they have some really cheap prices up on their site. 8'0 longboard for $285? I assume their kinda ****ty but thats cheap as ****. Anyone ever heard anything about this brand/company?
dont know much about them but the way it looks is theyre just like anacapa. theyre boards probably with same dimensions as another company like how anacapa are al merrick shapes just theyre being made in china for way less
Those boards are crap....Check out Isle surfboards. Not top notch but, probably the best bang for your buck. Parabolic rails too. http://www.islesurfboards.com/performanceshortboards.aspx
I bought a Equinox Retro Fish I just bought a retro fish off equinoxsurfboards.com last week and have been surfing it all this week. I have been surfing for many years and pick this board up as a secondary board to my shortboard. The board rides great and the construction looks solid. I don't know if it's American made but definately not a pop out.
DON'T BUY EQUINOX!!! Or any sweat shop boards. I know I'm responding to old posts but hopefully I can save people from the mistake I made. They are crappy, Chinese made boards. The company will sell you one directly and WITH a warranty, IF you pay ridiculous shipping costs. The website is really only there to make them look like a real board company you can trust. Their real bread and butter is selling shipping containers full of boards to individuals at greatly reduced prices. The guy who posted above is one of them. They turn around and sell them to unsuspecting naives like me. They aren't really doing anything wrong. The guy I bought from didn't pump up the quality of the boards when I went to his house to check out the boards. He DID post on craigslist that they had extra glass over the fin boxes, and it turns out mine did not. It barely scraped the sand on a shallow break and the fins and almost all the foam up to the deck tore out. Now I can look and see there was not extra glass over the fins and the glass that was there was sanded so paper thin that you can see the complex of the glass (digitized looking black spotting). On the unbroken spots where I can see the complex, I can put my finger right through it without trying. Of course, I never tried to do that before it was broken so there was no way to know. And I didn't know what to look for as far as oversanding when I bought the board. I got some forced education. Not a totally bad thing I guess. So anyway, it had only been four weeks from when I bought it. I asked the seller (rep as they call themselves) some questions very nicely by text, but he would not respond when he found out the board was broken. I’ve heard this same thing from others now. I didn't get mad at him or try to go to his house to talk to him about it. He is just a guy trying to make a living. I can't say I wouldn't do the same thing. He surfs all day and only has to work when he makes appointments. Not a bad gig. Kinda like being a trusted local shaper. The problem is that these companies are breaking down the community of surfing, one of the last remaining small community systems. Community means accountability. You won't find your local shaper putting out shabby work and then ignoring complaints. That’s because they wouldn't be a trusted local shaper for very long if they did. They would have to go do other jobs they don't want to do; one's that won't allow them to surf all day. Companies like Equinox (and Walmart) can operate the way they do without it affecting their ability to stay in business and profit. This is because they distance themselves from surfers in every way except financially. Surfers do gain something from all this: we get boards for a little bit cheaper. But is it worth it? We don't get them for THAT MUCH cheaper. I know I wish I would have saved a little longer or bought a used real surf board. Do you want surfing to be in the hands of a faceless Chinese entity? Or would you prefer to have your local surf community stay in the hands of you and your friends? There are countless other reasons to not buy boards from companies like Equinox, including the fact that the boards are probably made by children working in ****ty conditions, like a lot of things made in China. Please join me - speak out against Sweat Shop Boards whenever possible. Don't even "speak out," just bring up this post and tell my story and see what others have to say. Ask people about their boards. There’s a lot of stories like mine out there now because Companies like Equinox have already cornered a pretty big chunk of the market. People are realizing though. We just need to be more vocal about it. If you or someone you know has a similar story then post it. I hear these same stories all the time now that it happened to me. By the way, despite the very thin glass on most of the board it rode good, and it probably will ride good again once I get it fixed. But then I will have spent as much as if I bought a real surfboard made by the hands of a real local surfer. I’m sure it’ll break again too because the deck had yellow spots and spider web cracks after my first surf on it. I was surfing seal beach river jetty on an average day; nothing heavy. But getting back to my last point – the board rides good, and I don’t have anything against the reps or even against the company. It’s just this Walmart system of unaccountability. I’m just trying to make people aware of the silent takeover of our beloved sport. It’s just about impossible to stop. We can’t fight it on a large scale so it will probably eventually prevail and you won’t be able to find a local shaper to make you a custom board (as well as countless other negative consequences that are unforeseeable right now). We can fight it on a small scale, talking about it amongst ourselves and bolstering support for local surfers and shapers (and local shops). Its not much, but its all we have. This has been a stream-of-consciousness rant, but I’ve been talking through email with shapers and surfers from Southern Baja to Southern California, accumulating stories and research topics, and I’m eventually going to write an article and offer it for free to every surf mag I can find. I have a friend who does freelance writing who is living in China at the moment, and when he gets some time he is going to look into how we might possibly get inside the factories (who are ignoring American copyrights) making these boards or get images of the inside and stories from the people working there. I’m also going to post this on every surf website I can find. Mine was a Retro Fish model by the way. I will post phone photos tomorrow and better ones soon.
I'm sad to hear you had a bad experience with my company. I had initially tried to contact you multiple times regarding possibly replacing the board. I now understand this was probably written by a competitor as the email address provided bounced multiple times. "Matt", If you would like to contact me my info is below. I will however write a response for the forum. I strive to make a great quality boards at a great price. I want to help surfers try different and innovative shapes and find something that works for them without breaking the bank. I chose to use the same shapers utilized by Rusty, Santa Cruz, Becker, G&S, Firewire, and many others. I have been very upfront about our stock boards stating they are designed in SoCal and being shaped overseas and post this in the Frequently Asked Question (FAQ) section of my website. My custom boards are made in Gardena, CA by shaper Alex Gamino. He has been shaping for 15 years working with Walden, McTavish, Roland, Spyder, and many others. Initially I had the same concerns about health issues and other bad working conditions. I have visited the facility and met with the shapers. The head of quality is Clyde Beatty Jr. (who also has his own line of boards), an American with 30+ years of shaping experience who used to be based out of Ventura, CA. They have reassured me of the following. The average employee at this facility is paid 18% above the average salary for comparable jobs. All shapers are required to wear a full respirator while in the shaping bays to curb any inhalation concerns. All waste is disposed of properly in accordance with American-like standards unlike some of the other surfboard shaping facilities in the area. I definitely do not avoid customers when they have issues and address their concerns ASAP. Although uncommon, I have honored warranty claims when I feel necessary. I have replaced boards free of charge in many situations. Unlike surf shops I will take back a board and do what is necessary to make things better. I am a small shop with little or no reputation in the surf industry and therefore have to rely on my customers to spread the word. I help my customers when there are issues. A larger surf shop like Becker, Jack's, Ron Jon, etc will not offer a warranty and frankly doesn't need to because they will always have new customers strictly based on the size of their shops. I operate mainly on word of mouth. Jay @ Equinox Surfboards www.equinoxsurfboards.com Owner 877-787-3360 jay@equinoxsurfboards.com
I have a 6'0" quad I love it. I have 6 other boards and I ride my quad 9 times out of ten. Its fast responsive and it floats great! No complaints here. Best $350 I have ever spent on a new board.
That's right!........I always buy from a local shaper! I do like that Jay stepped up and made a comment on this thread though. Good on ya .
Not that it makes much difference but the Anacapa is not that bad a stick as far as ride and durability and is actually made in Thailand and Malaysia. I would put someone on them before an Equinox or an Isle. People generally buy what they can afford and I dont blame them for that but many think a custom board from a local shaper is expensive and thats just not the case.
This thread is nearly 3 years old and Jay came around to defend himself and his company a year later? Old news guys. Let's put the popout purveyor to bed.
I just bought a quad retro fish from jay. He helped me through the entire process, asked about the conditions I surf, my experience and proficiency, and then my board was made to spec by Alex Gamino. He ain't in China, for sure. Custom board. I just waxed it and it's going in the water tomorrow.
Ride what you like. Equipment is a small part of the overall picture. Spending a few years racing mountain bikes I found that nice equipment or top or top of the line stuff is nice, but on a cost basis analysis does a 7500 bike ride that much better then an off the shelf 1200 steel hard tail. Not really. My favorite surfboard, a $250 Larry Mabile quad. Why 250? Because the paint was too yellow and no one wanted to put in a surfshop in So Cal. If you enjoy your 200 surfboard from China, go for it. If you like the 800 custom from the local guy, good for you.
Sorry, I mean a local shaper as opposed to mass produced. Every shaper is local to someone. If I have my board made by a custom shaper in OBX (Tim Nolte) does it matter if I take it up to RI to surf it? It's still a local shaper as opposed to a mega-producer. Or do I only count as using a local shaper if I buy from Dave Levy in Narragansett? Can I go to Connecticut and still be local? How about down to Jersey . . . I just meant not mass produced. Either way, Nolte/OBX or Gamino/CA, either stick will beat a Bic! Cheers.
