About me
I have been fingerboarding for about 10 years on and off although my involvement with the online scene is limited. This Soma deck will be the 13th (and 10th*) wooden deck I have owned, not counting multiple decks of the same mold. I have been skating this deck set up with Foamy J grip, medium-loose Ytrucks X3 and Oak V2 single bearing wheels. I have been using the aforementioned board as my main for over 2 weeks in order to gain a suitable level of experience with it to give it a fair review. I have used it both indoors and outdoors and have gotten to the point where all other boards feel strange. This is also my second fingerboard product review and I hope it is sufficient in detail and interesting to read. I personally prefer text-based reviews as opposed to video reviews as the reader can choose to read it at their own pace instead of being forced to follow the speed of the reviewer and who can often trail-off topic.

*See Transaction Details section

Deck setup


Company Profile
Soma Decks is run by Phil N who also makes the decks himself. Phil has been making decks since 2008 so he has a lot of experience. He mainly focuses on making very unique decks, often handpainted whilst having high performance.

More Company Info: http://fingerflipinc.com/forum/index.php?topic=68285.0
Flickr photostream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/somadecks/

Deck Statistics
Deck Length: 99mm aprox
Deck Width: 31mm
Nose and Tail concaves: low/mellow
Rail to rail concave: low
Ply Construction: 4-ply, Top to bottom: light blue/dark brown/light blue/wood
Kicks: Medium
Asymmetry: The nose is a less than a millimeter longer than the tail
Kingpin holes: none

Dalek Sec shows the top


Transaction Details
Price: €15, equivalent to around £13.36/$21.90
Shipping cost: €4, around £3.56/$5.84
Time to arrive from Germany to UK: 1 week/2 months

I originally ordered a 28mm custom by contacting Phil via his YouTube account. Shipping from Germany to the UK came in about a week as expected. It came in a standard bubble mailer but the deck itself was not wrapped in any additional protection. There were also no additional import taxes to pay as I am buying from within the EU. Nothing else was included with the deck. I had some issues with this deck and the main problem was with the holes and I could not mount my trucks correctly. It would have been very difficult to skate the deck I originally received so I asked Phil if he would make a replacement deck for me. He apologised for the holes and said he would make me another deck for free which was very honest and great of him. It was a shame about the original deck as the handpainted graphic was very nice but even in the photo he sent me before I received it, the holes did look off. I gave him a few weeks to sort out his other orders and other things but then I had to go to China for 2 weeks. When I came back, it seemed that Phil may have been very busy as I could get in touch but he eventually did reply back saying he would give me 3 decks! With shipping from Germany again added to the previous things I've mentioned it was overall about 2 months until I got the replacement decks but him giving me 3 decks more than made up for the long wait. The 3 decks were posted in a standard bubble mailer and the decks themselves were wrapped in more paper which turned out to be a nice personal note.

Original deck / Replacement decks


Craftsmanship
It would have been unfair if I didn't give him a chance to send a replacement deck before I wrote a review so I will ignore the original deck and only comment on the one I have been using.

The rails are perfectly perpendicular.
The kicks are perfectly shaped almost perfectly round. It is hard to shape decks and it is only marginally off and you wouldn't notice unless you were looking out for it. Performance is not affected.
The lacquer uniformly covers the entire bottom, with odd patches of coats on the sides and none on the top. There are 2 small white circles that are barely noticeable in the lacquer near the tip of the nose and at the top concave.
The mounting holes are countersunk, almost perfectly centered, pretty much straight and well aligned with each other. The holes are 0.5mm off-center but with it being a 31mm deck, this is only a tiny flaw that is not noticeable in performance. The trucks do align well so when set up, the board will roll straight.
The bottom ply is wood but with a graphic drawn on. It appears to depict a person at the bottom, some fingerboarding action at the middle and a Soma sign near the top.
The top ply is very nice and I very much like how it is signed by hand in an artistic fashion.

Top and sides (middle one in each picture)


Performance
I was expecting good performance from this deck after reading Kerry's review and also from the price. The first thing I thought about the deck was that 31mm was way too wide for me. I've been used to my 26mm Berlinwood for so long and this was even wider than the 29mm Kinda deck I previously reviewed. However... I did eventually learn to love the width. Apart from the width, I think this deck pretty much hits every other aspect of my preferences perfectly. 99mm length is the perfect length for me and it has a very suitable wheelbase for it. The kicks are medium and are at just the right height to do tricks comfortably and they're a decent size too allowing for extra control. It is low concave but is much better than decks with no concaves at all. Even when set up with some Foamy J, I can feel the very subtle contours of the deck, just enough for comfortable tricks. It is 4-ply so it offers a very nice balance between lightness, good pop and enough durability. Overall, the performance of the deck is awesome and I'd definitely recommend one for both the performance and the artwork on them. Since he does customs, you can also ask for the perfect size for your preferences.



Final scoresheet


You'll be glad to hear that's the end of this long ass review.

I must mention that this review is just what I think about the deck. Reading multiple reviews by different people is definitely recommended and here is a good review by Kerry:
http://www.unitefingerboarding.com/2011/03/soma-deck-review.html

You can buy Soma decks by purchasing directly from his eBay store:
http://shop.ebay.de/ramblejack90/m.html?_trksid=p4340.l2562
(change the .de to whatever your local eBay is or to .com if there is no local version for where you live)

Additionally, you may order by PMing him on FFI where his username is SomaDecks. FFI currently has open registration so I don't see why you can not PM him there for now but if you can't, it is also possible to reach him on YouTube where his username is somadecks.

Buy one or be terminated!


You may use this review and pictures, in part or in full, as long as you credit it to me and get permission from me in a PM.

thanks man this realy helped

looking forward to getting mine now

nice review! "exterminate!"

Xi...man...! That was exceptional bro! (clapping)
You definitely pulled out all the stops and it was very extensive.
Between you and Kerry I really want one now.

Wow great review! Very elaborate and in-depth. Well done, Xi!

nice review, they look like super nice decks

such a well written, crazily indepth review. Great stuff man

such a nice style of writing , sweet review man

That was a really good review, great job!

Amazing review as always!

I love mine!

I really wan't this soma!

http://www.unitefingerboarding.com/2011/06/soma-poolshape.html

It looks amazing.

I love their graphics
<3

brilliant review, made me want one!

The written bit was really helpful, but the scoring seems a bit arbitrary. Why are the holes given such a disproportionate weighting?

Lol, of course that scoring is fucked up. I can't really get the system perfectly balanced in 1 go but to me, the holes are definitely important considering how bad the holes were in the first deck. It rendered it unskatable. I should also add that the maximum score in each little category are also meant to go negative as well if they are really bad.

lol the holes must have been awful to be unskateable!

was so nice of phil to send you 3 decks, the graphics are just insane!

Xi wrote:

Lol, of course that scoring is fucked up. I can't really get the system perfectly balanced in 1 go but to me, the holes are definitely important considering how bad the holes were in the first deck. It rendered it unskatable. I should also add that the maximum score in each little category are also meant to go negative as well if they are really bad.

Fair enough

Sick Review loved the scoresheet!!!

FFI has open registration, does that mean i can register?

Yes, it does!

awesome review tons of info