scotty100

Title says it all...need help deciding on these 4 boards. I've done a fair bit of reading on here and these would seem to be good for what I need. My stats:

Height - 6'

Weight - 200lb

Boot size - 10 Burton Grail

Just finished my 1st season learning to ride. Now looking for an all mountain stick that is more on the park/freestyle side. Medium flex or medium-soft. Rocker or rocker hybrid or camrock. Twin shape. Probably something around 160 in length.

So what do you guys think about these options:

Ride Machete
Signal Omni
Arbor Westmark (or blacklist too)
Jones all mountain twin

thanks for any advice!!

Scotty.

chub11

In my opinion, the Westmark would probably be the best choice for you. It's definitely more on the freestyle side of all-mountain, which you say you want, but should still good for groomers as well as the park. Your reduced footprint boots should be fine in terms of size.
Arbor Westmark Snowboard 2012 | evo

scotty100

Thanks Chub - do you ride Arbor? They look like they make cool boards but some on here say the durability is not what it should be. The Westmark for 2013 looks sick though...

glm

I ride a 2012 arbor blacklist, which is the mid wide version of the westmark, and it is an amazing board. What you say about durability is a little true though. I have gotten quite a few dings on it, some that might need repair, but that's just from reckless riding. On the other hand, the 2013 arbor westmark will have an extruded base, which means it will be tougher, but a little less fast, and will absorb less wax. It is trade off, but if, as you say, you are in your 1st year, I don't think you will even notice the difference.

chub11

I don't ride Arbor, so I can't say anything about the durability. But they do make some great boards, and it seems like the Westmark is one of the best in their line.

CheeseForSteeze

Rode a 150 Westmark this sseason. It is the do most things board that is a park board more than anything else. Its biggest limitations is the lack of ability to plow through chop but you can get around this by picking a more careful line; it's more work but certainly not undoable.

The sinterd Rocket Base is a bit more delicate than I would like. Sintered bases are definitely tougher than extruded bases so the new Fusion Base is a downgrade in durability. They are easier fo repair.

scotty100

Update - my LBS has a 160 Yes Great Beauties of History on sale for 300 bucks...I'm tempted. Very tempted. From what I read it's a great board and falls in the category of the others I mentioned in my OP. Anyone thoughts on this one?

jdang307

There is truth to the reputation but it's also a tiny bit overblown.

The base (sintered) is soft. It gets beat up fairly quickly that is true. On my other boards I either see nothing or a nice good scratch. With the two arbors (friends blacklist, my coda) I notice damage as if someone took a 100 grit sandpaper and went to down on small sections. It's weird.

The Coda topsheet held up a lot better than I was expecting though. At the end of the day, it'll be ok. Don't let a little durability hold you back from a great board.