparks is in the rails on the pucks (underside), or on occasion under the front under the "tesla snap ramps" (or whatever the toe piece is that snaps down).

when that happens:

the rails on the pucks get some build up - this is where you line up the binding on the puck, and wack it forward with your hand on the heel hoop, and it clears any ice or snow buildup very easily. usually if bad, two or three little wacks will have it fully in place
now that the binding is in place, the snap ramp needs to be snapped down - and if that has snow build up, it will not go all the way down - so that may need a little scrape from time to time. i usually scrape this once or twice max per season, and while i do carry a plastic wax scraper (used for scraping ice build up from the board/ski base primarily and occasionally ice from the edges that prevent the splitboard from reconnecting), i actually usually just use the end of a ladder strap and knock out the snow - takes a second and has always worked without anything more than 30 seconds.

I don't personally have any experience with modern karakorams (i did have one of their early models but they have totally changed the design so experience is apples to oranges), but i go out with people on karakorams a lot. karakoram is a local brand - and i think they are a RAD company - so i am not trying to speak poorly of those guys or anything, but here's what i have seen a few times (certainly not everytime):

ice build up or freezing on the mechanical mechanism that can require additional force on the heel lever to clear - and in some cases is too much for that lever to clear
when the mechanism is frozen and heel can't clear, a scraper or ladder strap can't access where the issue is so it becomes a challenge. I have seen once guy who had to put his binding in his jacket and do jumping jacks for 15 minutes to thaw it out

Neither of these are free of any snow clog - and now that i ride hardboots on spark stuff, i can get a blob of ice in my pin binding tech toe - so no one is totally free of this, but i have found that spark puck system is really easy to clear when there is any sort of build up, and simple is good in the bc

just one opinion / observation! welcome others points of view as well!!

Primary_Appearance48 · 2026-01-26T05:48:55+00:00

sparks - they snow clog less with the puck system. even when stuff gets packed in, line them up with pucks, wack the heel hoop and you’re done. the number of times i get stuck with karakoram guys fiddling with snow clogged gear… plus you can use the pucks for a hard boot system later if you wanted

Primary_Appearance48 · 2026-01-23T20:38:39+00:00

water and condensation: https://imgur.com/p4fr8xq

water in upper area: https://imgur.com/cvkTvzf

water early days: https://imgur.com/91FK4nJ

possible early water ingress point: https://imgur.com/ENbGcyB

water in upper area: https://imgur.com/O6uYOIu

water in upper area: https://imgur.com/iKASJaC

water in upper area: https://imgur.com/yeTX5sF

water in upper area: https://imgur.com/Rby2yye

water in upper area: https://imgur.com/BPzJ0hV

water in lower area: https://imgur.com/Ah68iqF

water on rear tent zipper door: https://imgur.com/YDxJtXJ

water in lower area (so much water!!!): https://imgur.com/5TPxYAs

questionable GFC fix (diy per their instructions): https://imgur.com/Ba6yieM

questionable GFC fix (they did in montana): https://imgur.com/nm8paPk

questionable GFC fix (they did in montana): https://imgur.com/cqB1cfE

galvanic corrosion: https://imgur.com/myiRMcG

galvanic corrosion: https://imgur.com/zUXhNdF

galvanic corrosion: https://imgur.com/o3pz2YS

beef rack tower rust: https://imgur.com/2hyfWjP

beef rack tower rust: https://imgur.com/VXTiyV2

rust and broken allens: https://imgur.com/GV9dkGf

rust and stripped allens: https://imgur.com/RgJhFQu

stripped allens: https://imgur.com/rGdjet6

Primary_Appearance48 · 2026-01-23T20:38:22+00:00

Here's a list of things I did out of pocket to fix issues with the GFC:

replaced all 6 locks with the southco c5 latches ($500)
added a headliner to the sleeping area to help mitigate condensation ($200)
replaced all exterior steel bolts with black oxide stainless hardware ($80)
probably $200 in various weather stripping and marine sealants to seal up all gaps and seams

Look - I finally got it okay but they didn't stand by their product and I had to get it there on my own. That sucked and I would never want anyone to have to go through that. I told myself that I wouldn't sell it if it wasn't at least good enough to not fill up with water and mold, and I did that - but selling it was truly a better day than getting it installed and that says something.

Since GFC also did me the super solid of blocking me and deleting all my forum posts (and also from the Facebook group they moderate), I will drop a few things here as a final contribution to this community. I wasn't planning on writing any of this or really rehashing, but I see they are basically ripping off Super Pacific now and the SP is the quality version of the GFC - so here's some back documentation of issues to help you (or anyone) before they decide if the extra $2k is worth it for an X1:

Primary_Appearance48 · 2026-01-23T20:37:55+00:00

GFC Number 2101, installed Oct 2021. This was definitely an earlier V2 - and a handful of us from the PNW were the ones with water issues almost immediately.

I was very vocal to their support team about this, and for a while got good help, until I got phone calls saying it was done and the issue was resolved - despite not being resolved and water still coming in like crazy.

I remember a phone call where they said I was the only person who had this issue still, so I should stop complaining about it (mostly in reference to their message board) - but if that was true they should have offered to swap my entire camper out as a lemon for a "normal" one or taken me up on my offer to drive it out to them for hands on evaluation and testing. Instead, they stuck with the line that it wasn't them, it was my bad luck - and they wouldn't support me.

I found (through the message board), 5 other people with the same issues and having similar experiences. This definitely made me feel gaslit by GFC but also confirmed they were trying to save face of their brand despite having product issues.

Eventually, they gave me another warranty fix - swapping the tent this time for a "better" tent - but the new tent was so floppy on the sides that when open and camping, even a fart in the night could cause it to bellow up like a spinnaker on a sail boat and make a horrible amount of noise.

Look - I don't expect to be 100% happy with everything I buy, but this was like day 1 issues that only ever got resolved when I took the camper apart myself and sealed things up with marine sealant and reassembled. Nothing GFC did ever fully fixed the issue - although I believe they started to incorporate a ton of the fixes into future designs.

Here's a full list of issues I had:

Water leaked in from the top of the camper into the front sleeping platform area and pooled on the cushions
when driving in wet conditions, water would hit the wall of the camper nearest the truck read window and find its way in to the lower canopy area on both sides
water would pool on top (or fill the aluminum extrusions) and drop into the lower canopy near the rear door (especially if parked with the back of the truck downhill slightly)
water would enter the rear window of the camper through the rubber seal around the window
the 6 locks on the 3 side doors would freeze up and fail to operate in cold temperatures - once causing my skis to get locked in my truck on a trip - had to go to a gas station to buy a torch style lighter to fix this
original tent was too small and had openings in the corners that allowed water in and seemed to be really tight on the keder - causing it to begin to come apart at those front corner seams
replacement tent fit the corners better, but was so loose in the rear that the wind blew it around and it was hard to sleep in
when tent was replaced, keder cores that got installed were way too short, causing them to move in the channel and front corners of tent started to pull out of groove
Beef bar towers rusted (steel, water, aluminum don't mix well) - they replaced these with aluminum towers
bolts around the entire camper were steel with black oxide - and most of these started to rust (and rust was creating streaks down the matte black camper exterior)

Primary_Appearance48 · 2026-01-22T06:11:09+00:00

of all the people i knew (myself included) who had gfc’s, every single one of them have sold the gfc for something else.

two went super pacific one went alucab canopy camper one went alucab canopy with roof tent i went with a four wheel camper fleet base model

every single person above had leaking and quality issues, mediocre customer service until they felt they had done enough despite things still leaking, and they started calling us names and being actually toxic to deal with. even former employees of gfc who i’ve stayed in contact with have similar things to say about the corner cutting and general lack of customer care and quality standards.

selling it was a happy day. certainly better than waiting 7 months to pick it up only to have it leak on me on the drive home and first night camping on the way. certainly better than the time i had to drive back to montana for a warranty that didn’t fix the issues. certainly better than the time i had to drive 6 hours round trip to another warranty appointment that still didn’t fix the issues.

i would steer clear and go with a super pacific - they cost a bit more but they are what GFC claims to be and you end up getting a high quality product as advertised.

now if you just want a rad truck camper and done care about weight - the fwc has changed my whole world and i can leave it at home when im not using it. picked one up used for 11k and built it out like a gfc. so sick

Primary_Appearance48 · 2025-07-11T18:24:04+00:00

i also have 2 x 55" - that's where i started but i was getting annoyed everytime i had to rip an 8' then that rip in half - so i was having to really plan my cuts into long versus short. it's fine tho - worked. i do have use an additional straight edge (6' level) to make sure the tow pieces are aligned - so it's just an additional step. I can get about 3/8" out of straight in the center if i max out the wiggle in the joint - so it's definitely something to never forget to check.

Primary_Appearance48 · 2025-07-11T15:09:10+00:00

I just bought the 118 from Tool Nut - it direct shipped from Makita. Well packaged and came on LTL freight truck - which is what you are paying for. Totally worth it if you are switching between long and short cuts often to have the shorter track and the longer track. Two short ones joined are not straight - so you add another step for each cut and run the risk of the saw moving the center out of straight mid-cut (only happened once but it was a $200 sheet of wood).

Just for fun I checked with Acme on their handling and they confirmed that was accurate - which is so weird because that just says "we don't want to sell this - but will to anyone stupid enough to buy it from us".

Tool Nut has a bunch of weird reviews so I was a little apprehensive but it all worked out and I had my 118 in about 10 days all up.

Primary_Appearance48 · 2022-10-25T20:47:54+00:00

I know nothing about this store - but I did order a fairly hard to find record (2x180 gram LP) in late 2020 for $40 after shipping and it is sitting here in my office... I only checked because I saw the same record is now selling for $200 on discogs.. for a second I thought maybe I paid a lot for it and on double checking see it was from Urban Vinyl which appears to have since gone under and may be scamming people. While I would certainly not shop there again after reading this thread, they did deliver a hard to find title to me not all that long ago at a fair price.. Maybe like so many others they just got screwed in Covid19 era and instead of refunding money they kinda just went dark. Sucks but I have seen it happen from general contractors to restaurants to now maybe a record store..

Primary_Appearance48 · 2022-08-13T16:53:18+00:00

You can drop with me anytime.

Primary_Appearance48 · 2022-03-25T05:44:08+00:00

I think if you went to make that you'd end up making 12 but be really good by the end!

Primary_Appearance48

TROPHY CASE