I bought a 2010 NS Heritage from Justin earlier this fall. It's not strictly a "used" board since it's not used. But OK, it's last year's model. I'll leave it to owners of the 2011 to decide if they have a different experience.
So, Seymour opened last Thursday, and they've been getting a crapload of snow, and finally today was the day. Not only the first day of snowboarding season for me, but also today was the first day using my new NS Heritage and my new Ride Havoc (well, new to me). And I have to say, that was an experience. The Heritage is a very responsive board, with great edge control. But as Triple8sol has said, it's not very forgiving -- and it has some idiosyncracies. For one thing, if you hold a constant edge during a turn, the board actually goes into a tighter and tighter turn until it almost literally whips off at 90 degrees. You have to learn to ease off the edge a little earlier to avoid having the board head off at a right-angle, leaving your upper body behind. And yes, that is exactly as painful as it sounds.
The Heritage is also a relatively heavy board (I'm using my Ride Havoc for comparison) but it doesn't feel heavy when riding. In fact, I found my dynamic carving to be immediately improved. But the damping on the board and its impressive ability to cut right through rough patches make the board feel massive -- almost like you could carve right through a tree. The downside of this is that you don't necessarily have a good feel for what kind of terrain you're on. The Havoc feels much more nimble, but that's mostly because you're feeling and reacting to every bump, not necessarily because you're turning faster.
What really amazed me about the Heritage was how easy it is to go edge-to-edge, especially since you'd expect to have to fight more inertia with the heavier weight. One point that I disagree with Triple8sol about is on the subject of buttering. Now mind you, I'm coming from a Morrow Lithium which is a stiff downhill board, rather than some kind of park noodle, but I found the Heritage to be a perfectly agreeable butterstick. Granted, I can't pull the thing up to my ears, but it comes up high enough to do the job.
And lastly, I took the opportunity to try some of Snowolf's advice about using torsional edge control. Holy crap! I'd tried and kind of dismissed torsional edge control with the old boards -- it worked somewhat, but full edge pressure and shifting weight was more effective. With the Heritage you can just lightly lift your toes on one foot and your heel on the other and off you go in a new direction.
I don't want to give the impression that this board will immediately make you a better rider. Actually, I take that back. It pretty much does just that. But it can also land you on your head if you don't take it seriously. So, was it worth the money? Fuck, yeah! Do I recommend this board? Dambetcha! Are there other good, possibly better boards? Almost certainly, but this is the one I own. Get your own board.
So, Seymour opened last Thursday, and they've been getting a crapload of snow, and finally today was the day. Not only the first day of snowboarding season for me, but also today was the first day using my new NS Heritage and my new Ride Havoc (well, new to me). And I have to say, that was an experience. The Heritage is a very responsive board, with great edge control. But as Triple8sol has said, it's not very forgiving -- and it has some idiosyncracies. For one thing, if you hold a constant edge during a turn, the board actually goes into a tighter and tighter turn until it almost literally whips off at 90 degrees. You have to learn to ease off the edge a little earlier to avoid having the board head off at a right-angle, leaving your upper body behind. And yes, that is exactly as painful as it sounds.
The Heritage is also a relatively heavy board (I'm using my Ride Havoc for comparison) but it doesn't feel heavy when riding. In fact, I found my dynamic carving to be immediately improved. But the damping on the board and its impressive ability to cut right through rough patches make the board feel massive -- almost like you could carve right through a tree. The downside of this is that you don't necessarily have a good feel for what kind of terrain you're on. The Havoc feels much more nimble, but that's mostly because you're feeling and reacting to every bump, not necessarily because you're turning faster.
What really amazed me about the Heritage was how easy it is to go edge-to-edge, especially since you'd expect to have to fight more inertia with the heavier weight. One point that I disagree with Triple8sol about is on the subject of buttering. Now mind you, I'm coming from a Morrow Lithium which is a stiff downhill board, rather than some kind of park noodle, but I found the Heritage to be a perfectly agreeable butterstick. Granted, I can't pull the thing up to my ears, but it comes up high enough to do the job.
And lastly, I took the opportunity to try some of Snowolf's advice about using torsional edge control. Holy crap! I'd tried and kind of dismissed torsional edge control with the old boards -- it worked somewhat, but full edge pressure and shifting weight was more effective. With the Heritage you can just lightly lift your toes on one foot and your heel on the other and off you go in a new direction.
I don't want to give the impression that this board will immediately make you a better rider. Actually, I take that back. It pretty much does just that. But it can also land you on your head if you don't take it seriously. So, was it worth the money? Fuck, yeah! Do I recommend this board? Dambetcha! Are there other good, possibly better boards? Almost certainly, but this is the one I own. Get your own board.