Those are the worst boards Mervin makes.

if you want to love a Mervin, try:
Banked country, 4x4, gremlin

 

Retro Ripper, Hyper, Cygnus, Golden Orca, Skunky Camber

 

Second vote for Banked Country, Hyper, Retro Ripper. Rocket.

 

I quite like the Jamie Lynn.
For a bit of fun in pow or slush the Wayfinder.

 

I'm a huge fan of C2X.

 

so I started out on several Libs; skate banana, TRice, banana magic and Gnu riders choice. After reading several reviews of the Proto HD I jumped to NS and felt even they were more responsive and better quality. Proto, West, Westbound, shaper twin and the 25.

Decided to give Capita a shot with the Mercury and complete understand what everyone is saying about “liveliness” now. It’s really a one board quiver and just a blast to ride. I feel like the NS boards I have ride like a tank in comparison.

you might give Capita a shot

 

Loved the Hyper this season. My buddy loves his Rasman.

 

The Retro ripper is one of my favorites but it's a special occasion board that comes out on really deep days or days I feel like ripping big carves and going fast. It's a wall hanger when not riding as it's probably the coolest looking board I've owned.

I also have a Gremlin 158, Dynamo 162W, and Mullair 164W- They all overlap pretty heavily with slightly different flavors but I dig them all but the Dynamo sees the most snow time by far. The Dynamo is my do it all battle axe I could take to any mountain, any condition and have a great time.

The Dynamo and Gremlin are favorites for Mervin fans while Lib Rig is supposedly a souped up Dynamo with some BRD DNA. I wish they made the Rig bigger than 160 though as a 164 would be awesome. I haven't ridden an Ejack but it seems only slightly different thn the Dynamo/Rig.

The MC Wayfinder is supposedly an awesome pow stick with lots of believers that I'd really like try along with the Banked Country and some others.

I plan on picking up a J Lynn and Doughboy too, just because lol.

I was surprised you didn't like the Steely D as Mervin fans rave over it. You just might not be into Mervin as I see a lot of love/hate opinions on them. They all kinda have a distinct feel and ride quality to the brand. They're not the most liveliest boards by any means but I really like the smooth/damp rides they provide though variable resort conditions when riding fast and hard. Magnetraction is cool and works too, you can slack on tuning and still have great grip in icy conditions.

I'm not an exclusive Mervin rider unlike a lot of guys. I have a bunch of other boards I really like too, but it's still my favorite brand.

 

Harder to say what you should try next year as it sounds like most of their boards are getting overhauled and they’ll have something like 13 camber profiles with most of them being actual camber. That’s said banked country and retro ripper from the 23/24 lineup

 

And this is why I'm having prejudices against their boards... 13 different profiles is either overengineering or marketing gimmick. But I've never ridden any of their models so I guess this comment is more or less worthless.

As a sidenote my gut feeling is that Mervin's and NS's boards seem to be pretty rare in Europe and are more North American thing?

 

Another vote to try a Wayfinder. I have the Steptail from '18 which evolved into the Wayfinder and I can only wonder how that design made it "better". I've loved all my Libs I've had over the years but that one definitely surprised me. The way it handles speed on hardpack and super tight turning radius makes it hella fun and versatile. Me shifting to a more carving orientated experiance in my old age is what lead me save that one for more powder in the trees kinda days.
There are so many great boards on the market now and to be honest I wish Mervin would make more boards without mag and with pain old camber. It's my Excavator that sees the most action lately. Thats my biggest complaint with Mervin is they doubled down too hard on Mag and their banana technology.

 

with pain old camber

😁

 

I tend to like the Gnu version of Mervin boards better than the Lib Tech ones.

For a while it seemed like Gnu was headed toward being the high-end "pro" versions of Lib boards while having one or two one-offs that were kind of weird. Like the Gnu Park Pickle was a stiffer, sintered base Skate Banana that was pretty great. Gnu Mullair was sick if you like stiff traditional camber and wanted a more aggressive EJack.

Now that I think about it, I don't think I've been on a Gnu board I haven't really liked, but Lib-Tech ones have been more of a mixed bag. I did really like the Box Knife and Doughboy. Doughboy was completely unique and definitely a quiver board, Box Knife was just a solid board in a crowded category - but if you wanted great edge hold on ice in a softer flex park board it did that well.

And that's kind of my impression of Mervin boards in general, where if your problem is "I want a board like this, but that has better edge hold in terrible conditions," you're going to find something in the Mervin line up. But if conditions are just great you're going to have a better time on a more lively board with no edge tech. So if you live in the east coast or PNW and are a weekend warrior that's going to ride in the freezing rain because Saturday is the only day you can get up to the mountain, a Mervin board is going to have you covered.

 

For a while it seemed like Gnu was headed toward being the high-end "pro" versions of Lib boards while having one or two one-offs that were kind of weird. Like the Gnu Park Pickle was a stiffer, sintered base Skate Banana that was pretty great. Gnu Mullair was sick if you like stiff traditional camber and wanted a more aggressive EJack.

I tend to think the opposite. Gnu was kinda on the more fun side of things while Libtech was installing advanced technologies.

 

The dynamo is great and loved by many.

I’m a fan of the wayfinder too. Lots of fun in powder.