Shipping took a week and a half or there abouts, which isn't that bad from Germany to the UK. He sent it out quickly, and, well, how long it takes after its been put in the post box can't be blamed on the company, post is either fast or slow. Normally slow in England's case! It came nicely packaged in a bubble mailer with a note, and it was in perfect condition. 10/10
First impressions of this deck were mindblowing. I can't begin to describe how nice that graphic is! The shape looked perfect too, nice mellow but well defined low-medium concave with medium kicks. Nicely rounded all the way around, and great shiny looking lacquer too. The holes weren't perfect on one side, but he'd said in the note that he'd messed them up, would normally have called it a bad deck and not sent it, but the graphic was soo nice he figured he'd send it anyway. They weren't that bad, just not perfect. 9/10
Craftsmanship of this deck is pretty much perfect, aside the holes. The deck is perfectly shaped all the way around, nice rounding around the edges too. The lacquer is spot on and also the graphic, which is hand painted, is amazing beyond words. The shape was perfectly defined throughout the deck and the deck showed absolutely no signs of warping. Obviously the holes need mentioning, they're not perfect, far from it on the tail end, but I've seen much worse holes. And he said they were bad, if you were to buy a deck I'm sure you'd get great holes, like all the other soma decks I've seem. When I set mine up I managed to get 7 screws in, so, yea, I don't really consider that a tragedy, as it doesn't affect performance in the slightest. 9/10
Performance of this deck is really interesting. Its a 31mm wide deck, which is the first 31mm I've used as a main setup. I also just started using loose trucks with it, I used to ride pretty tight, but the combination of loose trucks and slightly more width has helped me loads. This deck needs a lot of praise too when it comes to helping me with my fingerboarding, I'm more consistent on this than I've been on any deck, ever. Great pop, not the most pop I've ever seen in a deck, but still a great amount, and to be honest some decks can pop tricks too high and they end up looking weird on footage because the board flies way higher than the obstacle, making it look unclean and unrealistic occasionally. The deck is very easy to control, and given the extra width is also really fun on mini ramps, so great for chilled out warm up sessions on a winkler dos before filming, or just when you want to relax and have fun. The lacquer also stayed perfectly on this deck after a week of use on loads of boxes, rails, and benches, which is very impressive! I cant see a single scratch on it. Overall this is one of the best decks I've ever used. 10/10
Overall, aside the problems with the holes, which as I have said already, wont be on any other Soma deck, this is one of the best decks out there. Otherwise the craftsmanship is great, the graphic is amazing, it was a breeze to set up, it looks amazing, is a great size, and performs brilliantly. I cant fault it even if I try to. I think its a deck shape you can pick up and start using straight away, very easily. Soma are a new ish company from Germany but soon they'll be launching worldwide and you'll hopefully be able to get hold of them very easily! They definitely deserve support, I'd really recommend picking up one of these decks! Great stuff! I have to lower the score a teeny it for the holes, but, overall, 9.5/10
For now if you want to pick one up you can PM the owner on youtube, hopefully he'll be able to get you one! I don't know how much he has in stock but I do know there are plans for an international launch soon, so stay tuned to here/FFI/etc for that when it happens :)
