Help - buying a board

lovemypinkhat

Hey everyone, sorry in advance if this has been asked before but I've done a little search with no luck.

Heading to Saalbach on the 14th and thinking of buying a board and all the rest (should've done it years ago to save on renting but sure!). Just need some advice. Am I better off buying at the resort, price-wise? I don't want to spend a lot seeing as I'll only be using it for a week or two a year. Was looking on eBay but noone seems to ship outside the US and it prob wouldn't be here on time anyway. How much should I be willing to spend, for the whole shebang - boots, binding and board - grand quality, nothing too special or flashy? Where should I buy? Is it cheaper to buy before I go? I'm in Cork but am willing to travel if needs be.

NervousNude

Hey

I'm not an expert on this at all (about 7 weeks boarding experience) but I took the plunge and bought a board last year. I wasn't in a rush like you seem to be which meant I could take my time a bit and shop around.

The first place I looked was in Bad Gastein in Austria whilst I was on holidys there. I thought there might be some good deals going as it was March so heading towards the end of the season but the cheapest deal I could find was €400 for a bottom of the range K2 board and bindings, and there didn't seem to be any sales on. So I rented for the week, which isn't a bad idea if you get a good rental shop with decent boards - I ended up buying the same board that I'd hired, since I'd had a weeks 'trial' of it and really liked it.

I bought a board at the end of April from ebay - I got a Burton Feelgood which is a mid-range, all-round board for €250 incl. p&p and import tax (it came from the US and I got caught!). I bought bindings (Burton Lexa) separately for about €80, also from the US but they didn't attract the same attention from customs as a 1.5m long box so no import tax. The same board was going for €450 in the Great Outdoors in Dublin and for €400 on Snow + Rock's website. Boots (Burton Mint - unintentional complete Burton set up!) I just bought last week in Great Outdoors, last season's model for €90.

If you can make do with rental gear for this trip I'd reallly recommend holding out till the season's ended - it's when the best bargains are to be had. It does mean that I've had a shiny new board sitting in my room taunting me for almost a year though - roll on March and Andorra!

davmol

Get in contact with the guy from www.irishsnowboards.ie ,he had great deals on boards,he also had bindings and boots.Hes selling bateleon boards very cheaply and will do you a deal id say if you bought from him.i got a load of body armour and he kncoked money off the listed prices.Have a chat with him and youll do well id say,he also does maintenance on boards so would look after you in future which is something you cant avail of in you buy your board abroad!!

NervousNude

Great Outdoors have some offers on board + bindings combinations at the moment www.greatoutdoors.ie

kelznz

lovemypinkhat wrote: »

Hey everyone, sorry in advance if this has been asked before but I've done a little search with no luck.

Heading to Saalbach on the 14th and thinking of buying a board and all the rest (should've done it years ago to save on renting but sure!). Just need some advice. Am I better off buying at the resort, price-wise? I don't want to spend a lot seeing as I'll only be using it for a week or two a year. Was looking on eBay but noone seems to ship outside the US and it prob wouldn't be here on time anyway. How much should I be willing to spend, for the whole shebang - boots, binding and board - grand quality, nothing too special or flashy? Where should I buy? Is it cheaper to buy before I go? I'm in Cork but am willing to travel if needs be.

Hey

www.blue-tomato.com has some really good deals and ship free over E200 within Europe - takes bout 4 working days. I'm just back from Austria and it wasn't overly cheap there. You can prob get board/bindings from E350 depending on what you looking for. www.gumtree.ie is also great for gear, i picked up Burton board/flow bindings for E280 as new...

Hope that helps!

Pablo

Prices at the resorts are normally not the cheapest, as they know they have a captive audience. Also I would be wary of buying on eBay as there are so many fakes, and you don't want to be going down the side of the mountain at 60km/h and something starts to go wrong.

I would vote for www.blue-tomato.com , only because I've used them before and I was really happy.