New Volume Calculator

[hanaleisurfer]

The new volume calculator is awesome!! Its a lot more accurate and takes in to account a persons age and fitness. To me that makes a more accurate calculator. A person also has to take into account the type of surf you ride. Living in Hawaii, I will always tend to get a board a little longer. Great job Firewire!!

[prjwebb]

Yeah it's a cool little tool.
I think it might need a few tweaks. Putting in my weight at 165lbs, average fitness and at inter/ad ability it's giving a min volume of 23l and a max of 28l.
I don't think there are WCT surfers at my weight riding 23l HPSBs let alone intermediate/advanced guys. I'd say it could do with adding a couple of litres in min and max in that case. Not sure if people are finding that right across the board or just in certain weight categories.

Just checked it on the intermediate and advanced optiosn for comparison and advanced is giving the same min 23l max 28l and intermediate is coming up at min 27l, max 34l.
It could be worth tweaking the inter/ad option to be the middle of those two which would be 25l - 30l which seems pretty reasonable.

[Fritzkat]

Geesh most of my boards dont have enough volume according to my inputs. I always thought I was just right. @35 litres

[kdropin]

yeah seems a lil low in my case as well.. especially ec usa.. i guess thats y its a guide and to be tweaked bc of waves surfed etc. etc.

[hanaleisurfer]

yeah its really intended to be a guide. Some of you that have boards under volume are probably in better shape than you think!! Personally, I hate struggling to catch waves!!

[Chris]

Glad people are liking it. Definitely meant t help get people in the right ball park...a starting point!!

Cheers

[Roger]

What a difference!

The old calculator without age made it seem like I needed smaller boards. Now that it knows I am in my 50's, it is recommending boards that are right for me.

I am 210 pounds and in good enough shape to surf 3 or 4 hours in head high conditions, and it is showing that I should be riding 45 liters up. My 6'6" Dom and 6'8" HF are right in this range.

Chris, the new calculator is fantastic!

By the way, any idea when you guys will get the newest batch of boards in the board comparison tool?

[Fritzkat]

I punch in 50 years old 190 pounds inter/adv, average fitness and it comes up with 38/48 liters.. Ive been riding 36.7L 6-4 Hell Fire and 35.5L 6-6 Quadra-5 narrowed and thinner) with the exception of the 6-4 Dom 40.6L which I wanted floatier for waist high waves... Hmmm, I might have to get the 6-5 Activator after all. Was thinking the 6-3 to get a tighter response on hollower waves. Sure wish they were in the shops now so I can group it... I am tossing around a 6-6 MB or a 6-3 /6-5 Activator..

[Bigblackdog]

Can we expect to see the Potatonator added to the volume guide any time soon ?

[Chris]

yes you can!!

[STC67]

Great tool. Maybe some definitions around what you call Intermediate, Advanced etc would be good.

[Chris]

yeah thanks STC!!

[CaptainH]

Not a fan of the new improved volume calculator. Punching in my info (intermediate/advanced, 50 years old, average fitness, 89 kg) the boards it puts me on have way too much volume. According to the new guidelines, the shortest Dominator I should now ride is now 6’4”. Shortest Hellfire 6’6”. Shortest HellRazor 6’11”. My current quiver, which I’m very happy with, is listed below. And based on the recommendations that were in place when I bought the Dominator and Hellfire, I could’ve gone the next size down in both.

Have the laws of physics changed recently or is the new calculator calibrated on the assumption that most guys are going to talk their fitness and ability up? Because that’s pretty much the only way for me to hit the (quite sound) recommendations I’ve had in the past.

[Chris]

man Captain you are WAY against it. This is like the 4th post today where you are getting on its case.

guys its not law. we have added variables to help people get guidance. its not meant to be the only thing worth thinking. You have to take into account past experiences.

The volume calculator was developed in house here and it follows a formula that seems to work well for a majority of the people we tested it with. Stoked on the feedback from everyone, but just keep in mind, it isn't and should be the only place to get help.

Thanks!

[CaptainH]

Hey Chris,

If you look at the dates you'll find that was actually my very first post about the volume calculator, but if you read it after the other posts I can see why it rubbed you up the wrong way. I'm not trying to rag on it for the sake of ragging on it, but my experience is that it doesn't work as well for me as what FW had in place before.

In one of the subsequent posts I simply said that the buyers guide worked better for me, and the thread I started was for the purpose of a constructive discussion around whether putting some definitions in place might cause it to work better. Which some others seem to agree would make sense.


Cheers, CH

[Danga]

On the new volume calculator I type in:

Int/Adv (true)
Ave fitness (true)
35 years (-8 years i'm 43 but seems to work.45 years comes up with 36-45 which seems just a bit to much.)
89 KGs (true)

and it comes up with 32-39 ltrs.

My boards are:
6'6 FF vol 32 (have)
6'2 HF vol 33.7 (want)
6'0 DOM vol 34.8 (have)
5'10 PN vol 36.8 (want)
5'6 SP vol 38.6 (have)

So this seems to work for me with my high performance boards at the lower end of the scale, my hybrids mid scale and my sweet potato high end of the scale. Even though I tweaked it a bit I still think it gives a good range between all my boards. So I think if you find a board you like whether it is high performance, hybrid or pure stoke you can use the volume range to find other boards the right size/volume for you. High performance=min. Pure stoke =Max.

[rocket23]

hi guys new here noticed when putting in ability,inter advanced is lower volume than adanced,is this deliberate or a gliche?

[Chris]

Nahh no worries captian,
I think we are also going to update and reinstate the buyer's guide. There seems to be enough interest and linking for it....

What do you guys think??

Thanks!

[surfgumby]

Hey Chris, I reckon it might make life a bit simpler for us if you reinstate an updated buyers guide. I really appreciate that you guys at Firewire try to assist us work out which board & size to go for as well as listening & taking action if required. Thanks mate!

[buzzy]

I think the buyers guide was retry good, simple, and worked well. I'd only suggest a few more explanations on what might lead people to go plus or minus the recommended range (such as older and or less fit for +, and frothing and or young or near pro level for -.

[buzzy]

That's "pretty good". Bloody auto correct!

[hooked]

Did the calculator change in the last month? I re-ran some queries and the results seem to offer a more narrow range by 3 - 4 liters. If so, was this based on buyer remorse issues? I ask because most forum posts here suggest dropping volume but the calculator is bumping me up. I'll probably lie about my age (50) but don't want to regret it.