I am in need of a new wakeboard. Over the last 3 years I have broken two ronix wakeboards. Both the Ronix Ibex and the Ronix One. I love supporting up and coming companies; especially companies that are passionate about the products they are making. Ronix is a prime example of this, it was started by a few riders who originally rode for Hyperlite. These were not your run of the mill riders; these were the top dogs. Including Danny Harf, Parks Bonifay and Chad Sharpe. They began designing some new and interesting wakeboards with innovative shapes. Bench marking off the snowboard industry they started to create similar products for the water. These new board were very intriguing to me. The boards not only looked cool but there descriptions seemed to match what I was looking for in a wakeboard. The problem for me was getting use to these boards. Before I switched to Ronix I had a Hyperlite Era (Eric Rucks) pro model. That board to this day is my favorite board I have ever ridden. I have even considered buying that 2005 model again. I would love to stay with Ronix but I think the durability of their product and the effort needed to ride the boards is turning me away. I also feel that Ronix is now a big dog in the industry and is just as competitive as Liquid force and Hyperlite.
After doing hours of research; reading board descriptions, consumer reviews and watching youtube videos I have narrowed it down to the Hyperlite Murray. Shaun Murray is a pioneer in the sport and it seems like he has continued to stick with boards that don't stray to far from conventional wakeboards. He offers his signature board with a Nova and Bio (regular) core. The Nova core is more expensive and to me looks less durable. It does however make binding adjustments more versatile and I'm sure when new the Nova core gives the board a more lively feel. This seems like it would be great in the first couple years, but as I have come to notice in snowboarding the boards began to feel dead after about 50 days of riding. The pop starts to go away..............leading to a decrease in fun in my opinion.
So the final verdict is to go with the Hyperlite Murray Bio in a 137; because I like my boards on the smaller side. Since this is last years model the pickings are a little slim but if you have the pockets this years model is the same and comes in cooler colors. Check out these stores for some deals on this sucker:
http://www.evo.com/
http://www.the-house.com/
http://www.buywake.com/
