WHAT A TYRE!! I couldn't think of better winter tyre atm... Had Bridgestone Blizzak LM001 before that were good for aprox. 3000 miles, and after that they basically became hard plastic (all in same winter that I bought them and installed them on car)... Got TS860 because my friend recommended them for winter 2017/2018... As I have really really really really steep hill to my house, where even 4x4 car with moderate tyres struggle on even a little wet road, just imagine what my 30 years old Mercedes with rwd and without traction control feels like... On that hill I am not only able to go without any wheelspin on wet road (which i found impossible with any tyre before) but I can come to full stop at any point and start driving again like it is totally dry road, just mindblowing... Sometimes I feel that they even have better grip on wet road than ecocontact6 have on dry road in summer... I only had 1 chance to drive on snow and ice, as it doesn't snow in my area, and they performed fantastic... This set is at end of their life after cca 25-30k km (15-18k miles), maybe half mm until "minimum depth" mark, so I am going to buy new set in few days...
Until Continental launches new tyre to replace TS860 I won't think of trying other winter tyre... I can't even think how can winter tyre be improved over this