Might push me over the edge to grab a 5'11 (Matt dims) SMTH SHAPES The Volume.
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Dark Arts Black Friday Sale
- Thread starter ChaseTMP
- Start date
Yeah, kind of eyeing the Embryo as well. Looks a little like the Psychedelic Germ which I really liked, but without the sidecut/wings. I've been thinking about another getting another Germ for a while, but I'm also interested in trying Dark Arts construction. It's a pretty spendy gamble going with a SMTH shape, having never ridden one of their boards.
I have the Mini Demon in Dark Arts. Only 2 sessions on it so far, but its fast. Still trying to dial in fins...
I hadnt even noticed how much prices went up: shipping was 75, now 150. Pigment was 50, now 120.
I got a couple SMTH shapes fairly recently. 88 and Drive Thru. Just PU build. Have only ridden the 88 once but ridden the Drive Thru a bunch. Super fun boar and holding up well so far. Mini Demon in Dark Arts is tempting. STEVE IM GONNA NEED A FULL REVIEW ASAP, THANKS.
Are these things bulletproof? 1500+ w/ shipping and pigment so your wax doesn;t melt is pretty wild. If the demand is there though, good for him.
I've talked to one guy at my local who has the dab bob, says the construction is super dank. He told me his board got runover by a WFH tech bro and no damage at all. Also said his kids love them and are getting way more miles out of them, they usually destroy PU boards in ~6 months tops. All that being said, I don't think I am ready to drop that kinda cash. My friend can get bro deals on them but even then it's still more than my last XTR.
It's almost double an XTR and XTR is plenty durable.
A buddy has one, said it has a lot of pop but kinda hard to bend it into the pocket on the rail for a snap.
A buddy has one, said it has a lot of pop but kinda hard to bend it into the pocket on the rail for a snap.
Racer1 how ya compare XTR tech with Stretch CFT with flex, strength, weight, and durability?
I was considering one of these, but even with 20% off, any non JT board with pigment (which is a must for me) you're at $1133.53 with tax. That's $200 more than what I paid for XTR with color and SL-C. Having just taken a +$300 (if my time/mileage involved with the remake due to the initial terrible QC, it's exponentially more) bath selling my Pyzel XTR that looked practically new, I'm extremely hesitant about getting into the four digit surfboard realm, especially not being able to demo a board in the size/construction first.
For these alternative constructions, I think I'm going back to Future Flex. They hold up really well. The Pureglass ones I've had did not yellow. The don't dent as easy as Varial and the QC is superior to what I've seen from XTR. They're also about 300 less than a Dark Arts (even with the Black Friday 20% discount).
For these alternative constructions, I think I'm going back to Future Flex. They hold up really well. The Pureglass ones I've had did not yellow. The don't dent as easy as Varial and the QC is superior to what I've seen from XTR. They're also about 300 less than a Dark Arts (even with the Black Friday 20% discount).
Dont sleep on the JT shapes. I had a Coffin, it was sick. It just became a little small with my bad back. The guy who bought it from me loves it. And a Dad Bod review was recently done:
I don’t dispute the JT shapes aren’t great, I just think it’d be more difficult to recoup money on one if I didn’t like it compared to a bigger name like Pyzel and to a much lesser extent SMTH. I think no matter which board you get from DA, if you end up not liking it, you’re eating +$400 if you got one with tint.
Yeah, I think that's probably fair assessment on resale. I'm holding out until I need to replace something I know I want to have for years. Most likely a keel or quad fish but I'm all stocked up at the moment. Maybe a Pyzel Ghost or Gremlin or Astropop (shrunk down to Noa Deane's fishy dims in the E.A.S.T.)
Holy crap. I suppose his demand is allowing him to charge that much,
but dayyuummm!!
Still cheaper than a poly Album https://albumsurf.com/collections/new-boards Almost all the stock boards are north of 1k. That, I dont get.
You're not wrong... I can attest to that. Took me forever to move one of my JT's at a steal of a price.
He may get an added boost once the new SITD drops and every board Taj is riding is a Dark Arts. $400 more than a full color XTR parallel carbon(essentially striped tape) is worth it, imo. Especially in regards to durability after reading the XTR thread. Those 2 strips of carbon really is more for looks than acting like a stringer. It may add some small level of strength to the board but it’s not the actual thick weaved carbon fiber Justin uses to wrap the entire board
This was my first and last XTR. Custom ordered it from Dan and Javier back in 2010. When it was “finished” it had exposed foam(no glass or resin) on one of the tips in the tail when I picked it up. Just like in ChaseTMP’s case, after a decade it looks like QC there could still improve
Can you ding the foam core on the dark arts though. is the carbon weave pretty impenerateable? You bang the DA itsstill a foam core that can take on water. The closed cell foam of xtr is pretty attractive.
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