# REVIEWED: Omatic Extr-Eco Wigglestick 157



## skip11 (Jan 28, 2010)

Hey gnarly, any update on this board?


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## Guest (May 15, 2010)

I'll wait to post my thoughts about it until I have another day on it.

i do


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## Shredder13 (May 11, 2010)

Wonder if he used eco wax (soy)? That stuff is a pain to srcape off of a flat board.....


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## BurtonAvenger (Aug 14, 2007)

Nah it's just that board it's not designed to be waxed cause of the sintruded base.


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## Gnarly (Mar 12, 2008)

I completely forgot about this thread.

Anyway, I've ridden this board 6x and my Bataleon Riot and Airobic are sitting collecting dust...If that's any indication of how good this board is.

*Initial impressions:*
Skating to the lift the first couple times was interesting. The board is sooo loose underfoot while skating that I almost ate $hit a few times.

My 1st day on the Wigglestick was mainly trying to get used to it. If you've ridden a Bataleon before, BS tech feels completely different because it's between the contact points. If you thought that a Bataleon was playful - just wait until you hop on the Wigglestick!

My 1st day on the Wigglestick, I really didn't like it at all. It was just totally foreign feeling to me because of how playful it was. I couldn't land any tricks on it because it spun much quicker than anything else I'd ridden before, so I constantly over-rotated and crashed - or almost crashed. On the Riot, I was used to being able to haul a$$, whoop my friends a$$es on the way down the hill, rail carves and boost myself to the moon on rollers. If that's what you're looking for - the Wigglestick will sorely disappoint you.

The hardest thing for me to get used to was how to land after spinning. With TBT, the raised portions of the base are from the edge of the bindings to the nose/tail...Which means that anytime you have a bad landing, just put more weight on the nose or tail and you'll rotate out easily. I got so used to it that I started to naturally land with more weight on on the nose or tail all of the time when spinning. If you do that with BS Tech, you will crash.

I almost gave up on it after that 1st day, but I decided to give it another chance...And I'm glad I did. Almost anything you liked about TBT freestyle softer boards (Airobic, Jam, Goliath etc), you can do better with BS Tech. Plus, because of the rocker, it handles somewhat decently in powder.

Honestly, I can't say enough good things about the Wigglestick. It's exactly the board I've been looking for. Extremely playful and loose feeling, but well rounded enough to be a board that you can use all over the mountain.

This weekend, I'm going to take the Airobic and Wigglestick up to Loveland and test them out back to back. I already compared the Riot to the Wigglestick, but that's not really a fair comparison since the Riot is much stiffer.

*Final thought:* After riding the Wigglestick so much, I don't want to ride the Riot anymore. In fact, I'm probably going to sell it. IMHO, BS Tech just made TBT go extinct.


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## rainboarding (Oct 18, 2010)

Gnarly said:


> I completely forgot about this thread.
> 
> Anyway, I've ridden this board 6x and my Bataleon Riot and Airobic are sitting collecting dust...If that's any indication of how good this board is.
> 
> ...


That's quite the positive review you got there. I was wonderin', if your previous tendency to land on the nose/tail with TBT caused you problems with BS, what did you change to fix that? Did you try to land flat instead?

Also, can you elaborate what you mean by "spun quicker?" 

In any case I got this in a 154 and I'm gonna use it as an all mountain jump board so your take is getting me excited about trying it out.


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## Triple8Sol (Nov 24, 2008)

Interesting review, but it sounds way too loose/squirelly. Maybe you need the new Evil Twin since it has a new TBT shape and the flex fits in b/w your Riot and Airobic.


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## Gnarly (Mar 12, 2008)

rainboarding said:


> That's quite the positive review you got there. I was wonderin', if your previous tendency to land on the nose/tail with TBT caused you problems with BS, what did you change to fix that? Did you try to land flat instead?
> 
> Also, can you elaborate what you mean by "spun quicker?"
> 
> In any case I got this in a 154 and I'm gonna use it as an all mountain jump board so your take is getting me excited about trying it out.


It weighs less than the Riot, so it spins quicker. After riding the Wigglestick and Riot back-to-back, the Riot felt like a ton of bricks strapped to my feet.

As for how I corrected the problem with landing, I think time corrected it for me. The 1 time I rode the Wigglestick last season, maybe 6 or 7 runs into the day, I tweaked my knee after trying to land a FS3 (The doc said I mildly hyperextended my knee) and was done for the last 3 weeks of the season. Riding the Riot/Airobic had become so automatic for me that I was landing incorrectly without even thinking about it...Amazing how quickly bad riding form can set in.


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## Gnarly (Mar 12, 2008)

Triple8Sol said:


> it sounds way too loose/squirelly.


That's the best part about it IMO. Took a few days to get used to it, but once I did, it became my go-to board for everything besides powder...Still looking for a pow board.


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## Ghost_Rider_X (Oct 16, 2009)

nice to hear a positive review. i recently picked this board up on whiskeymalitia for 150 bucks and i'm finally going to try it out this weekend. i've been looking for a really loose feeling kinda squirelly surf-like board.

how was the flex? soft enough to butter pretty easily? i'm guessing it shouldn't be a problem for me cause i'm 180 lbs. and got the 154.


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## Gnarly (Mar 12, 2008)

Ghost_Rider_X said:


> nice to hear a positive review. i recently picked this board up on whiskeymalitia for 150 bucks and i'm finally going to try it out this weekend. i've been looking for a really loose feeling kinda squirelly surf-like board.
> 
> how was the flex? soft enough to butter pretty easily? i'm guessing it shouldn't be a problem for me cause i'm 180 lbs. and got the 154.


It has a nice all mtn flex to it. Not a noodle, but not crazy stiff either. With that said, I'm probably not a good one to ask about flex on boards since I'm 215lbs.  It's a rocker, so pressing and buttering won't be a problem.


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## Ghost_Rider_X (Oct 16, 2009)

I know it's rocker but when I just lay mine on flat ground it seems to be more flat than rocker. The nose has a very slight rocker but not much. Is yours similar?


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## Gnarly (Mar 12, 2008)

Ghost_Rider_X said:


> I know it's rocker but when I just lay mine on flat ground it seems to be more flat than rocker. The nose has a very slight rocker but not much. Is yours similar?


I'll check it out tonight when I get home. I've never had it on flat ground to check the amt of rocker it has.


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## rainboarding (Oct 18, 2010)

isn't it rocker laterally (across the board)? the BS tech from what I can see from the bottom of my board means that near the edges the edges are bowed up, the rest of the snowboard is flatlined.

http://www.omaticsnowboards.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/wiggle_stick1.pdf

this diagram shows the crescent shaped area that is bowed up, the rest appears to be flat.


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## rainboarding (Oct 18, 2010)

Gnarly said:


> It weighs less than the Riot, so it spins quicker. After riding the Wigglestick and Riot back-to-back, the Riot felt like a ton of bricks strapped to my feet.
> 
> As for how I corrected the problem with landing, I think time corrected it for me. The 1 time I rode the Wigglestick last season, maybe 6 or 7 runs into the day, I tweaked my knee after trying to land a FS3 (The doc said I mildly hyperextended my knee) and was done for the last 3 weeks of the season. Riding the Riot/Airobic had become so automatic for me that I was landing incorrectly without even thinking about it...Amazing how quickly bad riding form can set in.


I'm excited to see how light it is for myself, I have been using a directional board and since it was offset (by like 4 inches) it was very difficult to throw around while keeping balanced. OK well as I have little experience with jumps and am using this to learn jumps hopefully I won't be picking that bad habit.


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## Gnarly (Mar 12, 2008)

So I rode the Bataleon Airobic again on Saturday and I've got to say BS Tech is what TBT wishes it could be. 3 runs on the Airobic and I put it back in the truck and broke out the trusty Wigglestick.

I'm selling both Bataleons if anyone is interested.


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## Ghost_Rider_X (Oct 16, 2009)

So I finally had a chance to ride the Wigglestick for a couple days and it's definitely a fun board. 

PROS:

The BS Tech is awesome when going from edge to edge. I actually had two of my buddies ask about the board because they noticed how smooth the quick turns looked. The board had a really floaty feel, which is what I was after. I come from riding a 159 NS premier so I was a bit worried about the high speed stability, but the wigglestick handled it all with no problems. Flat basing feels ridiculous on this board...almost like you're on rails.

CONS: 

I thought it would be a bit lighter and flexier than it really is. The 154 Wigglestick and 159 NS Premier weigh almost exactly the same. It's definitely towards the stiffer side of the scale. The only park oriented board I have to compare it to is the NS Evo and I would say the Wigglestick is significantly stiffer than the Evo. Omatic claims the board is rocker, but if so it is the most mild rocker I've ever seen. My board appears to be completely flat and I can still _feel_ the contact points at the tip and tail. Not a bad thing, but I think the board would be way more fun if it was truly rocker. I will also admit the board takes a couple runs to get used to. Initiating turns is super easy, but as the turn begins you can feel that you're on the bowed base and not the edge yet. Feels kinda sketchy at first, but you quickly get used to it and can rail turns.

OVERALL:

While it appears the board has more cons than pros, I don't think this is the case. Most of the cons aren't problems, just things to be aware of before buying this board. I've put 5 days on the board and it's a blast to ride...really fun.

Gnarly...let me know if you're board is tip-to-tail rocker. I'm curious because mine seems as flat as flat can be.


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## Gnarly (Mar 12, 2008)

Ghost_Rider_X said:


> Gnarly...let me know if you're board is tip-to-tail rocker. I'm curious because mine seems as flat as flat can be.


It's a very, very mild reverse camber. I'd say it's so minimal that it's almost Zero-Camber. IIRC, the Wigglestick only has RC from the bindings forward/back. Between the bindings looks to be 0 camber...Or something like that.

If you put it on a flat floor, there will be no contact points tip or tail.


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## rainboarding (Oct 18, 2010)

hearing you guys talk about riding has got me so jealous right now to try my own extr-eco out...I'm in the middle of finals week here 

anyone try this board on jumps? How does it fare on them?


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## Gnarly (Mar 12, 2008)

rainboarding said:


> anyone try this board on jumps? How does it fare on them?


I haven't taken it off of anything bigger than a 15-20 footer, but it held up just fine.


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## pedrodla (Jan 21, 2011)

Hey! I'm pretty interested in BS Tech! The price really attracts me and the Tech looks pretty cool!

What were the biggest differences between BS and TBT? Which one landed spins better, which one were more stable at speed? What about mixed conditions like choppy, smugs, icy.. ? Felt any difference in their pop?

Another thing: Does the 1cm setback makes a big difference for switch riding? I leaned towards the Omatic Celebrity because of it's centered base and the sintered, but the Extr has a much better price..


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