Stock photo of the packaging (Techdeck.com)


About me and this board
I have been fingerboarding for about 10 years on and off although my involvement with the online scene is limited. I've had dozens of Tech Decks ever since I started fingerboarding and I have now become a collector of different Tech Deck shapes, molds and series. This board is a complete built with all of the original parts in the pack. I have used it only indoors as a non-main setup but I have had this for over a month to give it a fair review. I understand this was released a few months ago although I didn't pick this up immediately due to disliking the performance of the Wooden Collector Series and also wanted to check information and reviews on FFI and YouTube before I got one. This is my third fingerboard review and I do hope it is up to standard as I am not an experienced reviewer. 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.

Deck setup - all original parts from the Wood Competition Series


Company Profile
Tech Deck is a big fuck-off international franchise specialising in producing miniature skateboard toys with licensed graphics from well known skateboard companies. The boards are designed to have an authentic skateboard feeling with their licensed graphics, die cast trucks, griptape and all their interchangeable components. They appeal to skateboard enthusiasts, toy collectors as well as making fingerboarding accessible to younger children with their affordable price. With sales and recognition worldwide, they really help people get into fingerboarding before they wish to invest in more premium products.

Website: http://techdeck.com/
Wooden Competition Series: http://techdeck.com/app/website/articles/news?id=The-Skitchin-Insider-Wooden-Competition-Series

Pretty cool graphic


Board Statistics
Deck Length: 98mm aprox
Deck Width: 26mm
Nose and Tail concaves: low/mellow
Rail to rail concave: very low
Ply Construction: 5-ply, alternating between lighter and darker maple.
Kicks: low
Asymmetry: unable to detect
Kingpin holes: none

Truck width: 26mm
Axles: Single axle; fixed to hollow wheels

Top of deck


Transaction Details
RRP: $8 - Different for different retailers internationally
Shipping cost: -
Time to arrive: -

The boards are easy to get in many toy stores and retailers worldwide so I won't go into detail here as it's likely to be different for everyone.

Inner packaging


Packaging
I have to comment that the packaging is well designed as you can clearly see everything included in the package before you buy it. There is even a back window so you can view the top of the deck. The plastic also protects it hopefully ensuring you get it in good condition no matter where you buy it from.

Deck shape from side


Yotsuba holds the board


Deck Craftsmanship
As you will know, Tech Decks are mass produced like fuck in China but that will also mean the decks are consistent and well made with perfect shape and holes.

The rails are perfectly perpendicular.
The kicks are perfectly shaped and round.
The lacquer is thin but uniform.
The mounting holes are countersunk, able to fit the included screws and any Tech Deck screws and are perfectly centered.
The bottom ply is printed with an authentic Zero Rattray graphic. Although the graphic is smooth and retains on the deck nicely, it is misaligned. The graphic itself is slightly to the right and probably too high since the graphic is cut off at the tail. This is not overly important since graphics will wear anyway.
The top ply is very clean and smooth. It is also branded with a Tech Deck logo similar to other premium fingerboard decks.

Differences to standard Tech Decks:
These Wood Competition Series decks are marginally longer and wider than the standard Tech Deck but the kicks are much lower.

Difference to Competition Series:
The original Competition Series boards were plastic, shorter and thinner than even standard Tech Decks and had no concave at all.

Difference to Wooden Collector Series:
There is actually a subtle difference to these decks that were released much earlier. The kicks are low on the Competition Series decks but they were even lower in the Wooden Collector Series.

Difference to Wooden Competition Series (G2) / Foam Grip Concave Wood Competition Series (not released yet):
The newer boards have much more concave.

Tail with cut off graphic


Griptape
The packaging indicates the griptape is licensed Mob grip. Although Mob do make good skateboard grip, in this case, probably only their name is used. It is precut and perfectly fits on the deck, just smaller than the deck so it won't come out at the sides. This grip is the best grip Tech Deck have come out with since their beginning, I think it is the perfect balance of grip, comfort and durability. If you are a fan of grip, you'll love this. There is also a massive fucking Tech Deck logo on the top so you can look cool as shit! No, not really but that's just what they do. However good this grip is, I am still inclined to recommend a foam style tape for this deck, especially since it is so mellow. When/if I buy another one of these boards, I will be using Creekwood tape or Riptape instead of this grip.

Top of deck with grip


Trucks & wheels
Tech Deck have marketed these trucks and wheels combinations with their Indy and Ricta branding but compared to the actual skateboard products, I'm afraid to say the Tech Deck counterparts are a huge disappointment. The wheels are fixed to the axles. What the flying fuck, Tech Deck? Sure, the wheels might be somewhat smoother than the standard trucks and standard wheels but the old standard white wheels from the X-Concepts era really weren't that bad and I'd much rather have those than the Competition Series trucks.

That's not my only criticism about these trucks either, just the main one. The next point I have to make is about the open structure of the truck hanger. Why the hell have you made it this open? I understand that having it open will make the wheels smoother as it allows the axle to rotate but it is just too open. The axles will easily come loose, that's if they weren't already loose even when new in the package. Due to how flimsy these axles are, it negates any benefits of extra smoothness of ride since the loose axles will just make it really wobbly. It can be possible to temporarily fix using some pliers to squeeze the hanger to hold the axle better but you're likely to disfigure your trucks due to the cheap alloy used to make the trucks. I don't know if this issue is due to quality control, a design flaw or a secret ploy for the trucks to easily break (as with previous generations of Tech Deck trucks) in order to get kids and parents to buy more replacements. I don't like this shit. :<

Another criticism is that the wheels are hollow with no back. They might claim this is to reduce weight but I really can not tell much difference between standard wheels and these. The wheels will easily crack and I believe it is another ploy to make it easily breakable in order to get more sales for replacements.

The branding on these trucks and wheels also seem very useless. The wheels are supposed to be Ricta wheels but they do not say Ricta on any of these wheels. They don't even resemble Ricta wheels. As for the Independent branded trucks, it is only really a logo stuck on. As a skateboarder, I know what real Indys look like and these trucks look nothing like the shape of Indys. They have no engravings on the baseplate either. Even when X-Concepts made Indy branded trucks for their handboards, they were quite accurate. For these trucks, it's just a dodgy logo stuck on but the logos aren't even applied straight or centered so it looks ghetto as fuck and not like an authentic truck. The axles and wheels also make it seem more like a cheap toy than a miniature scale skateboard.

Bottom of trucks (Apologies, my cameraphone cannot focus for shit)


In the picture above, I noticed that the baseplates have a giant hole in them, much larger than the holes on your standard China trucks. Pivot cups probably won't work on them.

Although I like that the trucks and wheels match the deck width, the wheels may extend by about 2mm from the side of the deck and I assume this was for making the axles easier to install.

The kingpin does not stick out but this is standard these days.

Difference to Competition Series:
The Competition Series came with 2 sets of these trucks & wheels. One set had smaller, white wheels with a coloured ring on them on Indy branded trucks. The other set had larger wheels branded with a board company's graphics and unbranded trucks. They also had a hole in the hanger so you could see the axle going through it from the top.

Screws & Risers
I tried to use the risers but the screws only just poked through the risers and the deck. I would have needed to press the truck down very hard to get the screws in but I gave up and didn't use them.



Overall Performance
After hearing that these decks had higher kicks than the original wooden decks from the Wooden Collector Series, I figured they might be better. The kicks are still too low and short though. It is hard to get good, high and clean tricks since it is difficult to pop. I do like its low concave and its 26mm width as I prefer those kinds of decks. The wheelbase is good and although the deck is longer than a standard Tech Deck (I compared some), this deck still feels too short. I think it is really just the kicks that are too short, though. It is an improvement from the old decks but can still be greatly improved. I also strongly feel this deck would perform much better if I had some kind of foam tape. As I mentioned earlier, the wheels might be smoother than the normal ones but it is negated by the tendency for the axles to come loose and it will really mess up setting up for tricks.

Being a Tech Deck product, even with the improved features, they still made it cheap enough to be accessible to anyone. The board isn't perfect but I am pleased they are finally trying to give people what they want. I'm sure they will eventually produce some good performance decks but this one isn't quite there yet.

Yotsuba takes a ride!


You'll be glad to hear that's the end of this long ass review. My other reviews were also long but as you can probably tell, I was pretty mad with some of the features on this Tech Deck and really wanted to rant about it but turned it into a review. Kind of. Thanks if you actually made it this far. I know reviews generally don't get a lot of comments and I'm expecting even less for a Tech Deck product. If this did help you, then great. If not, please say why.

I must mention that this review is just what I think about the board. Reading multiple reviews by different people is definitely recommended and here is a good review by Dave C:
http://fingerflipinc.com/forum/index.php?topic=70209.0

You can buy Tech Deck Wood Competition Series boards from a shitload of places.

Oh shitting fuck! Yotsuba! Are you OK?!


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.

rad review man, really well done I actually want one of these, just to mess around on. Are they out in the UK?

kerryDETH wrote:

rad review man, really well done I actually want one of these, just to mess around on. Are they out in the UK?

Somewhat. I've not actually been to check larger supermarkets and toy stores but I have seen them on Amazon UK but the cheapest on there are £12.99 (free shipping). It's probably a bit cheaper importing it from the US, especially if you're buying a couple of other TDs at the same time but it will be about a week to arrive in the UK as opposed to days from Amazon.

dope review, they look good really gool, especally the indies on it

Only thing I don't like about them is a bar-code on the side of the board. But, apart from that the board looks rad.

Tamara wrote:

Only thing I don't like about them is a bar-code on the side of the board. But, apart from that the board looks rad.

That comes off quite easily from a bit of normal use or you could just sand it off. I think it's a code for what factory or batch it's from. I have a couple other TDs with the same code.