Prior 4WD..... reviews?

[Flywalker]

Hiya,

Just trying to make up my mind about what is best for my needs. Perhaps l am caning this thing to death... but some actual reports on how this board handled in various situations would help.

We receive lots of snow here. l spend most of my time in the trees.... but l am on skis at the moment so the groomers are boring. When l lived in Canada and rode at Sunshine mostly, l was probably 60% groomers and 40% trees on an old school Sims CON 166 27/21/26cm... pretty stiff.

l have flipped and flopped between getting an FLC or WCRM wide Lamborghini AND an alpine powder board or buying the "Subaru" and being satisfied with the 4WD. l'd be gutted if l bought two boards only to have the exotic one as a mantle piece, collecting dust due to the amount of snow on the ground most of the time.

So.... if any of you have had good or bad experiences on a 4WD, l would really appreciate hearing about it. l'm coming home to Canada for the winter holidays and want to have whatever board l choose ready to rip by the time l get over jet lag!

Thank you in advance (^_^)

[crucible]

If I were living in Sapporo and trying to have the Prior quiver killer, my vote would be for an ATV in the high 160 range, for the trees and powder, followed by a 170ish WCRM or an FLC for the groomers.

I find the 4WD has too shallow a nose profile and too narrow a waist width for really aggressive powder and tree slashing, and this is coming from someone who has had to regularly romp through trees and powder on a 164 Atomic Proton...

I never said that I was a quick study....

Geo

[canuckcarver]

my 4wd is a big part of my quiver. especially when things get choppy. it lives upto its name. never had it in the trees but i hear its good in there, i have very little trouble in icy conditions loved it out west on vacations. check the reviews there might be something in there. happy carving!

[Buell]

You will get a number of people praising the 4WD. I have seen a guy ripping on it with hardboots in mixed conditions and powder. I think it will depend on your style.

I like a quiver. I consider powder a much different medium than groomers. Powder is ridden with the base and float is important. Groomers are ridden with the edge and float is irrelevant. I also hit things all the time on my powder boards and damage the base and edges. I really don't take my carve boards off the groom because I like them in carving condition.

I am unsure of recent design changes, but I had a 169 4WD a few years ago. For me, it is not a powder board and things have come so far with materials and design on the carve boards that it could be dated for carving as well. It will function, but there are many boards that would do so much better. I don't see why the FLC wide (wider than the 4WD with taper and a nice decambered nose) would not work as well in the powder as the 4WD. That way, if only one board, you would have a much better carve board.

A narrowed hybrid rocker Khyber would be a great alpine powder board (if you went with the carve board and powder board) for trees. I guarantee that it would carve just fine on the soft powder day groom, if you happened to find any. The carve deck would come out on groomer days.

A couple of years ago we had a year in Utah that never stopped snowing. It was a couple of months of powder before I pulled out the carve deck. It was sure nice to have it though. It was especially nice to ride all that powder on a dedicated powder board.

[piusthedrcarve]

I'll say ATV over 4WD. I had owned two 4WD and yeah..it's a great carving deck for iced, cruds, bumps, and of course groomed condition like here in east coast. As named, it carves like 4WD on the off-road.

But for Powder, you can find better floating decks easily, like ATV. ATV is wider version of 4WD, as Prior stated. But it feels much lighter and float much better than 4WD. I would choose ATV over 4WD for your area, Sapporo & Vancouver.

[philw]

A narrowed hybrid rocker Khyber would be a great alpine powder board (if you went with the carve board and powder board) for trees. I guarantee that it would carve just fine on the soft powder day groom, if you happened to find any. The carve deck would come out on groomer days.

I rode an early Khyber and I've ridden with people on newer ones now and then. They're not "rave" boards, but they are powder boards. Personally I'd not want to ride one on piste, but then I carry 2 boards.

[Buell]

I rode an early Khyber and I've ridden with people on newer ones now and then. They're not "rave" boards, but they are powder boards. Personally I'd not want to ride one on piste, but then I carry 2 boards.

I was saying it was part of a two board quiver.

[Bobby Buggs]

More carving board than powder for sure, will work in loose snow conditions but there are far better choices.

[Sultan Guy]

Prior 4WD was my first used carving board and definitely did me right. If you are coming from traditional soft boot snowboarding this is a great board to get started on. The extra width is great on chopped up slopes.

That said most people tend to buy these used, not new. With metal and more modern boards it seems hard to want to drop that much $ on an older type design that you might "out grow".

[hiperfind]

I love my 169(168?) 4WD. Bought it many yrs ago, and still shred on it. However, as it has been said, it is a great beginner-intermediate carving schtick, and it is not great off piste. I've taken it everywhere, and it's just more of a chore in the deep. If you could only have 1, I'd also shoose the ATV in a high 160's-low 170's length. However, If I were you, I'd spend almost all my $ on a great razor, and spend alot less on a used long pow deck for the deep days. There's more to be gained from a precise instrument when trenching, than there is in the pow.

[Jack Michaud]

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