There seems to be a lot of misunderstanding around snowboard bases and which base does what, so let’s clear it up:
The breakdown:
1) Sintered snowboard base
Unlike what some people may say, most sintered bases are actually more durable than extruded bases. In fact, sintered bases for more durable, faster and on the whole better than extruded snowboard bases.
The only real downside of sintered bases is they’re harder to repair and more expensive to produce, which is why only mid to high end priced snowboards tend to have sintered bases.
However, they are the best base to pick if you had to pick between an extruded or sintered base.
2) Extruded snowboard base
Extruded bases are not as durable as sintered basis, but they’re cheaper to produce and easier to repair. That’s the one advantage of an extruded snowboard base, but otherwise a sintered base has it beat.
3) It’s not a ‘make or break’ feature
There are still great snowboards with extruded bases, even if it is a little slower and less durable than the higher priced sintered base snowboards, so don’t feel like you can’t buy a snowboard just because it has an extruded base.
It comes down to it being nicer and more preferable to have a sintered base, but you can still have great snowboards, such as the Arbor Westmark, which have extruded bases and still kick butt.
Hope that clears up some confusion.
– Jed