This is purely subjective, and in most cases the skins were not used under identical conditions (ie. same day, same skintrack, close to the same time) but of the skins I've used in the past few years my old purple Ascensions had the worst glide (though they lasted forever and had great grip).
The BD mohair-mix glides a little better with neglible loss of grip.
The BD mohair pures and Dynafit Speedskins glide noticeably better with some loss of grip.
Sources who should know have told me the Dynafit plush is sourced from Colltex, so it is possible that it's the same as the race Colltex light blue skins; they definitely fold up smaller.
At any rate, try waxing your skins before you hit the parking lot - I use whatever I'm using on my bases, rub it on thick in both directions, and iron it on with an iron before brushing it out tip-to-tail. Seems to work well for the rando racers (that means you, Monika). PS At -20 degrees you might expect to start having trouble with Colltex glue . . .
I just purchased a pair of dynafit skins for my Stoke skis. I used BD orange ascensions for a bit and they had nearly zero glide-Due to just the ski width.
I am impressed by the glide of the mohair skin, they are half the folded size and a few oz. Lighter. They glide better but not perfectly mostly due to the width. I was climbing cold and warmer winter corn. Great climbing even on steeper angles. The downside is their glue seems to be not as sticky as BD skins. The mohair gets scarred or compressed when walking on branches and such. I can see how the plush would be less durable. Overall I wonder how they will do/stick when the skins get wet in the Spring. Since I bought them from backcountry.com I am going to hold on to them and if they take an unreasonable downturn just return them.
Having used a lot of different mfg's skins .i'd say the BD mohair mix is pretty damn good for glide and a little down on grip. Maybe better priced as well.
For grip I find BD acension rules.
Now if your intent is low angle approaches logging roads etc. Swix special blue extra 40 or 45.
One other trick is to carry a pr of Bikini skins 50mm. I have used these successfully up to Cowlitz rocks and logging rds. on 88mm waisted skis.
Happy gliding !
Based on your post, "looking for the best glide and light weight. Best glide in cold temps.
No concern with grip"
The clear winner here is Mohair skins.
Colltex skins are OK, but the backing material on their race skins isn't so great. Favorites at the moment for glide/compactness are Pomoca. They're not as easily sourced here, but better /more durable backing material and worth it if you can get your hands on some.
Euro skins glide better, period. Euro glue (and G3's here in North America) adhere to stricter environmental standards and don't hold as well as Black Diamond. Solution is easy, add Black Diamond glue to your euro skins
