Beginner/intermediate looking for first board, need to know what I'm looking for.

[onthefence]

I'm 26 and weigh 200lbs (might be 180 soon after dieting), I wear a size 11 shoe, and I snowboard in southern Cali.

Last season I just learned to toe-side turn/carve. Currently I have not rode on any park features or jumps but I intend to occasionally hit them eventually as I become more experienced.

Before now I've only used rental boards since I've only been to the mountain once a year, but this season I plan to make around 4 trips to the mountain and decided its finally time to invest in buying my own setup. With most rentals I've always felt that they were sorta "controlling", and felt restricting. Sometimes I would feel as if I were "locked in" to a certain direction and it seemed like I had to force the board pretty hard to get into a different direction (this "locked in" feeling was mainly when the nose was pointed directly down the mountain).

I'm looking for something that fits my current level of experience but also something that has room to grow with me. I want a board that I can LEARN on, but that is also "fun" and forgiving.

What kinds of specific things should I be looking at as I shop? I know people can suggest specific boards and thats great, but I also want to know exactly what features should I be looking for in a board and why?

[ThunderChunky]

What do you plan on riding. Park/Freeride/pow/etc. Also what camber option do you want? I would suggest positive camber because I guess I'm just old fashioned like that, but it has advantages learning on it.

[onthefence]

Originally Posted by ThunderChunky

What do you plan on riding. Park/Freeride/pow/etc. Also what camber option do you want? I would suggest positive camber because I guess I'm just old fashioned like that, but it has advantages learning on it.

Currently I'm just freeride. Eventually I plan to learn Park, but currently I have no experience in it.

What are chambers and what are pros/cons of each? This is the kind of stuff I'm hoping to learn in order to make a better purchase decision =)

[ThunderChunky]

For freeride you want a positive camber stiffer end deck. But that is just the stereotype. Anything that works really.

http://www.snowboardingforum.com/boa...g-between.html

This should help you with the camber dilemma.