- Hey, thanks for watching this review.
Before we get started,
if you're trying to choose the best surfskate for you,
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SpiceSkate, SwellTech, Waterborne and YOW.
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eliminates every model that doesn't meet your specifications
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When I first got into surfskating going on two years ago,
I had no idea what I was doing.
And since none of the companies offer very much education
at all, I was left to just watch YouTube videos
of great riders riding all these boards behind me.
And as you know any great rider
can make any of these boards look good,
and so that wasn't helpful for me,
as a non-surfer beginner, at all.
So for me, it's just been a process
of trial and error to figure all this out and to date,
I've invested over $16,000 on over 60 surfskates
from 27 companies and 11 countries around the world.
And that includes 28 different surfskate trucks.
And so I finally feel like I have a pretty good grasp
on what are the best surfskates for beginners.
And so this is the video that I wish I would've had
when I was first starting out,
because it would've saved me a lot
of time, money and hassle.
So to answer the question, "What are the best surfskates
for beginners?",
I look at it through the lens of four different variables.
The first is stability.
How easy is it for you to pick up and learn as a beginner,
especially if you're a non-surfer like me.
The second is price.
And that to me is a big factor
as a beginner because when you're first starting out,
you don't know if you're going to invest in it.
And so to me, it doesn't make a lot of sense to invest
in one of these higher end surfskates as a beginner.
When you don't know how far you're gonna take it.
The third variable I look at is versatility.
And what I mean by that is if you do stick with it
and get better as a rider, well,
are you going to be able to stay on that original system
or will you need to upgrade as your skills improve?
And the final variable I look at is quality.
How long is the board gonna last you?
How easy is it to maintain?
How much hassle is it gonna create for you over time?
So the first thing we'll do is walk
through what I believe are the top 10 surfskate trucks
out of the 28 that I've tried,
and tell you what I think are the best ones
out of these 10 for beginners.
After that, I'm gonna walk you through a lot
of these other ones that I've tried that, to me,
didn't make the top 10,
but they may work for you as a beginner.
Okay, so let's start with the first variable,
which is stability.
How easy is this for you to learn as a beginner?
Now it depends on whether you are a beginner
to all board sports,
or if you're just a beginner to surfskating.
Maybe you have some skateboarding
and longboarding experience,
but you're just a beginner to surfskating.
So when I talk about stability
I'm really just referring to if you're like me,
where you're more new to all board sports,
because the reality is if you have a lot of experience
with with skateboarding and longboarding,
you're probably going to be able to get
on any of these surfskates and pick it up just fine.
But if you really are more of that novice rider like me
when I was first starting out, here's what I'm gonna say
in terms of stability.
Starting with SwellTech.
SwellTech is for advanced riders only.
You do not wanna start out on a SwellTech.
Second, we have the Curfboard.
To me, the Curfboard is very stable,
and is suitable for beginners.
Next, we have the SmoothStar,
which I'm gonna put at the beginner to intermediate level.
Next, we have the Aquilo, which I believe is very stable
and suitable for all beginners.
Next, we have the SpiceSkate,
which I'm gonna say is more suitable
for intermediate riders.
Next, we have the Waterborne surf adapter,
which I'm gonna say is more for intermediate rider.
Don't get a Waterborne unless you have some experience
with skateboarding or longboarding.
Next, we have the YOW Muraki.
I'm gonna also put that in the intermediate category.
Then we have a Carver C7.
I'm also to put that in the intermediate category.
And then we finish off the Carver CX and the Slide,
which I believe are both great
for beginners in terms of stability.
So in terms of just stability, starting out for beginners
that leaves us with the Curfboard,
the SmoothStar, the Aquilo, the Carver CX and the Slide.
But now we get to the second variable of price
and what is your budget?
Well, Curfboard for is gonna cost you about $380 US.
I you'll have to do your own currency conversions
in your country, but it's a very expensive board,
SmoothStar, same thing,
I pay about $350 to 3$60 for my SmoothStar.
The Aquilo, I paid $310 US for that.
The Carver CX, they just barely raised all their prices
on their CXs to $270,
and for a Slide you're going to pay $220.
And so if you haven't guessed, that leaves us
with what I believe are the top two surfskates
for beginners, which are the Carver CX and the Slide.
And so now we get to the third variable,
which is versatility.
Which of these systems is going to grow
with you as a rider, as you improve?
Well, honestly, I'm gonna say both of these systems
you can improve as a rider.
There are tons of advanced riders
all over the world who love both of these systems.
And so really that to me is just
a personal preference thing.
And unfortunately, there's really no way to truly know
until you just try both systems for yourself.
Personally, I'm a Carver CX guy,
but that's just a personal preference.
There are many, many people all over the world
who really love their Slides,
including very, very advanced riders.
But with both of these systems,
you can do anything that you want.
You can do pure surf training.
You can do just street cruising,
like I do, just basic pumping and carving.
Both of these surfskate systems are great
for park and bowl riding.
And so at that point, you're really kind of just looking
at budget with the Carver CX being $270 now
and the Slide being $220,
you have a very clear $50 difference there.
However, there is a little secret to Carver
which you may not know yet,
which is that they have the Carver Triton series,
which these are $170.
And the only difference between a Carver Triton
and a regular Carver CX system is
that it has a different deck with different wood,
and they have cheaper bearings.
You're gonna get built-in bearings
with a regular Carver CX and the Triton series.
They're not built-ins, but to me,
the Carver Triton works just fine.
The decks aren't super sexy.
It's kind of more on the flat side.
You don't have as much concave
as you get on some of the other Carver decks, but to me,
a Triton is a Carver and it works fantastic.
So to me, the Carver Triton is your best budget option
because it's $170 and it checks
all of the other boxes as well in terms of stability.
It's great for starting out.
And in terms of versatility, you very much can grow
with this because it's a Carver CX system.
And so that leaves us with our final variable,
which is quality and longevity and ease of maintenance.
And for that, I'm gonna go with the Carver CX.
It's a bushing-based system,
whereas the Slide is a spring-based system.
And to me, it's clear that a Carver CX
is a better quality system.
Slides are great and they will last you.
However, they are not the highest quality component parts.
I have broken one of the springs inside of the Slide.
So you have to be careful when you're adjusting
your Slide spring.
In fact, if you've seen any of my Slide videos
you know, that my recommendation is just
to loosen this adjustment bolt as much as possible
and then never touch it again.
And don't tighten your Slide spring.
This is a brand new board,
so you're not gonna see anything on this deck,
but on my oldest Slide that I've ridden quite a bit,
you'll see some stress fractures in the wood
which isn't a huge deal.
You can see that on every deck and it's not like, you know,
it's gonna break on you or anything,
but I'm the point is I really do feel
like you're getting better quality out of a Carver,
but that is reflected in the price,
because you're spending $50
less on a Slide compared to a Carver CX.
And so what that means for me is
if you are a beginner on a budget, personally,
I'm gonna go with the Carver Triton and over a Slide.
Unfortunately, I'm not sure if the Triton series
is available in every country around the world.
So you have to just check if it's available to you.
But if it is, this is my vote for beginners on a budget,
because you're actually gonna save $50
on a Triton compared to a Slide.
And to me, it's gonna be a higher quality system
that's gonna last you longer.
And personally, I think that it gives you
a little bit more capabilities and performance as a rider.
Now, as far as which Carver or Slide model
you should choose,
well, that depends on a lot of other variables as well.
And so all you have to do to answer that question
is get my Surfskate Selector at www.surfskate.love.
All you do is answer eight quick questions
and it's gonna spit out exactly
what are gonna be the best models
for you based on eight different variables.
So now I'm gonna talk about all these ones
behind me that didn't make the cut
of what I think are the top 10,
but they may be suitable for you as a beginner.
First, we have a group of Carver CX clones,
which includes the Decathlon, the NKX,
Charger X, TailorShape, 66,
Mindless and Hydroponic.
The Carver CX is by far the most cloned truck on the market,
and what I'm going to say as a general rule, when it comes
to Carver CX clones, is will they work as a surfskate?
Yes.
Do you get the same range of motion
and performance out of them as you do at Carver CX?
Absolutely not.
So let's talk about each of these individually.
The Decathlon.
You can watch my full review on the Decathlon,
but the bottom line is I'm not a fan of the Decathlon,
because it's a much more limited range
of motion on the truck compared to the CX, and the deck,
I just don't like at all
because it's really just kind of flat slab of wood.
So I just don't see that this is going
to grow with you as a rider.
Yeah. It's gonna be cheap for you.
It's like, I think $149 US right now.
But if you spend a lot of time surfskating,
then I believe you're gonna wanna upgrade.
In which case it's probably just a waste
of money to spend $150 bucks on this
as opposed to just investing in a better system up front.
I'm gonna say the exact same thing
about the NKX and the Charger X.
The NKX, I actually paid just $100 bucks for this thing.
So it's very cheap, but it's cheap for a reason.
And speaking of that, I'm also going to say
as a general rule to me personally, after trying all these,
if you're looking at anything under $150,
it's just gonna be a classic case
of you get what you pay for.
If you have any intention of being even somewhat serious
about surfskating, I'm gonna say as a rule,
invest in a system over $150, because anything
below that is probably just not going to grow with you
as a rider, and eventually you're gonna wanna upgrade it.
And so again, the NKX and the Charger-X
is just the same thing as the Decathlon.
They're cheap and they will work for you, but I just,
you're not gonna get the quality or longevity
and they're not gonna grow with you as a rider.
Now, to me, out of all of these Carver CX clones,
these four, the TailorShape, the 66,
the Mindless and the Hydroponic are good systems.
I think that they perform well enough
to where you can start
out with them and then grow with them as a rider.
The TailorShape is a quality system.
You'll pay about $159,
but your component parts on this are just not great.
These wheels are not high rebound wheels at all.
They are very, very slow.
So to me, if you get a TailorShape,
you're gonna wanna replace the wheels
at the very least.
The 66 truck is interesting because, to me,
it gives you maybe even a little bit more range
of motion than a Carver CX.
There are some differences to it, but the biggest thing
with me at the 66 is it's comparable in price
to a Carver CX, but you're not going to get the same kind
of quality or longevity out of it in my humble opinion.
And so to me, I'm gonna go with the Carver CX over a 66.
I think that the Mindless truck works very well.
The biggest thing about the Mindless is
that you only have one option.
It's a very limited option.
I think this is only a 30-inch board.
And so this is not going to fit a lot of riders.
Out of all of these Carver CX clones,
I think that the Hydroponic is the best system
and performs the best.
My challenge with the Hydroponic is the same as the 66.
It's comparable in price to a Carver CX,
and to me, a Carver is better.
Now moving on to the Landyachtz.
You can watch my other reviews on the Landyachtz.
I am not a fan of the Landyachtz at all.
I think that this system performs very poorly compared
to a Carver CX or a Slide.
It's harder to pump.
It's harder to get moving from a standstill.
Also, the deck is nothing special.
It's just kind of flat, and this is 200 bucks.
And so I think that you're much better
off going with either a Slide or a Carver Triton.
Now we have the Flow.
The Slide is now on a version three truck,
and so you're gonna see when you look at the Flow,
it actually looks very similar to the Slide truck,
but it's version one of the Slide truck,
and it has an extremely limited range
of motion compared to either the Slide or the CX.
I am not a fan of the Flow at all.
They're marketed as surfskates for beginners,
but to me they're not good for beginners
at all because they're actually very hard to pump
and you have an extremely limited range of motion.
Do not buy a Flow.
I think it's just a waste of money.
Now we have the WoodDetail,
which is a very high quality truck,
but in terms of its performance, again, you'll just,
I have a review on the WoodDetail that you can watch,
but I'm not a fan of the WoodDetail at all
for a lot of reasons.
Number one, it has very, very little rail-to-rail lean.
Secondly, the axle is very narrow compared to a Carver CX.
I call the WoodDetail almost like a pumpable skateboard.
It just has such a different feel.
Next we have the Z-Flex.
You can watch my review on the Z-Flex.
It grows on a Waterborne system, which I think is fine.
Do I think the Z-Flex is suitable for beginners?
Yes.
However, I think the biggest complaint I have
about this is that it's not going to grow
with you as a rider for a couple reasons.
Number one, the deck.
I just don't think that you have
the highest performing deck out of this.
I think it's a very limited deck.
It's like a strand cruiser and the wheels
are smaller and harder,
and so you don't get a lot of versatility
out of these wheels.
So could you replace the wheels?
Sure.
But to me you're better off
buying a complete system that has wheels
that you don't need to replace anyway.
And finally, to finish off, we have the Hamboards
I have the Hamboards Pescadito.
They have a bunch of different options ranging
from I think, $199, all the way up to like $699.
To me, the Hamboards are so unique
that I really don't even put them in the same category
as all these other trucks, they have such a different feel.
And so for me, I'm absolutely gonna say
do not start on a Hamboards.
It might be something that you like,
but if you've never tried any of these before,
Hamboards is gonna be something
that you're gonna want to play with
and experiment with before you ever invest in it,
and not suitable for beginners at all,
in my humble opinion.
So I hope you found this review helpful
as you're trying to pick your first surfskate,
and to save even more time, money and hassle,
I invite you to check out
my Ultimate Surfskate Selector at www.surfskate.love.
All you have to do is answer eight quick questions
and it's going to spit out exactly which boards
you should be considering as a beginner.
And so you don't have to invest $16,000,
like I have, to figure out what's going
to be the best surfskate for you.