Splitboard.com Forums

Please excuse the cross post. I meant to post this here on the gear/splitboards category and not the general discussion category.

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I am looking at buying a new split this year. All of them are tempting for a variety of reasons.

Voile MOJO RX - best price considering you get new skins, and the latest Voile kit
Prior - great boards and also a good deal since it includes the new skins and kit
Venture, Jones, Lib Tech - are worth considering since you get to be that guy with the coolest new gear. I have a Lib Tech Board currently which is pretty nice and so far I think MagneTraction is a real benefit. Drawback is that I have to purchase the new kit and skins separate and pay someone to do the drilling set up for me.

One issue that would help me decide would be if I knew which of these manufacturers had done anything to improve the durability of the top sheet. My Prior Backcountry has taken its share of chips on the top sheet and it seems to me that this is an area that leaves room for improvement. A splitboard gets a fair bit of wear and tear just from break down and set up, and particularly in ski mode since they are very often being banged together.

Any thoughts would be very much appreciated, thank you.

I think the new carbondonium topsheet that Neversummer is using is pretty durable. Of course, I have yet to put a season on one so I could be wrong. Their old top sheet was plenty tough though, so I doubt they would change unless it would hold up. It seems awfully durable to me. Vario grip is NS's answer to Magne and it works very well. Not nearly as aggressive or hooky too.

Venture for sure has a solid product. The Jones boards I looked at seemed well made enough too.

Lib, you have to drill out your board. I think that is a waste myself. not really worth it. If they had the insert pattern I'd say go for it. For the price, I'd spend my money elsewhere.

i would think performance would be top priority, but if this is an actual concern Venture's top sheet is the same as the base material, so you can fix it with a p-tex candle

and every Voile board it have seen is cap construction, even on the connecting side, i have never not blown up a cap construction board

Yeah, I guess performance should be a first consideration, but for me, performance on the UPHILL is where I have the biggest frustration with splitboarding. I can hack my way down anything, but the uphill is what can really frustrate me.

What does the top sheet have to do with uphill performance? Not really anything I guess, but since I am banging the things around in ski mode they take a ton more abuse than my solid boards do inbounds.

Guess I shouldn't care and should just get used to buying new gear or enjoying well worn gear.