I haven't decided yet.  I have a Burton Custom 158 from a couple years ago and it's still in good shape.  Really good shape in fact.  well, I stopped riding rails so that really helps with board longevity.

The Custom is nice, but if I were more choosy I would go with the attributes I really like for my style of riding, which are:

1) Longer sidecut radius (most important).
I have only ridden one board with a sidecut radius over 10 meters (Steepwater Steep 165) and I have to say it was a thrill.  I have been riding over 16 years now so I know how to finesse a board through turns using my feet, knees, and hips.  I don't want to rely on a deep sidecut to do it all for me, plus, at high speeds most boards need to be tweaked.  I would much rather tweak at low speeds and stay mellow at higher!  The Custom 158 sidecut radius is 8 or so.  The Steepwater was nearly 11.  Problem was the steepwater was too stiff and not nearly enough nose/tail kick.  I got tired or overshooting jumps in the park so I got rid of it

2) Narrow waist
I have 9.5 boot size, so I cannot stand boards that are wide or even mid-wide.  They take too long to roll to edge and then once there they don't hold well.  Yeah they are great in pow, so just have one for heli/cat/backcountry, but for a resort board, narrow is the best for me.  My Custom is 24.9 at the waist.  Not bad, under 25cm for a 158cm board, hard to find these days.  24.7 to 24.8 is teh best for my size 9.5's, and yes, I really do notice the fraction of a cm difference!  My Steepwater actually had a 24.8 or so waist and it was so right, but the other shortcomings I mentioned previously discounted the overall ride.

3) High nose/tail kick
I like riding in powder and I like staying on top of it.  Yeah, I know just go fast and that's all you need, but the reality is there are flat spots and gapers that get in the way and you cannot ALWAYS haul @$$ everywhere.  Some "powder" boards have a high nose kick but lack in the tail.  OK, so when I land my 540 they don't want me to flow away switch through the pow to the next hit? Come on guys!  It's what snowboarding is all about.  I ride fakie like 40% of the time I am on the mountain.  Yes, higher nose and tail kick does increase swing weight and it does increase vibration, but those factors are negligible compared to the bennies.

4) Medium flex
This is pretty straight-forward.  Personal preference.  I like a board that is medium to medium-soft  in flexibility (no, not totally soft like a newbie noodle).  I can tweak it easier and it handles the deep stuff way better.


So now you know my dilemma.  My perfect board does not exist.  Oh well, I guess there are bigger problems in the world, but a fella can dream, right? If you know of a board that is even close to fitting these criteria, please let me know.

So, after reading Frosty's post I realize I have no clue whatsoever what I really want out of a snowboard.  I have only owned like one snowboard besides riding resort rentals which I dont really count....  i like my burton feelgood but have nothing to compare it to as far as experiences with other snowboards.  Im still going to order the roxy envi because i want to try MTX, but in trying to be cheap  have waited too long for prices of last years stuff to drop and cant find any left that are 152 length.  Hopefully they make this board in 09   

it was an alpine board and was red and white and had an eye loop on the tail to attach your leash to....

I know exactly the board you are talking about.  I had a couple buddies who rode that thing.  For some reason I was under the impression that it was on the wider side.

Hey, I am eying down the Nitro Dominion.  I have never ridden a Nitro board, but I have heard good stuff about them.

frosty - it might have been a wide, i cant remember. im right in the middle of being able to ride both so ive never really paid attention. but i did remember the tips because i saw the board in real life and thought it was crazy how high up they were.

keep me updated on the nitro ride when you get it man. ive never even seen a nitro snowboard. heard of them, but have never seen one in real life (the southeast is sad!).

rowan - congrats on the new board, i know you're gonna love it! wait till you see it up close, its a completely gorgeous snowboard. hang on the wall style art gorgeous even. and thanks for the heads up on the site! unfortunatly they dont have any skate bananas anymore

happy 4th of july everyone!

thats it! wow that takes me back. they ditched the eye loop though, that sucks. i thought that was the coolets
thing about the board. you could use an ankle strap instead of the little leash thing.

that sucks though, i thought that board was different than what it was, thats the same as my grudge minus
0.1 cm.

Hey I got my new board today  It IS gorgeous, cant wait to try it out!  The wavy edge is more subtle than I thought it would be, you have to look really close to notice it.  Even my husband, who has no interest in snowboarding whatsoever (despite my futile attemps to get him interested, he's a skiier) was admiring it!!

Wow Rowan, you got the Magne-Traction board?  How cutting edge! (pardon the pun).

Definitely let  us know how it rides and if you get a pic of your rig, post it up on the gallery.

 
mmmmm I got to ride my new roxy board today    so far I REALLY like this board.  The first couple of runs with it kinda worried me cuz the extra contact points on the edge really do feel different, almost like your going to catch an edge but it never really happens.... once I got used to this I had a blast on the board... it was sooo cold at Jay this weekend, 10 degrees when we left yesterday with almost white out conditions and a very sketchy drive down the mountain, nicer today but only 12 degrees in the car when we left.  It was soooo worth it, wish you all were here