Gear Review MSR Revo Ascent Snowshoes

Perry

Formerly Cuberant
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I got a chance to try out my new MSR Revo Ascent snowshoes last Saturday. They definitely got me to the top of the mountain so overall they performed as I had hoped. There are a couple of things that make me want to consider exchanging them for another model.

1) The binding strap clips don't hold.
2) They are extremely noisy.

The strap clips that hold the surplus binding straps do not hold. Within one minute the heel strap comes out of the clips and one or two of the over-the-foot straps fall out fairly regularly. I guess this is mostly an annoyance but I had no problem what so ever with the Lightning Ascents I rented. If anything those clips were a bit on the tight side and took a bit of effort to slip the straps into them but the straps never came loose. I went back to Recreation Outlet where I purchased the shoes and checked the clips on some of the other MSR models. Most were a loose fit just like on my Revo Ascents but a few were tighter. I asked the sales guy if he would mind seeing if the Lightning Ascents I had rented were in house so we could compare. Sure enough the clips were very tight. It would appear that MSR has changed these clips and are not very effective at doing their job.

On the noise... The Revo Ascents have the typical "slapping" noise when the shoe comes up to meet you heel but these are really loud. Also when walking on packed snow every crunch is amplified by the plastic deck. I was almost embarrassed at how cheap they sounded. There will definitely be no stealth maneuvers approaching wildlife with these shoes. This was definitely not the experience I had with the Lightnings.

I'm going to be calling MSR tomorrow to see if they will do anything for me. Recreation Outlet would not do anything for me because they are already scratched up and they would not be able to put them back on the self to sell as new. I get that but was hoping they would do something to get me into a pair of the Lightnings even though it will cost me about fifty bucks more. Hoping MSR will make me whole on this deal. If not, I might be selling a used-once pair of Revo Ascents.
 
I bought myself the MSR women's Revo Trail shoes. Will try them out this weekend after my class. I hope they don't have the same issues. Only good thing is I bought them at REI because of their return policy.
 
I bought myself the MSR women's Revo Trail shoes. Will try them out this weekend after my class. I hope they don't have the same issues. Only good thing is I bought them at REI because of their return policy.
Definitely would appreciate hearing your experiences.

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Actually the bindings on the trail model are different so I'm guessing you won't have any problems with the straps.

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That's interesting. I had read that most people preferred the ascent binding over the explore binding. I can see how those could come loose though. Thanks for the review.

I was considering both the Lightning Ascent and Lightning Explore for a while. I ended up finding a better deal on some pretty comparable Atlas shoes, so I went for those. They should be arriving very soon, hopefully. I'm thrilled that we're getting so much snow right now.
 
Just got off the phone with MSR. They are shipping me some different clips that are supposed to hold better. They acknowledged the Revos are definitely louder than the Lightnings and sold me a set of Lightning decks for $70 shipped. I'll swap out the bindings and I'll effectively have the Lightning Ascents. A bit more expensive than what I would have spent buying the Lightnings in the beginning but at least they provided me with a reasonable solution.

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That's interesting. I had read that most people preferred the ascent binding over the explore binding. I can see how those could come loose though. Thanks for the review.

I was considering both the Lightning Ascent and Lightning Explore for a while. I ended up finding a better deal on some pretty comparable Atlas shoes, so I went for those. They should be arriving very soon, hopefully. I'm thrilled that we're getting so much snow right now.

I have used my Atlas shoes for about 10 years or so now. I have really enjoyed them, but I am starting to explore steeper terrain with deeper powder and the Atlas shoes I have are being pushed a bit beyond their limits. I am hoping to convince my wife that we should upgrade, but since she doesn't enjoy the climbing quite as much as I do it is going to be a hard sell.
 
Just got off the phone with MSR. They are shipping me some different clips that are supposed to hold better. They acknowledged the Revos are definitely louder than the Lightnings and sold me a set of Lightning decks for $70 shipped. I'll swap out the bindings and I'll effectively have the Lightning Ascents. A bit more expensive than what I would have spent buying the Lightnings in the beginning but at least they provided me with a reasonable solution.

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That is awesome that they worked something out with you. After my negative experience with gopro I have a new-found appreciation of good customer service.
 
I have used my Atlas shoes for about 10 years or so now. I have really enjoyed them, but I am starting to explore steeper terrain with deeper powder and the Atlas shoes I have are being pushed a bit beyond their limits. I am hoping to convince my wife that we should upgrade, but since she doesn't enjoy the climbing quite as much as I do it is going to be a hard sell.
I made sure to look for something comparable to MSR Lightnings if I wasn't going to get Lightnings, and I ended up getting the Atlas Aspect 24, which has a heel lift, a springy suspension system, and some pretty aggressive traction along the sides and in the cleat. $90 off! I just received them today, so I'll tell you how they perform when I get out tomorrow or Thursday.
 
I made sure to look for something comparable to MSR Lightnings if I wasn't going to get Lightnings, and I ended up getting the Atlas Aspect 24, which has a heel lift, a springy suspension system, and some pretty aggressive traction along the sides and in the cleat. $90 off! I just received them today, so I'll tell you how they perform when I get out tomorrow or Thursday.

I would be interested in knowing what you think. Where did you find them at the $90 off?
 
I would be interested in knowing what you think. Where did you find them at the $90 off?
Amazon! Looks like they've gone up $2. Haha. I can PM you when I have some first impressions.

Sorry for jacking your thread, @Cuberant. It will be cool to see how those snowshoes look/function after you make that modification. So you'll pretty much only keep the frames from the Revos?
 
Amazon! Looks like they've gone up $2. Haha. I can PM you when I have some first impressions.

Sorry for jacking your thread, @Cuberant. It will be cool to see how those snowshoes look/function after you make that modification. So you'll pretty much only keep the frames from the Revos?
No worries... I appreciate the info.

Unless I misunderstood the girl at MSR they are sending me everything except the bindings since they are the same on both the Revos and Lightnings. I just have to swap out the bindings.

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I have lightning ascent 25". I've used them for three seasons and have no complains other than they were more expensive than I would have liked.
 
I have lightning ascent 25". I've used them for three seasons and have no complains other than they were more expensive than I would have liked.
The good stuff is almost always expensive but the expensive stuff is not necessarily good. Secret is figuring out which :D

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I rented evo ascents and lightning ascents from recreation outlet last winter. Both worked excellent. The lightnings were better on the steeper stuff. Have never tried the revos. Love the lightning ascents! Bought me a pair of lightning ascents for this winter at REI during their winter sale for 20% off.
 
I got a chance to try out my new MSR Revo Ascent snowshoes last Saturday. They definitely got me to the top of the mountain so overall they performed as I had hoped. There are a couple of things that make me want to consider exchanging them for another model.

1) The binding strap clips don't hold.
2) They are extremely noisy.

The strap clips that hold the surplus binding straps do not hold. Within one minute the heel strap comes out of the clips and one or two of the over-the-foot straps fall out fairly regularly. I guess this is mostly an annoyance but I had no problem what so ever with the Lightning Ascents I rented. If anything those clips were a bit on the tight side and took a bit of effort to slip the straps into them but the straps never came loose. I went back to Recreation Outlet where I purchased the shoes and checked the clips on some of the other MSR models. Most were a loose fit just like on my Revo Ascents but a few were tighter. I asked the sales guy if he would mind seeing if the Lightning Ascents I had rented were in house so we could compare. Sure enough the clips were very tight. It would appear that MSR has changed these clips and are not very effective at doing their job.

On the noise... The Revo Ascents have the typical "slapping" noise when the shoe comes up to meet you heel but these are really loud. Also when walking on packed snow every crunch is amplified by the plastic deck. I was almost embarrassed at how cheap they sounded. There will definitely be no stealth maneuvers approaching wildlife with these shoes. This was definitely not the experience I had with the Lightnings.

I'm going to be calling MSR tomorrow to see if they will do anything for me. Recreation Outlet would not do anything for me because they are already scratched up and they would not be able to put them back on the self to sell as new. I get that but was hoping they would do something to get me into a pair of the Lightnings even though it will cost me about fifty bucks more. Hoping MSR will make me whole on this deal. If not, I might be selling a used-once pair of Revo Ascents.

Yea those clips dont hold the surplus straps well. What I did was just take em off and flip em the other way (opening faces away from you). Worked really well for me in some fresh powder here in the Sierra.
 
I recently purchased the Revo Ascents. I definitely can say I will NOT be sneaking up on anyone or anything. I also noted the issue with the binding clips, but I got MSR to send me a pack of 8 extra clips so now on each strap I have two clips and that works much better for me. I did have an "oops" though and had the heel strap too tight and it actually caused the strap to tear near the end of my last hike. So, had to ask for a replacement strap for stupidity sake. MSR was nice enough to help on that one too. So, I can say that I appreciate good understanding customer service.
 
Thanks for the post @Shirt357 ... it reminded me to follow up on this post.

Since receiving the Lightning decks and the replacement strap clips I have had a few opportunities to field test them. I have had no problems with the straps staying secured and the shoes are much quieter than the Revos. Other than the financial outlay I'm very satisfied with them. It would have been cheaper for me to have bought the Lightnings rather than the Revos in the first place but I really didn't want to spend the extra money at the time.

Regarding the strap clips I think I can show you what I think is the problem. Here are two of them...

20170206_214058066_iOS.jpg

The clip on the left is the original from the Revos and the other is the replacement provided by MSR. As you can see the one on the right has a bit more initial "grip" being closed more than the other. They otherwise appear to be identical. My guess is this is likely a manufacturing tolerance issue.

The straps have stayed in place very well compared to the originals where they would come unsecured with the slightest prodding. I even managed to step into a "vegetation trap" on my trip yesterday ending up all the way up to my hip. It was quite a chore getting out of that but once I did I was surprised to find all the straps were still secured.

My recommendation: If you can part with the extra $ don't hesitate to go with the Lightning Ascents over the Revos.
They are top quality and you won't regret it.
 
Thanks for the post @Shirt357

My recommendation: If you can part with the extra $ don't hesitate to go with the Lightning Ascents over the Revos.
They are top quality and you won't regret it.

I've got the MSR Lightning snowshoes too. The simple buckle system is a lot like the buckles on cycling shoes.


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