What do you look for in a board?
I’m just curious, when you guys trying to buy a board what do you look for/what’s most important to you?
*EDIT 2*: For me it’s
1. camber profile: I prefer C2 style board (Never summer’s RC, Lib’s C2) and also camrock boards, I don’t like full camber, flat boards, or full rocker).
2. sidecut: some boards are just blah when turning & carving, gotta have a nice aggressive sidecut but not too tight; sidecut tech (e.g. magnetraction, grip tech, vario power grip) also matters a little bit
3. flex & size: I usually like medium-medium stiff flex that’s pretty damp, never liked soft boards (usually 153-156 size, 53 for general riding, 56 for steep and deep)
4. shape: totally forgot about this until Jeremy mentioned it. I like both directional and twin boards, but if I have to choose one I’d probably choose directional since I rarely ride switch (even though I’m getting NS proto HD for my next board which is a twin lol). I love powder shape boards even though I’ve never really ridden them in deep pow before. I don’t find it weird at all on groomers.
4. graphics: no matter how good the board is if I’m not stoked on it (say it’s a bright pink tinkerbell graphics with glitters) I don’t think I will ride it.
A Stiff Flex and some form of Camber!!!!!
But your YES tasman is not stiff right?
But your YES tasman is not stiff right?
It is in the Above Mid Stiffness range, but its also my “Short Board”!!!!!
The board I ride the most is my DC HKD, and my new replacement that’s on it’s way the Devun Walsh Pro, are Stiff Boards!!!!!
Stiff, light, camber and Burton
Size is obviously a very important consideration. I won’t really compromise on size by more than a centimetre. When I’m buying a board, I’m buying it with a specific purpose and I know what size I want. If a certain model only comes in say 153 and 155, and I originally wanted a 154, well, I would choose one or the other if I thought the board is exactly what I’m looking for.
In my opinion, even more important is the camber profile. The camber profile probably has the biggest impact on how the board rides. A cambered board and a rockered board feels completely different; much more than a soft board feels different to a stiff board of the same size, shape and flex.
Next I probably look at the shape; directional, twin, directional twin, tapering, sidecut etc. I won’t compromise on this either. If I want a twin, I will buy a twin. So I guess I consider shape extremely important as well.
Next I will look at materials; base, core, edges etc.
Flex fits in there somewhere as well. It’s important but I’m usually happy to experiment a bit here. All flexes have their benefits and disadvantages. If my board feels stiff, then I’m going to carve it super hard and bomb hills like there’s no tomorrow. A softer board demands to be flexed, pressed, buttered and jibbed. And there’s everything in between. Usually I aim for mid flex, but anything from around 4 to 8 on a normal flex scale is fine with me, depending on the actual board and what I’ll be using it for.
I guess I should comment on graphics, even though it’s not important to me at all. This is the last consideration. Really it’s not even a considering but more like “the cherry on top”. I will happily buy/ride a board if everything about it is right , even if I don’t like the graphics. If the graphics are sick, I just consider that a bonus.
Really, a board just need to feel “right” (in my mind) before I buy it. I honestly consider everything about the board. I think about how I would want to ride it and what it would excel at. If it really blows me away and I think “this board is so sick, I need to have it”, then that’s when I’ll make the decision. For me, the most recent board I acquired stoked me out so much and I knew it was perfect. I got the FYVE Mayhem 151 which I will be riding for the first time on Monday or Tuesday. It was exactly what I was looking for. Just an all-round versatile kill-it-all board for Australia.
I think the question that needs to be asked before any of those is “what type of riding will I be using this board for?”
I actually find this a pretty difficult question, since there seems to be so many aspects to snowboarding and it’s not always practical to be dragging a huge quiver around. Is the board to be used for jibbing, jumping, freeride, carving, racing, pow..? How far do you compromise the ability in each of those areas so as not to give up too much performance in other areas?
In terms of the board stats you’ve listed, one other that comes up sometimes is how well damped the board is.
Oh yeah, I totally forgot about that one. I definitely like a “damp” board (but still poppy) compared to a “lively” one where you can feel everything underneath your feet.
Probably in this order:
- Camber profile: My favourite at the moment is flat, mostly for park, but I’m looking at mixing it up soon for my next all mountain board.
- Shape: Almost forgot about this until Jez mentioned it! All my boards are true twin, I don’t think I’d buy anything else, apart from maybe directional twin for all mountain. I’ll ride anything once though! 
- Flex: Soft is the go for me at the moment. K2 Parkstar and WWW. I don’t think I’d buy something as soft as the WWW again. The Parkstar on the other hand has a pretty well balanced flex for my riding.
- Size: I like the size of my 151 WWW for park and the 157 Parkstar for all mountain, I could go a few cm either way if I was buying a new board.
- Graphic: Even though it’s last on the list, I love a good graphic. Both of my boards are pretty plain, but a good graphic really sells a board haha. Especially when you’re in a snowboard shop just to get a pair of gloves or whatever, and you see some rad looking board staring at you from across the room, your eye say ‘yes, yes, buy this!’ and your wallet just cowers in fear.
Edit: Fixed for Chucky
Just a heads up - the term “flat camber” is oxymoronic. Any given section of a snowboard’s profile can be “flat” or “cambered”, but not both. Some snowboard manufacturers do use the term, “flat camber”, but they are mistaken. Just plain “flat” is fine - otherwise “neutral camber” or “zero camber” are reasonable options.
Camber. I ride a rocker and love it for most conditions I like something that feels like a skateboard.
Size
Company
Cost
Will I look sexy with it on my feet, will it match my beanie. jking 
Graphic is important for me but it’s down the scale of things. I do love a nice graphic.
I used to think about this a lot….now I just look and see if it says Arbor Draft on it.
The board for me!