appelsap

what's the main difference between the different brands of snowboards?

i've been snowboarding for quite some time but never really looked into the equipment. now it think it's time for me to finally get a board of my own and after some research i figgured out i'm going for an all-mountain board (i prefer free-riding myself but i'm gonna be snowboard teacher this winter so i need to be able to use it for anything)

but i don't really know at all what the difference is between the brands, especially the durability is important for me in my choice.

what do you guys think?

Bagels

There is a lot of difference between snowboard brands. Here are the ones you should look at.

Rome
Bataleon
Gnu
Lib Tech
Never Summer
Ride
Forum
Arbor
K2
Atomic

Most of these brands do something different. They all have their different advances in snowboard technology. Most of them will offer Reversed camber. Some will offer Magnetraction(Gnu and Lib Tech). Bataleon has something called TBT(Triple Base Technology). They all bring something different to the table. Do your research. Some brands will appeal to you more than others.

appelsap

thanks, i will look into those at work tomorrow (read: 8 hours of sitting in front of a computer doing nothing), but any reason you left out burton? everyone seems very satisfied with it.

andrew_schenk

for bindings i would highly recommend Rome, boards i'd say StepChild... as for boots get what feels best.

So you have never owned your own setup but are you a instructor this year? whats the back story there?

edit; as for your question about burton... there are alot of fanboys out there, but i personally dont think there equipment (for the most part) can back up the 'hype'. plus alot of their stuff is way over priced... i think its the mind set that if you are paying more for something its always better then a cheaper competitors product.

appelsap

haha yes, i'm not really the kind of guy that worries about equipment, i allways just rent it when on vacation, never really felt the need to buy my own stuff. but since i'm going to be an instructor now for 3 months i do feel i should get my own stuff.

edit: ok thanks for the advice, i was leaning toward burton becouse of the extreme amount of people using it but i'm definatly gonna reconsider it now.

andrew_schenk

i dont want to come off as a dick, as i am just curious... but if you rent while on vacations, it sounds as if you dont ride on a regular basis.. so how can you teach new riders when you yourself are still somewhat new.
its kind of like someone dropping out of high school to become a high school teacher... sure that person has been to school, but is the qualification there?

again, just curious, not meaning to be rude or anything.

Bagels

Burton's quality just seems to be lacking. They make their products as cheap as possible, and then sell for maximum profit.

appelsap

no problem at all. the main thing is that i live in a country without any possibility of snowboarding exept for indoor halls. but i do go to austria every year and have built up quite enough experience there, so the boarding itself is no problem. and as for the teaching i'm currently doing a course to become official snowboard instructor wich is valid in most of the european country's.

basicly, i know how to snowboard, just lack on equipment knowledge

andrew_schenk

ah very cool, makes sense now

BRsnow

I would not read too much into brands as many of them are pressed by the same companies. Also I don't ride Burton at this point personally, but they are on par with quality with any other company out there. I ride salomon and really like their boards, but any decent board will treat you well. So if you find a nice deal on a Burton board, you will have just as good of board as those others listed...