Every September the previous season’s boards drop in price. Twenty, thirty, sometimes forty percent off a board that was full price in March. It is the single easiest way to save real money on a splitboard, and it is also where people talk themselves into the wrong board.
The question is never “is it cheaper.” It is is it the same board.
What actually changes between model years
Most years, for most boards: the topsheet. Manufacturers run a graphic refresh, update the marketing copy, and ship essentially the same construction. If that is what happened, last season’s model is the same board at a discount and there is nothing to think about.
But some years, real things change, and they are not always announced loudly:
- Shape or profile. A revised taper, a different rocker line, a new sidecut. This changes how the board rides.
- Construction. Core material, carbon layup, base material. This changes weight, durability and price.
- Sizes. A length gets added or dropped. This matters enormously if you are on the edge of two sizes.
- The mounting interface. Rare, but it happens, and it is the one change that can strand you with bindings that do not fit.
How to tell which happened
Put the two spec sheets side by side. Not the marketing pages — the specs.
Compare: available lengths, rider weight ranges per size, profile name, shape description, stated weight, waist width. If those are identical across the two model years, you are almost certainly looking at a graphics change. Our sizing guide covers which of those numbers should drive the decision.
If something moved, read the brand’s own description of why. Manufacturers are generally honest about real revisions — they want credit for them. A silent change in a spec table with no story attached is worth a question to the shop before you buy.
An honest note about our own data. Our database records the season a board was catalogued under, and those labels come from a range of sources with a range of conventions — you will see 24/25, 25/26 and 26/27 side by side, and they do not always line up with how a brand labels its own model year. We are standardising that. Until we have, use our specs to compare boards and the manufacturer’s own archive to confirm which model year you are actually looking at.
When last season’s board is the smart buy
- The construction is unchanged and only the graphics moved.
- Your size is in stock. Not a size near yours. Yours.
- The discount is meaningful — under 15% off, you are paying most of full price for last year’s graphics and no warranty advantage.
- You are buying from a retailer with a real returns policy, not a marketplace listing.
When it is not
- Your size is gone. This is the expensive mistake, and it is the one people make most. A board 6 cm off your correct length will affect every single day you ride it, for years. No discount is worth that. Walk away.
- The interface or mounting pattern changed and you are building a system around it.
- The board was revised because the previous version had a known problem. Rare, but it is why you read the brand’s description of the change.
- You are buying it because it is cheap rather than because it is right. The cheapest board you do not enjoy riding is more expensive than the right board at full price.
Last season’s new versus this season’s second-hand
At similar money, last season’s unridden board usually wins: full warranty, no hidden base damage, no mystery about how it was stored. Second-hand becomes the better deal when the discount is much larger — but then you are buying inspection skill along with the board, which is a different article.
The short version
Compare the spec sheets, confirm your size is available, and check that the discount is real. If all three hold, last season’s model is the best value in splitboarding. If your size is missing, none of the rest matters.
Both model years are usually still listed in our database, so you can put the specs next to each other before you go looking for a price. If the flex number is one of the things that moved, here is what that number actually means.
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