Star Digital Touch 200C Iron

Are high-temp irons coming back? Since we stopped working with pure fluoro powders in 2019, we have had much less use for this thick-plate 200 degree iron. But there is a growing trend on the World Cup to use very high iron temps on some of the newer race waxes. We're of mixed opinion on this - on the one hand we want to make skis fast, and if higher iron temps are part of the winning equation, then we need to know about it. On the other hand, we want to keep skis fast, and we know that excessively high iron temps can cause base damage and slow skis down in time.
One World Cup service tech that I spoke with mentioned that many people are citing temperatures well over 200 degrees, but that when they check the base of the irons being used, they're not actually holding that temperature, and in fact, they struggle to hold 200 degrees. This 200C iron is an actual 200C iron, and while I've asked Davide about higher temps since higher temps get talked about, he is clear that both common sense and regulations prevent him from producing an iron with a higher max temp than this one.

We have made some high-temp tests and have yet to reproduce some of the results being reported from the World Cup. We'll keep an eye on things. For the time being I don't feel it's prudent to recommend these really high temps to most users, and I promise that you'll cause damage with iron temps way above the recommended temp for the waxes that you're using. But with some companies cranking up recommended temps, it seems inevitable that high-temp irons have at least some future in ski prep.