2012 Bataleon Evil Twin Artist Edition
 

Setup:
Bataleon Evil Twin Artist Edition 152
Nike Vapens
Union Flites

I am a bit late doing this review but hopefully it helps others out in their board decisions this year.

I ride in the Northwest, primarily Baker, Schweitzer (Sandpoint), and 49 degrees north. This year I will be taking it on my trips to park city, keystone, red, white fish, big sky, and bridger.

That being said I mostly ride pow and trees with some groomed runs just to get to the lift and a bit of park.

I am sure everyone knows what TBT is and how it works, if not just look it up on youtube for 3 videos explaining it.

In the POWWWWWW:
Being regular camber, and previously riding a first gen skate banana, I expected to sink straight in or nose dive. Luckily, with just the slightest lean I was floating perfectly, I didn't feel a huge difference in float from my lib, and I think the lifted edges made this possible because I could carve side to side with ease. The base held up well jibbin off little trees and what not no scratches (I am also a religious waxer).

On the groomers:
Let me start by saying....I F**KING HATE CAT TRACKS....ok with that out of the way let me now say....I DONT MIND CAT TRACKS AS MUCH....with the tbt I didn't feel like i had to work as hard for that toe edge to stay in the center of the track so thats a plus, no more sore calves for me. Going down steep groomers it did fine, if you plan on doing this though definitely sharpen up your edges a bit just so its more responsive once you find the edge.

In the park:
Well, for a new park rider this would do fine, but personally I would prefer a bit more flex in the board especially with my boot and binding set up. It was too stiff and i had to put some UMPH into presses, but I don't ride the park much, however I do FILM a lot in the park and the TBT made it a lot easier to do that I found just rocking from side to side with ease made the film a lot smoother.

Overall/TLDR:
If you are all mountain/tree rider this board will do awesome for you and the TBT really is amazing

If you are a park rider get a softer model (Airobic, disaster, funkink)

I've got the standard ET (softer than the artist edition) and even it's stiff for most jibby park stuff.

as much as I love TBT, if most of what you ride is really steep groomers (and/or ice), I wouldn't recommend it. You really want the most effective edge touching the surface all at once for that...or skis (2 boards w/ tons of really sharp effective edge)

(however, TBT conforms to/handles moguls better than any other snowboard I've ridden...if you're into that)

Nonsense, standard Evil Twin and Artist Edition are exactly the same stiffness (and other specs) - only the graphics are different.

wrong.

According to the 2012 Bataleon catalog, the standard ET was a stiffness 6-7-6, but the ET artist edition was a stiffness of 5-6-5 (flex ratings were flipped that year, so a 6 was softer than a 5)

Thanks, I stand corrected. Thought I had seen the same flex ratings for both editions. Maybe it was a different year.

Agree. I've rocked a 151 Evil Twin since '08 (Ltd. Edition Smiley) and, regardless of both these boards' specific stiffness rating, I think it's safe to say that it is WAY stiffer than any park rider would like.
As primarily a park/urban jibber myself, I was literally shaking whenever I tried to press this board.
Recently bought a new board (149/softer rating/reverse camber) and the first press I did sent me into a tumble. I wasn't expecting it! Comparatively speaking, though this board gives you great control and stability, but as a board marketed to freestyle riders, it lacks the flex that is oh-so-essential.
Great pop tho.