New board suggestion/help

Hi. Im looking to add a new board to the quiver and I have stumbled accross
the ILLUMINATI web site... Any ideas on this manufacturer? I did a search
but only come up with the company web site. Anyone here ever ride one??
General impression???

Im looking to add a shorter board for rails and tricks.

Thanks

Spitdriver

A few years ago they won a Transworld Snowboarding top 10 Good Wood award.
That means for that year it was one of the 10 best freestyle boards voted by
their testers. Might have been from the 2002-2003 season. Was it called
the Hybricon? Anyway, I don't know that much more about them.
This years top 10 is:
Academy, Merit 157
Atomic, Alibi 156
Burton, Custom X 158
Burton, Vapor 157
Gnu, Rider's Choice 157
Lib Tech, Magnetraction 159
Nitro Team 157
Rome, Agent 155
Santa Cruz, Seth Huot 156
Venue, Onyx 158
Unfortunately, for some reason ($$$???) they list them in the Buyers Guide
but if you want to read the reviews you have to buy the October issue of TWS
(lame.)

I have always been happy with GNU and Lib Tech.

Tiburon27 wrote:

This years top 10 is:

The top 10 companies willing to pony up bucks to Transworld.

Neil

The top 10 companies willing to pony up bucks to Transworld.

Really? Are you aware of how they run the tests? Companies send blank
boards for evaluation. The team is made up up pros/semi/pros and retired
pros who don't have a board sponsor.

For example last year "Smokin' Snowboards'" Superpark 156 board was top 10
board. I really don't think they can offer the same paylola as, say, Burton
or Rossignol or K2. I can see how you may think things aren't legit but
when you have 4 or five guys riding completely blank boards it's hard to
argue. Burton now even sends their boards with a 4x4 pattern specifically
for the Board Test so you can't just look down and say, "Hey I'm riding a
Burton." Anyway, I think it's legit, you don't so I agree to disagree.
Enjoy first tracks.

Hello All,

I think the truth is somewhere in between.

I would love to see a spreadsheet with all the boards tested.

I'll bet you have to pony up bucks to be evaluated, then the testing at
that point could become objective.

There are just some painfully omissions. Donek Wide, Palmer Crown, and
Arbor Mystic to name a few. Mind you these are from both freestyle and
freeride camps.

Also omitted would be hard booting all together. Yet I do realize the
thread originated on the topic of a good park board.

Not trying to start a holy war. There is just some truth to both of your
statements.

Regards,

Chris

Tiburon27 wrote:
The top 10 companies willing to pony up bucks to Transworld.


Really? Are you aware of how they run the tests? Companies send blank
boards for evaluation. The team is made up up pros/semi/pros and retired
pros who don't have a board sponsor.

For example last year "Smokin' Snowboards'" Superpark 156 board was top 10
board. I really don't think they can offer the same paylola as, say, Burton
or Rossignol or K2. I can see how you may think things aren't legit but
when you have 4 or five guys riding completely blank boards it's hard to
argue. Burton now even sends their boards with a 4x4 pattern specifically
for the Board Test so you can't just look down and say, "Hey I'm riding a
Burton." Anyway, I think it's legit, you don't so I agree to disagree.
Enjoy first tracks.

Tiburon27 wrote:

Really? Are you aware of how they run the tests? Companies send blank
boards for evaluation. The team is made up up pros/semi/pros and retired
pros who don't have a board sponsor.

Just colour me cynical.

Neil

Spitdriver wrote:
Hi. Im looking to add a new board to the quiver and I have stumbled accross
the ILLUMINATI web site... Any ideas on this manufacturer? I did a search
but only come up with the company web site. Anyone here ever ride one??
General impression???

Im looking to add a shorter board for rails and tricks.

Thanks

Spitdriver

I've heard a little about them. They are a small rider-owner company
out of Jackson Hole that started around 2000. I've heard good reviews
about them, but I'm still slightly skeptical until I've tried on of
their boards (mostly because most reviewers tend to have less than a
100 days under they belt and don't know what they are talking about).
Check out some reviews at www.boardreview.com. From that I understand
since they are riders, they only design/test the gear, they don't build
the boards (contracted out to the same US based factory as M3). Their
bindings are rebranded Technine bindings as well. It's a different
design/production philosophy versus the "master boardmaker" who
snowboards a lot, but isn't a freestyle pro rider (and just takes
feedback from his teamriders to adjust the board specs).

Sounds like fits what you are looking for, if you get it... post a
review! Personally I still really like my Donek Phoenix (www.donek.com)
for rails (50-50s, boardslides) and tricks (180s, 360s).

--Arvin

That's up to Donek, Palmer and Arbor to send in demo boards for evaluation.
And even if they do, they might not stack up compared to other boards that
are being demoed.

Mind you just last year the Palmer "Burn" 158 was chosen as a top 10 men's
Good Wood board and this year the Palmer "Halo" 152 is a Good Wood women's
board. So Palmer at least is gettin' some love from the testers.

You'll never see a hardboot board because the test it to determine the top
10 freestyle boards. So unless Damian suddenly makes a comeback... Oh wait
near the end he switched to soft boots too.

We're never going to see a back country powder monster top 10, much less a
racing/hardboot top 10 because the market is so small that it's not a
justifiable cost to TWS.