I think your plan 2 is the better one (ie get the Alternator).

re durability...i only ride RF's...have done since they came out..(except my MB)...until very recently i surfed pretty much daily on slabs/reef ledges...with a bad back i routinely ditch the boards on take off...this was more often than not under VERY thick lips on almost dry ledges...(thats many times per day, year in year out)...ONLY 1 FW EVER SNAPPED and that was a VERY heavy situation...i came out badly too....prior to FW i only surfed these spots hard when i had an old board to sacrifice...(they always broke quickly)...they also have very forgiving construction...i regularly see rock scrapes/weed stains from these impacts but no shatters...try any of the above with a traditional board...oh, and they are more lively than them too..!!...and the only wear and tear marks you get are nicely defined footwells......

this message brought to you by the firewire department of sycophancy.......


caveat.....any board CAN break.........

Haha Nice stuff Core, glad to hear it. Id be interested to hear how the Alternator, Hellfire, Flexfire and MB compare since you have all of them and im interested in all of them along with the Hellrazor. There isnt much info on the alternator on this forum as im guessing its all on the old forum and its an older board..

Buzzy im leaning towards number 2 aswell if any alternators ever show up second hand here in UK!

Cheers for input guys!

Will
I have ridden most of the board you mentioned. I owned a 6'2 Flexfire and a 5'8 hellfire at one point.
Right now I Have a 5'11 Hellrazor to complement my 5'6 spit and the combo works great. The spit has me covered for anything up to head high that is lacking some punch and even overhead if its still on the soft side of things. But once the waves get juicy the Hellrazor goes mental. It can grovel fairly well the wave just needs to have some punch, it will handle chop and things like that pretty nicely.
If you are worried that the Hellrazor won't be enough board for you in french beachies I will tell you to stop worrying. I surf mine every day down here in Costa Rica and have gotten it into some thick situations, it held just fine though.
If you are looking at surfing waves from waist to solid overhead than the HR will have you covered. If you are some freak charger that is lacking the idea of self preservation and are dead set on following core with the whole slab diving experiments than I would say maybe a step up.
I'm saying HR over the alternator or MB. Never ridden either of them but I love my HR so much I just want everyone else to have one too!
Also the HR has convertible 5 fin setup which for barrels helps a lot, throw a 4 fin in there and prepare to get blown out of some closeouts.
I bet the MB would go good too, not like Michel has ever ridden a barrel or anything.

How does the HR grovel Chito?

Hasn't been below head high for over a month and I am just now getting back into form after blowing my knee out so I really can't report on much. what I can give you so far is that the board floats and paddles better than I expected, really picks up waves fairly easily given the shortboard outline it has. Havn't taken it out in anything under head high yet so cant report on its grovel ability.
I am frothing out again though, and being almost fully healed am starting to surf more so expect an in detailed report on the various aspects of the board at some point in the near future.

Hey Chito
Thanks Man, great to hear!
One thing I'm interested to know with the razor is how it feels and performs with that sharp cut off coffin tail. That tail shape suggests it would be pretty loose and not hold as good when it gets a bit bigger..? Seems from loads of reviews it still goes great when it gets bigger though, I think it was Chris who said the hellfire would handle bigger waves better due to its tail shape amongst other things...

I reckon the Razor's tail looks ugly.

I thought it looked better with the diamond tail.

hey wil, re comparison of the alt ff mb and hf...the first three are in one category in ascending order of required input from the rider...the hf is in a world of its own and if you are good enough to ride it small, then you will ride it in everything..(except slabs..although it can do it)...it feels "slightly hybrid" when you first jump off normal boards but quickly feels normal itself...only better....now you find yourself powering through moves you normally blow on a normal board that's held back by the laws of hydro-dynamics....its that good...cant wait to spend time on the razor....

the others all ride as conventional boards with the alt being the most approachable..it and the MB generally should be ridden a notch shorter than your flexfire..(assuming your ff or normal board is the right length)...the rockers ramp up from alt to ff to mb so choose the one closest to your normal preferences...

an anomaly here is the 6'2x18 3/4x 2 1/2 flexfire....its a one board quiver for anyone who rides similar dimensions..(any bigger rider like me on 6'0-6'4 could look at it)...this is the one i snapped (after a year of multiple dry slab bails per day)...it will be replaced...thats the other good thing with firewire...you can accurately replace a board....i'm enjoying changing it up with the new designs and drawing new lines on a wave, but if i were trying to surf competitively week in week out..(which i'm not...i'm an ageing kook)...i would exclusively ride this 6'2 ff....when in form (rarely), it would surf comp style in 2 foot crap up to macking ledges...same futures jc hex fins in everything....lighter/smaller guys will get this magic from the smaller versions of the standard flexfire.....

here 'tis...a moments silence please...the situations this got itself into...the places it took me....
Attachment

ha...BTW guys, i'm definitely NOT one of those freak chargers..!!... that's why i regularly throw my boards down the mine as i scream for my mummy in the fetal position whilst waiting for the impact..!!!...and to be honest, i now seek out nice trestles style waves...or at least clean takeoffs before they get serious....i'm finding over the last couple of years i've gone really soft and dont like adrenaline rushes anymore...but dont worry guys....i'm not gunna ride mals yet...

Hahaha

Nice one Core!
Iv actually got the chance of picking up a fairly cheap 5'10 hellfire so I think I might do that. Will have the 5'8 spit, 5'10 hf and 6'3 flex fire then. I think that will have me covered for a lot of stuff. Hope there isn't much overlap with the spit and hf, I don't really have £550 to spend on a new razor and I doubt many will be for sale secondhand anytime soon.

chito,
wish it was at least head high here for the last month. maybe i should go there in the springs.

I also wish it was head high here everyday for the last month. Haven't had a good swell in what feels like ages!