Longboard or Freeboard?
 

Alright y'all, i need some help. I am looking to try either longboarding or freeboarding to stay on some type of board this summer. I have been snowboarding for quite some time but I have never skated in my life. I have heard pros and cons for each type of board, so I am not sure which one I want to go with. My area is fairly hilly, so that wouldn't be a problem for the freeboard, and I am generally leaning in that direction since it can supposedly give you a very buttery feeling that is similar to snowboarding. I am not trying to do anything really crazy with it because I don't want to do some dumb shit and risk fucking up my snow season. I am just looking to do some hill carving and that kind of thing. So, any opinions on this subject? I would be much obliged.

2 different animals really...try both and decide. I found Freebording more committing, but with a hill really close I would give it a more convinced try. Wear protections.

Freeboarding can be a lot of fun but has more risk than longboarding. That buttery feeling gives you the ability to "slip out" on pavement. I would recommend at least getting good at longboarding first and then get a freeboard as well.

Where on the east are you from?

Get a Gravity Brad Edwards, the best of both worlds.

Longboard IMO. Bindings on a skateboard just seem silly. Once you get good on a longboard, you can do slides and kind of ride it like a snowboard. My friend has a cambered Loaded with dropthrough reverse kingpin Paris trucks and its pretty fun to bomb around. It's a good downhill board, very stable and it's easy to push because it's so low. I have just a cheapo Sector 9 complete (cost me like $150 or something) with regular trucks and it has more of that surfy, cruising feeling and it's a ton of fun to just ride around. It's kind of the equivalent of a reverse cambered snowboard compared to the Loaded.

Unless you want to only ride downhill, I'd stay away from the Freebords.

Oh lord have mercy. Loaded's make for terrible downhill boards. They're simply TOO flexy.

With that being said, I pick longboarding. Having your feet strapped in ALL the time is not always the best thing, especially when you reach flat ground.

I liked it for the downhill stuff I've tried (granted, not very hard terrain). I liked the camber profile+flex of bamboo. I still prefer just cruising though. Once snowboarding is over, having to go uphill just to ride back down loses its appeal.

Thanks for the input everybody, I really appreciate the advice. After pondering everyone's points, I think I am definitely going to go with the longboard. I am mostly interested in cruising and carving with it, so the longboard seems like the best fit. Now I just need to figure out the setup I want to go with.

I really like the Gravity Brad Edwards deck, especially for how versatile it seems,but I am also thinking about the Never Summer Norad or the Sector 9 Mama Say. Any thoughts on these?

The EarthWing Supermodel is another pretty sweet board. You can mount 215 indys on it for a low stable ride, and it's a great slider. I haven't ridden the NS or Sec 9.

What kind of riding are you looking to do specifically? There are A LOT of boards out there that are fantastic for their appropriate disciplines, depending on price point.