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Sandsy1 said..
All sounds good, all these cheapies, until you ride them for a while.
My son is an apprentice sparky and couldn't afford a new mal so he bought one of the 'warehouse' boards for around $600.
He has had it for about 2 years. It has finger compressions on the rails from eskimo rolls, the deck looks like a golf ball, any small bump ends up with a repair needed and the bottom is scuffed and scratched from who knows what. I would add, that he really looks after all his gear, never thrashes anything, his short board still looks new.
I have a custom log, which I bought at the same time and it is immaculate. When I'm not on it, he uses it as well, so it is in the water at least 4 - 5 times a week.
Sure, good customs are over a grand. But if you decide to sell, it is still worth some money. My sons cheapy, will be a throw away! More landfill!!
By the way, just because you can copy a shape, doesn't mean the board will work. I have owned a few 'dogs' over the years and even at my weekender level, I new they were shockers. You get what you pay for!
If you want a board that is a bit cheaper than the big name brands, ask around about the younger crew coming through. There are some exceptional young shapers around, doing some great work.
Bit confusing since you're saying a copy may not mean it works and more than likely these surfboard warehouse boards are a copy of some decent shape. Early on my mate on the Gold coast bought an un-ridden Takayama scorpion from them. They happen to have copies of the scorpion in their line up of boards. No co-incidence there me thinks.
By the same token the young shapers are going to be going off boards they've had/seen/checked out and so I don't see any guarantee that they won't produce some dogs along the way. Then if you end up with a dog by a relatively unknown shaper the re-sale will be lousy anyway.
All this from the perspective of an occasional longboarder rather than someone who rides them all the time so don't get bent out of shape about my view.
I wouldn't mind paying good money for a board I would ride the majority of the time but I still wouldn't feel good riding it in a wave starved crowd..