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PTO Review
We know them. Here's how they stack up.
Artifact — park and jib riders — anyone who spends the day buttering, pressing, riding switch, and lapping rails, boxes and small to medium jumps. Kink — riders whose day is mostly jibs, boxes and handrails, and who want a deck engineered for repeated metal contact. Check the radar chart below to see where each one wins.
Each row compares all boards on one dimension. 🏆 marks the highest score.
| Dimension | Artifact | Kink |
|---|---|---|
| Carving | 5🏆 | 5🏆 |
| Park | 9🏆 | 9🏆 |
| Playfulness | 8🏆 | 8🏆 |
| Forgiveness | 7 | 8🏆 |
| Stability | 4🏆 | 3 |
| Powder | 4🏆 | 2 |
Park and jib riders — anyone who spends the day buttering, pressing, riding switch, and lapping rails, boxes and small to medium jumps. It is also a forgiving board for an intermediate rider learning freestyle who wants soft flex without a dead, washy feel underfoot.
Powder hunters: a centered true twin with no setback and a Powder 4 terrain score has nothing to float on. High-speed all-mountain chargers: a soft flex 4 on an extruded base gets loose and undamped when you point it. Total first-timers on day one: the full Stay Positive camber will catch an edge before you have linked a turn — a rocker or flat board is the kinder first deck. Riders chasing explosive pop and a stiffer premium build: that is the Artifact Pro with its Carbon HotRod, not this softer Bamboo HotRod build.
Riders whose day is mostly jibs, boxes and handrails, and who want a deck engineered for repeated metal contact. It suits riders who press and butter, since a Mellow-rated twin with camber under the feet bends into a press and springs back out. It suits switch riding as a default, because insert setback is published as zero and tip and tail measure identically at every length. And it suits bigger-footed riders who want this specific board: 154W and 157W are published wide options.
Anyone shopping for a powder board should skip it outright. Ride's own Specialty field says Park on the product page and Park/Groomers in the dealer feed — neither lists pow — while the Warpig and Superpig in the same line both carry Park/Groomers/Pow, and this deck is a true twin with zero setback, which is the opposite of what floats. Riders who want a stiff, damp, high-speed charger should also look elsewhere: Ride rates the response Mellow, and publishes no number to argue with. Riders who prioritize straight-line glide are buying the wrong base — extruded is slower than sintered by material class, and Ride's own description sells repairability rather than speed. And anyone who needs a published boot-size match before committing will not get one: Ride prints waist width and rider weight for every length, but no boot-size range at all, including for the two W sizes. That fit call has to happen in person on your actual boot.
The Artifact is best for park and jib riders — anyone who spends the day buttering, pressing, riding switch, and lapping rails, boxes and small. The Kink is best for riders whose day is mostly jibs, boxes and handrails, and who want a deck engineered for repeated metal contact. The right choice depends on your primary terrain, ability level, and riding style.
The Rome Artifact scores highest in Stability at 4/10, making it the strongest all-mountain option. It handles groomers, chop, and variable conditions without losing composure, so it's the best single-snowboard choice for riders who want one board for the whole mountain.
The Rome Artifact leads in Carving with a PTO score of 5/10. Its edge grip on hard snow and groomed runs is the strongest in this comparison.
The Ride Kink is the most forgiving option with a Forgiveness score of 8/10. It doesn't punish imperfect technique, making it the easiest snowboard to progress on among these.
Not sure? Ask us.