I bought this board for $100 because I needed a 'rock board'. This is the Jobe 158 with the blue top with snowy trees. All it says on the top is 'Made in USA 158'. The base is all black with the Jobe logo. I didnt want to mess up my better boards during early and late season, so I bought this one. I guess one can't really expect too much from a cheap snowboard. The first thing I noticed about this board is that it has a really SOFT flex. This makes it hard for me to control the board when I'm going really fast. Sometimes the board chatters if I go fast on the groomed runs, and that can get somewhat scary. It feels a bit like speed wobble. If you do a nose press or a tail press, it almost feels like the board is going to break! (yikes!) The board flex is the same on both ends. I think it has a bi-axial glass laminate under the top sheet, and it says it has an aspen wood core, although I doubt it has actual wood laminate sheets. It think it has a mixture of a foam core mixed with aspen wood pulp or something. (like particle board or MDF) The next thing I don't like about the board is that the base is really soft. I can make a scratch in it with my thumbnail. I'm not scraping off wax, I'm actually scraping plastic. So basically everything I run over leaves a scratch in the base. Even if I run over a pine cone or something, I gouges it. The base came with a nice stone-grind pattern that makes that nifty zipping sound in the snow. There was no wax though. I don't know what the base is, but whatever it is, it's too soft. This board came with aluminum bindings. They are almost really good, but not quite. The bases of the bindings are aluminum, that good. They also have a 4x4 and Burton pattern if you want to use them on another board. It looks like they tried to copy Ride bindings a little. The back is a highback and it's stiff, thats good too. The ratchets are aluminum. That's excellent, usually only high-end bindings have aluminum ratchets. (Not even Forum or Drake bindings have that) The padding on the straps is excellent. The major drawback with the bindings is that the straps are somewhat soft and they are hard to fit into the buckles. It can really get frustrating when your buddies are waiting for you. If this board cost a lot, I would have given it a really low rating, like a 3. But since it was so cheap and it came with somewhat decent bindings, I gave it a 6. This is a good board for beginners. It's also good for learning tricks in the park where you dont mind messing up a board.

----=( For more info on this board E-mail me @ colinportus@hotmail.com)=----

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