I can't offer you a Severne v NP comparison, but love the Speedsters to bits. Light, super easy to rig, waterstart, stable, ridiculously comfortable and fast. Top end only 2 knots-ish different to my Evos. I only have bump and jump conditions locally and have to do big travel for any speed, so I love that they are just as happy on a slalom board, freerace or freestyle wave. I've even whacked one on my speedy

. I have Evos in the smaller sizes and love them too so I'm guessing the V8s would be awesome as well. But it's camless comfort for me unless I'm somewhere with a chance of decent speed.