Equipment advice sought - deeply appreciated

Hi All,

Myself and my husband started skiing about 2 seasons ago and ahve been
skiing rather regularly in the winter since then. We ski blues rather
comfortably and blacks occassionally. I want to buy him a pair of skis
for his birthday since we are tired of renting. I dont want to buy him
boots yet because i think he needs to try them out himself.

Any brand/model recommendations would be really appreciated. He is an
intermediate to advanced skier skiing almost completely on the west
coast. He is about 5'9" and weighs about 175 lbs. He likes taking
longer turns rather than short abrupt ones.
I was strongly considering the 170 cm Rossi Bandit (not the B1 or B2
but the plain Bandit).. the sales person at rei seemed to think that
would suit my needs best).

Thanks a ton in advance,
Seema