I rode four different plate set-ups - here are my impressions. All were with my own Sidewinders, using a Td2 disk + ering to keep the stack height under control. All were on the Coiler VSR Mid+ Plate Flex 180 except where noted.

Apex Race - UPM Mount

No low speed issues, or one-footed issues. Didn't notice height. Blasted through chop. Felt the power. Very responsive. Able to vary turn shape nicely. Loss of nimbleness compared to a plate-free board, but not too bad. Could "pedal" without trouble, could feel the plate flex as I pedalled, perhaps felt the flex too much. Plate was noisy, this was distracting.

Boiler "Mathilda" - UPM Mount

No low speed issues, or one-footed issues. Didn't notice height. Blasted through chop. Felt the power. Very responsive. Able to vary turn shape nicely. Loss of nimbleness compared to a plate-free board, but not too bad. Could "pedal" without trouble; noticed the effect of the pedalling on the board, but not unwanted flexing in the plate. Plate was completely quiet. Didn't notice weight. "Mathilda" was a 4mm thick plate, standard Bomber plate is 5mm, according to Fin.

Donek plate - UPM Mount

No low speed issues, or one-footed issues. Noticed height, got used to it. Blasted through chop. Felt the power. Very responsive. Able to vary turn shape nicely. Loss of nimbleness compared to a plate-free board, a little more so than Mathilda/Apex, but not too bad. Could "pedal" without trouble, could feel the plate flex as I pedalled, perhaps felt the flex too much. Plate was quiet; not as quiet as Mathilda but far quieter than the Apex.


Donek plate - 4x4 Mount

I actually felt like the Donek 4x4 mount was more different than the Donek UPM mount than the Donek UPM mount was from the other two plates. I could readily feel some sluggishness in the system. To be fair, this one was mounted on the Donek GS 178 which was probably built for a guy lighter than me; however I had ridden a 4x4 mount Donek plate 6 weeks ago on a couple of my own boards and felt similar sluggishness and squishiness. The squishiness was most noticeable when pushing the board as hard as I could.

Overall I liked Mathilda the best, but IMHO the Donek UPM mount is the best bang for the buck. Full disclosure - I really like the ninbless of plate-free boards, but will probably buy a plate for Mt Bachelor spring slush, where I think it will very much be a game changer.