I'm in love. Not sure how to review it, other than it holds and is fast and makes me feel better than any other carving board ridden. My friend took a clip of me today, so I'll youtube it later and post the link here. The board rides like I've just found my new best friend. 😍Love at first turn literally. 

Posted by: @wild-cherry

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Post your feedback and videos here please!

Hi everyone, I want to admit that I'm not sure that this board was built on planet earth.

It loves tilting on the steeps. On mellower runs it's saying "Oh, come on! What's this?", starting to gain a lot of speed to get to the steeper part, like a big dog on a leash seeing another animal.

Gentlemen, @wild-cherry and JJA brought us a masterpiece.

Some clips from today, these were the first runs riding it. In the backside turn I tend to extend the legs too much, so I'm not able to absorb the imperfections. Also I lack some rotation in the hips and trunk.

Except bringing this auto-examination, I want to underline again that this is the best carving board I've ever been on. I'm 25 years old and I don't have an infinite experience but listen this: today I met an experienced rider, 55 years old, he started riding when he was 5. He loves carving and he's very good at it, so I let him try it. He said that he never tried anything like this before. After the run he immediately took some photos of the board, asked me about the characteristics and materials and wrote to his friend which owns a small board manufacturer here in Italy, Sandy Shapes.

No, I didn't need the confirmation, but there, in that moment, I was 200% sure that we have something special in our hands. Well, in our feet!

Thanks for much for these @7b808 and @iacopo!  Keep 'em coming boys!

Ok, day 2 on the board. Just like said above, amazing. Before riding the C4 I had purchased a JJA TCX from James. That was my favorite carving board, now this is. Much more appropriate for conditions on the east coast, and allows me to progress at my skill level. Having both boards to compare I can clearly feel the difference in being locked in. The C4 is much more forgiving allowing me to brush speed purposely or not, and get right back in the carve. Rode it in 3” of powder, hard pack, and ice. Sliced right through everything, laying down the heal side lay down carves. Much more of a playful all mountain feel compared to TCX, which is a lot, A LOT harder to handle in variable conditions. This board really gives me the confidence to go for it.
Final thoughts.
I think the board is perfect for my purposes right now. If I could change anything (I wouldn’t, just thoughts for the next board for quiver), the board would be slightly faster and a bit more of a locked in feel. I would LOVE to also be able to try a soft and stiffer flex C4’s to compare how they perform!
I have the medium stiffness C4.
Put me in for the next batch for sure!!!!

Posted by: @liketocarve

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Put me in for the next batch for sure!!!!

Hahaha...  Another one???  Sure.  I'll put you back on the priority list.  Go for the stiff next time, you're about 190lbs if I recall.  But really, if it's faster and more locked in you want, we should discuss something custom, closer to my new board.  The slower, easier, more forgiving ride was a design target for the C4.  That other TCX 164 was a similar shape to your C4, the difference was in the construction and material layup.  That one was made to be fast.

If you make it to Revelstoke I've got a soft flex you can test out.  I'm too light for the stiff and have never ridden one (160lbs).

Are you goofy?  There's a Titanal Asym JJSB in the for sale section right meow...

Resorts around me are all still closed, so yesterday I made the drive to Jay Peak for my first day of the season, and my first day on the C4. Sadly no video, it was foggy as hell and flat light so I didn't even try filming.

First run, first turn, putting my weight way forward (because I know I wasn't doing it enough last year), the nose just buried itself in the snow and stopped me right then and there. Next turn, toesides, a lot of toe drag because the board was sinking so deep in that soft snow. So yeah, not really ideal carving conditions; it was basically just tracked-up powder; all natural snow.

So, knowing this, I set out to answer the question that's been on my mind these past few weeks: How does the C4 fare as a "freeride" board? I had this question because I've started competing in local IFSA events, and last year I did pretty poorly and I suspect my equipment wasn't really helping. I've looked up a lot of more freeride-oriented boards, and most of them are marketed for their float in powder and their ability to carve. Just from the specs (sheer size, taper, setback inserts), looks like the C4 should do well in the float department, and for the carving, well... I think we should be fine here.

The verdict? Yeah, this thing absolutely rips in tracked-up powder. My Donek used to buck me around on every little bump in that kind of terrain, the C4 just destroys them as soon as I'm even a little bit on an edge. It's very easy to decide whether I want to jump off from a small bump or just plow through it.

Just for kicks I also took it in the trees, and yeah that's definitely not its favourite terrain. It's nowhere near agile enough for that; it's just too big. That tree run ended up in a mogul run, and that was way too much of a workout for the shape I'm in this early in the season; I had to take a few breaks because the legs were burning.

I did manage to make a few carved turns at the bottom of some runs where the snow was firmer, and it was amazing there. I still need to work on my heelsides (I tend to do the same thing as we see on @7b808's video), but I felt confident enough on it to start leaning back a lot more than I did last year, so hopefully I'm well on my way to correcting that particular flaw.

Next time I think I'll try back-to-back runs with my Donek, just to compare them better.

A follow-up to my previous post: Yesterday was opening day at Gleason, my usual hill from last year (I got a pass from another hill for this year but they only open next Friday). Mother nature has "blessed" us earlier this week with warmer weather and rain, giving us true "ice coast" conditions of hard-packed, icy man-made snow just in time for the weekend.

The first turn on the C4 was a heel-side turn, probably one of the best I had ever made at that point. It felt locked-in, like I was on rails (but in a good way). Second turn was an epic toe-side, but by the time I was across the slope I was going a bit too fast (still carving) so I held the turn and made it halfway back up the hill! I used to need a lot more speed on the Donek to even start going uphill.

By the end of the evening I was kind of wishing I got the soft flex because it's a lot of work to properly turn this thing in the narrow runs of that hill. However, the runs at my new hill are about 50% wider so I think the med-flex will be perfect there. I also need to improve my technique, I know I'm not getting enough angulation especially on heelside.

The board did surprise me a few times when I was hitting bumps or trying sudden maneuvers; it's definitely not a beginner board and you do need to plan your line 1-2 turns in advance. My Donek was much more forgiving in that aspect, but it was also much shorter. By the end of the evening it was happening more and more as I was getting tired and I guess I wasn't putting enough energy into the board. It's relatively easy to fall back to skidded turns, though, so I ended the evening like that.

I know I promised a comparison, and I did bring the Donek, but it stayed in the car because I didn't really want to ride it. The C4 really is much more fun to ride.

I did do one lap on my splitboard (both up and down), which is a K2 Marauder 163W. While not a small board by any means, it felt much smaller than the C4, and the shorter sidecut made for very tight carves, maybe too tight. Definitely can't get down as low as on the C4.

Anyway, I'm really happy with my purchase. It sometimes feels like slightly too much board for me, but only slightly. I think this means I have room to grow into it, which is exactly what I wanted.

Posted by: @emilecantin

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I know I promised a comparison, and I did bring the Donek, but it stayed in the car because I didn't really want to ride it. The C4 really is much more fun to ride.

Yeah they're different boards with a different purpose.  The day that I met Daniel last year he was on a 16m JJA and carving through the crappiest conditions.  I hadn't even considered taking a carving board out.  But then it softened up and I grabbed my Stranda Shorty and he swapped to a Knapton twin and he couldn't believe how lousy that board was in those conditions.  He's a better rider than me, but I was carving with ease.

Posted by: @emilecantin

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I was kind of wishing I got the soft flex

Don't sweat it: remember there's a 10 day break in period.  It'll soften up pretty quickly and then remain stable for 150-200 days after that.

Posted by: @board-doctor

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Knapton twin and he couldn't believe how lousy that board was in those conditions

You didn't hear it from me...

Well today was day #2 on the C4. Only a few mellow runs available none of the steeper terrain is open yet.  Warmed up with a 157 32 cm Knapton twin 12m sidecut. Broke out the C4 for her maiden voyage.  The vibration dampening that has been talked about kinda blew my mind right away. I should've rode the knapton again to just to really experience that difference.  I don't know that I will anytime soon. This thing is addicting and I haven't even gotten it off some mellow blue runs. Excited to open this thing up. No boot out yet and I'm in ride insano 11's. Hopefully get some video up sometime this season. 

@adam-farghali Hell Yes!  Love reading reviews like this!  Thanks for posting.  Keep that Donek for a rock board.

We got some snow/base and I couldn't just look at it for any longer.

C4 (Soft with EGS), Flux CV-LTD, Ride Insano, Intuition HD Race... and a cherry sticker that I found online to pay homage to the man!

First impression: I'm out of shape and not quite ready for it this early in the season. 

Last March I rode the prototypes all day and had a blast, but after two runs today and I was done.  Having said that, when I switched to an all-mountain I realized just how bad the conditions actually were (choppy with poor vis) and called it quits after just one run.  The C4 is a tank. 

I'm looking forward to getting it out on some fresh legs and fresh groomers.

I thought I'd just take it out for a couple laps on fresh groomers this morning, but I didn't want to get off it! 

As long as I get an edge in, it's CRAZY smooth with my mondo 260 boots.  I finally got my interface sorted with the masterfitinc.com Eliminator Custom Tongue insert, which fills some space at my shins (so that the boa doesn't crush my instep.)

This soft flex with EGS C4 seems to fit between the soft (no EGS) & medium (w EGS) protos that I tried.  The C4 feels a bit faster than the initial prototypes, like maybe the front contact doesn't bite and pull you into a turn quite as much?  It's very smooth, but I feel like I need to get my weight up front a bit more to initiate a tighter turn.  This could just be the added torsional rigidity of the EGS, the fact that it's not broken in, or simply my early season physique (or lack thereof).  Maybe a combination of things... or even a poor memory.  I do like the turn-in, it still seems to bite more than the Coiler that I tried.  When the C4 is really on edge, the turn radius doesn't feel too big... and I kinda forget what the sidecut radius is until I'm slowly riding it into a lift line and it doesn't turn like I expect a board to.

I'm itching to get back on it this afternoon, I'm not sure if my legs are up for it, but nothing else carves like this.

Okay, I wimped out and took an all-mountain out for the afternoon.  Kind of a mistake, snow was pretty hard and crusty where it had been scraped off.

I can't say the C4 turns ice into pow... but it really is remarkably smooth.