kiwi-freestyle

whats everyones thoughts on a 160 darkstar wide vs Rome slash wide for an advanced rider thats just learning park (doing 360s and medium features) but wanting to take freestyle style to the rest of the mountain?
would the slash's almost twin shape make riding away from spins switch to difficult or not that much,
or would the darkstar be better suited for all mountain with carbon inserts?
also I read somewhere the slash was aimed at beginers is this true? im a confident rider just looking for something to progress my park skills while not comprimising being able to shred the rest of the mountain as well as I have been up til now thanks.

Lil_Fuzz

I've got a 155 Darkstar and have no complaints what so ever, great board. Great for park, but can also stomp the mountain. Found the board to be real forgiving compared to other boards I've ridden. Haven't heard of the Rome Slash before so can't say but if u get the darkstar I doubt you'll be disappointed

mitch21

I like these reports from all the people that ride the darkstar as I can't wait to use mine

Incogneato

no the shape of the slash is not going to cause you any trouble, its the rider and not the board, every board has its own feel anyway so you can't just choose one aspect (the almost twin shape) and then attribute your abillity to do anything to that one aspect of the board. do you ever encounter people who say "oh i just about landed that back 5 excpet the almost twin shape didn't let me?". people tend to blame their gear way too quickly.

same with the carbon insert thing, the slash may be a better all mountain board that the darkstar even if it has carbon stringers, again, that one aspect can't be isolated and used for or against it, the way a board rides is the sum of all its parts.

most boards that are made today can be used for anything you want, companies put up stupid marketing categories but its all snowboarding, no one makes a board that just cannot be used to ride park or pow or whatever, its just that some boards are slight;y suited for different things based on preference (not including very specialized boards like heavily tapered pow boards or utter jib noodles).

my opinion would be to figure out your budget, then start to find a board that you seem stoked on for whatever reason. personally i don't like to give my money to companies that are just subsiduaries of other gigantic international mega corporations (jarden owns k2) and i would rather give it to a company like Rome or Capita or Arbor. since everyone makes good equipment these days it should almost be your last consideration when buying a board.

kiwi-freestyle

thanks for your input, yea I understand it always comes down to the rider in the end. Its pretty easy to get sucked in to the marketing hype!

kiwi-freestyle

local shop has an 09 159 riot bataleon at a good price so might get that and see how TBT goes. thanks for the help

norge87

Darkstar all the way man. Its a mean slice of shred