What are your opinions on the major brands out there?

TheHebrewHammer · Addict Joined: 03 Dec 2010 Posts: 526

I still consider myself very new to the sport of wakeboarding and I've only had the pleasure of trying a tiny fraction of the product out there, but I find that I'm gradually building brand images/stereotypes based partly on reading/hearsay and partly on the firsthand experiences of my fellow riders and I. I'm interested to see how your views on wakeboarding brands are similar/different to mine. Would you care to share them? Here's how I see it:

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LF: Super easy to ride, feels very natural to me, very beginner friendly (newbies love my Harley), awesome performance. Binding quality/overall board finish not up to Ronix's standards, but compensated for by lower prices. Simple boards that just plain work!

Ronix: Stunning quality and attention to detail, but the feel of their boards (especially the fin setup) doesn't suit my riding style and feels very unnatural/awkward to me. Harder to ride than LF for me. Huge "cool factor" with the people around me. A bit overpriced, but not as bad as Hyperlite and compensated for by excellent quality, although their fins seem to break ALL THE TIME.

CWB: No experience with their recent product, but the 2008 Faze served me very well as my first board. They have a reputation with the people I know of being "old man's boards," i.e. technologically behind the times and just not as "cool" with the current generation of young riders. I personally don't buy it. I bet their products are great and I'd try 'em if I had the chance.

Hyperlite: No firsthand experience. Really cool technology (nova core, system, track mounting system, etc.) but really overpriced! I've always wanted to try their stuff. Maybe it's worth the money, but I'm not sure anything really could be.

Byerly: No experience. Not sure how different they are from the Hyperlite models, but it's hard to argue against a name like Scott Byerly and a talent like Butch. Their image seems to be that of a small company making special boards for a select few who appreciate their quality. I would love to try the Conspiracy!

O'brien: Killer product that doesn't get the marketing it deserves because of Bob Archer's bias towards some of his other brands. The Paradigm is a truly unique and awesome product and the 2012 Nomad bindings are the most comfortable boots I've ever put my feet into. Just a tad more expensive than LF. I will definitely keep them in mind for future purchases.

Slingshot: Probably the most unique mainstream brand out there. Absolutely gorgeous construction and finish. Worrying amount of negative reviews on the durability of the RAD bindings and worryingly numerous accounts of their very thin boards breaking. Hopefully it's all overblown, as I've decided to give them a chance as my new board of choice (see my thread on the 2010 Recoil). Very reasonably priced and super cool. Awesome fun to ride! They've got this flex thing figured out for sure. I think their claims of industry leadership in this category are justified.

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So, am I right?

ridininmd · Wakeboarder.Commie Joined: 16 Feb 2006 Posts: 1231

holdsworth · Posted: Sep 16, 2011 7:36 am Post subject:

A lot of people complain about Ronix fins breaking, but I've never had a single issue with a fin and I ride pretty hard. What the heck is everybody doing to their fins? Confused

TheHebrewHammer · Addict Joined: 03 Dec 2010 Posts: 526

dbismyname · Posted: Sep 16, 2011 11:47 am Post subject:

Wakeboarder3780 · Posted: Sep 17, 2011 8:47 am Post subject:

My first board was a hyperlite vero, no comments on the brand really because I was a noob, but it served me well. Rode some of their bindings too which held up alright but that was back in the day where bindings were rubber and velcro and eventually I got some serious wearout on my HL splits.

Then I bought a HL belmont which I still like to ride today - love that board

Then started getting into LF with their ultra bindings which were rock solid but had to make a warranty call in because the stitching was coming out on one of the handles - no questions up and replaced them with the newer year model, didn't have a receipt and they were over a year old I just said "hey im a weekend warrior and i feel this is unacceptable" no questions asked, full replacement with newer year models. THIS COMPLETELY SOLD ME on liquid force. Bought up tons of stuff over the next 4 years, tried the LF trip, LF lyman, LF Shane, for bindings I tried the watsons and the shanes. I do felt that during those times the graphics were suffering some quality control issues, I bought a new board that looked like a blem but they took it back no questions asked. Bindings were super comfy and the shanes completely suit my ride style. Sometimes I feel like the bindings might be a bit heavy, would love to try ronix out but I heard the cells were a bit stiffer.

Then I rode a slingshot a couple years ago. Never looked back, I've ridden the 2010 response, 2010 reflex, 2011 kine, and now 2011 reflex. I absolutely love their boards and if you haven't tried one all I can say is ride one.

Still on LF for the boots but plan on trying ronix next as they're supposed to be super light, comfy, and i've HEARD they're also durable, but we'll see.

Also rode some obrien bindings and I have to say quality wise I'm really not impressed. The laces ripped right through the eyelets when tightening one day - which they did warranty these, but then the new pair weren't anything to rave about either IMO. My opinion of obrien *bindings* at least is that they are lower quality than the other ones i've tried.

buckthis · Posted: Sep 17, 2011 12:55 pm Post subject: Boards

I probably will never try the flex boards, don't think you should have to get use to it, my Ronix One felt very comfortable the first time l rode it and had tons of pop! l would love to try the Harley, but it's hard to beat the One.

wtwdevil · Posted: Sep 17, 2011 1:30 pm Post subject:

Wakeboarder3780, Just out of curiosity, which O'Brien bindings did that happen too?

holdsworth · Posted: Sep 17, 2011 4:56 pm Post subject:

buckthis, never say never. I was always against flex boards when they first came out because I felt the flex would absorb some energy from the wake, taking away the good pop that a stiff board will give you. Once I tried one out, I had to hold back how much I liked it because my friends would get on my ass about what I had said before. I now ride a flex board 100% of the time and haven't looked back. It took me like 5 wake jumps from each side to get used to it... I actually fell on my first heelside attempt on a Humanoid because I was so used to a stiff board. After that, golden.

TheHebrewHammer · Addict Joined: 03 Dec 2010 Posts: 526

buckthis · Posted: Sep 18, 2011 10:16 am Post subject:

ya, well I did say probably, but since l am interested in kiteboarding l will take that back. Have you ridden the Ronix One and can you say the slingshot pops just as good as the One? Other boards that pop good are the liqiud force watson and the CWB db9. Boards that nobody should get are the liquid force search, trip and the 2007 hyperlite murry board(hyperlite sold this as a pro model?) what a waste. We all know that the companies lie to us to sell us a board, and everyone wants some good pop, tell us which of your boards you have ridden have the best pop and which boards you will not ride again?

holdsworth · Posted: Sep 18, 2011 12:55 pm Post subject:

Ridden a few Ronix Ones of different years, 08/09/10 Ibex (including Dark Core), and 08/09/10 Bills and I can say the Humanoid I ride pops just as well, if not better, than all of these boards. Once I got used to it, it became a lot more predictable and more of a natural feel since it contours with the shape of the wake a lot better than a stiff board and gets the full energy out of it. Landings are crazy soft too compared to a hard board, especially noticable in the Humanoids because of the dual concave base that displaces the water to the outsides of the base. Definitely awesome boards to be on.

TheHebrewHammer · Addict Joined: 03 Dec 2010 Posts: 526

I've ridden a 2010 One. It was super poppy, but I think my Slingshot is even more poppy.

buckthis · Posted: Sep 18, 2011 6:40 pm Post subject:

What the boards you guys have ridden that just don't cut it? Everything else is equal, same technique, same wake, and the board just doesn't get close to what you get with all the good boards out there. Even if you are just starting out I believe you want a board that at least has good pop, but the manufacturers lie to you and say they all have awesome pop and there are probably more bad boards out there than good boards.

b33nine · Soul Rider Joined: 04 Sep 2008 Posts: 311 City: Salem-ish

I can't believe you guys are ignoring hydroslide and body glove for wakeboards. Way better than those other 2nd rate companies everybody else is mentioning.

TheHebrewHammer · Addict Joined: 03 Dec 2010 Posts: 526

GnarShredd · Posted: Sep 19, 2011 6:50 am Post subject:

What about World Industries. Most of the big names are stealing tech from them from what I hear...

TheHebrewHammer · Addict Joined: 03 Dec 2010 Posts: 526

OperationROL · Criminal Joined: 11 Aug 2009 Posts: 92 City: Rockford

TheHebrewHammer · Addict Joined: 03 Dec 2010 Posts: 526

Wakeboarder3780 · Posted: Sep 19, 2011 11:20 am Post subject:

flixmaster · Site Owner Joined: 30 Oct 2003 Posts: 7488

Every year I get to sit in on all the new gear talks.. Every company says that are doing this or doing that... changing this and changing that... it all starts to run together for me now... Smile

From the 2011 Surf Expo I was really impressed with the Slingshot guys... The owner of the company ran thru the product line with me and we talked about the boards but also about the manufacturing side.

What really impressed me was that Slingshot has a factory here in the USA and they make boards.... If they see something they do not like... they can change it.. They do not have to call around the world and try and stop a production line and hope that they do not have 500 boards with a manufacturing defect. If they want to try something new... they make it, test it and tweak it.

buckthis · Posted: Sep 19, 2011 3:35 pm Post subject:

"The first thing you do when you get a Ronix One is change out the standard 1.0 fin"
good call, don't need that much fin, can you just file the 1" fins down?

TheHebrewHammer · Addict Joined: 03 Dec 2010 Posts: 526

magilla · Newbie Joined: 27 Jul 2011 Posts: 22 City: Canton

I have a CWB db9 and it has excellent pop (very light board, too), but the board ride is very loose. Great for surface spins. Suits my riding style just fine.

I've ridden a Ronix One and it also has excellent pop, and it has much better tracking tho more difficult to bust the fins loose on surface tricks.

My 2 cents. Wink

eeven73 · Posted: Oct 11, 2011 6:47 am Post subject:

Moose Boards?

TheHebrewHammer · Addict Joined: 03 Dec 2010 Posts: 526

^^^link?

eeven73 · Posted: Oct 12, 2011 10:37 am Post subject:

http://www.moosesurfboards.com/

TheHebrewHammer · Addict Joined: 03 Dec 2010 Posts: 526

eeven73 · Posted: Oct 13, 2011 8:02 am Post subject:

You don't know the half of it.

Do a thread search and you can pick up most of it.

ridininmd · Wakeboarder.Commie Joined: 16 Feb 2006 Posts: 1231

Da Moose is the man! Bro prices not Pro prices!

MakingaSplash · Newbie Joined: 29 Sep 2011 Posts: 6

Dear all,

Let's not forget Jobe / JStar in all of this. I'm sure that most of us probably leant on a Jobe board and their current range includes some real contenders.

Expect some big things from Jobe in 2012 too as they have just announced a major overhaul of the entire range. Get in touch if you would like to know more.

Cheers

Mike

TheHebrewHammer · Addict Joined: 03 Dec 2010 Posts: 526

MakingaSplash · Newbie Joined: 29 Sep 2011 Posts: 6

Oops, meant to actually say LEARNT not leant lol, but you know what I mean.

Anyway, over here in the UK Jobe boards are used at many of the wake schools and they have a great reputation Smile

Cheers

TheHebrewHammer · Addict Joined: 03 Dec 2010 Posts: 526