First of all understand that it's not the brand that is good or bad sometimes - it's the board. When we say one brand is great for mountain and poor in the park, that is an aggregate of their boards and reputation. They may have one or two park boards that perform great. This snowboard comparison is meant to provide some guidance to people who are new to the sport. Everyone has their own likes and dislikes, and the best way to find out which board is right for you is to RIDE IT! Check the mountains and find out when they are having snowboarding demos. That way you can use different boards for free and find out which you like best. As for me - I ride a Never Summer Legacy and it does great on every kind of terrain I've come across.

We may have left off a few of your favorite snowboard brands, but there were just too many

to review and compare all at once. The snowboard makers we did choose to review are

considered by many to be the creme of the cop, although we're sure there are others out

there that deserve a shot at the title. If you know of one, please comment below.

Otherwise, shut up and deal... j/k.

Burton
Burton is one of those huge a$$ corporate companies that remains true to the philosophy and outlook of their industry. As their slogan goes, "Burton Snowboards is a rider driven company..." It goes on to say they create the best snowboarding equipment on the planet. True? We'll see...

K2
Unlike Burton, K2 is into a lot of extreme sports. They started out as a ski company in Washington, but now sell snowboards, skis, roller blades, mountain bikes, snowshoes... They also own tons of other snowboard brands like Ride, and Little Bear. We will review Ride on it's own merit. For those snowboard brand comparison we'll stick to K2 Snowboards as their own brand.

Never Summer
Compared to Burton and K2, Never Summer Snowboards is just some guy's backyard hobby. But in terms of quality and durability, they are know worldwide to be one of the best snowboard companies in the world. That is why we have included them. Well that, and the fact that I own a Legacy and a Titan - both big a$$ Never Summer Snowboards. Let's see how they stack up against the Big Boys.

Rome
The Rome Snowboard Design Syndicate is a brand built on the ideal of putting snowboarders in control of snowboarding by listening to other 100-day riders and creating innovative products that increase the thing that matters most: fun.

Ride
Another Washington snowboard company, Ride rode to town in 1992 on four snowboard models that saw them through the first few years. You know a brand is good when you can Google "Brandname Sucks" and not see a single bad review on the first page. That's what happened when we tried to find people who didn't like Ride Snowboards. Try searching for 'Burton sucks' and you'll see a totally different story...

Forum
Did you see that That video? Did you get the feeling there were some underlying gay moments in there? Freudian snowboarding DVDs aside, Forum is a great company with some sick riders and jibbing boards for around $200 new.

Nidecker
Nidecker Snowboards has been around for a bloody long time. This Swiss company sold their first board in 1984 (first skis were made back in 1912!), and they continue to be on the cutting edge with designs like the NANO board. Great boards; creative designers; pain in the a$$ website.

Gnu
Gnu Snowboards have perfected magne-traction and those boards are great in icy conditions. Danny Kass rides for Gnu Snowboards, as do a few other well-known, talented snowboarders. In terms of overall quality, however, can they compete?

Honorable Mentions:
Salomon, Rossignol, Palmer, Nitro, Option, Nidecker, and Flow