Hyperlite kruz or humanoid oracle???

Hi guys,

Im pretty new to WW and this would be my first post. I'm looking for a new wakeboard for next summer. I think I've narrowed it down to 2 choices but can't decide between the two of them. I'm in Montana where it's about zero degrees and the lake is frozen now, plus none of the local shops have a very big selection and don't carry many brands so trying to demo a board is not an option. The only thing I can really do is search online and get advice from others. I was pretty sold on the hyperlite kruz 144 until I started hearing more about the humanoid boards and thought the oracle 143 might be a good board for me. I'm mostly interested in these two boards and would really like to hear reviews from anyone who has ridden one or both of these boards. I'm sure there are other boards that would work too so I'm open to suggestions as well.

Im about 5'10 and 180 pounds. I'd say I'm probably an intermediate to advanced rider. I can do all my 180s on both sides of the wake. I am confortable jumping and clearing the wake toe side. I have gotten pretty good at landing back rolls and tantrums consistently but I'm still struggling with my 360s. I've landed a few but can never seem to get the handle pass down so I'd like to get better at those.

I'm currently riding a hyperlite baseline 136 which I feel is too small for me. I like the consistent and smooth feel of the board but it just doesn't have the pop I'm looking for and the landings could be a little softer too which probably has a lot to do with the size of the board. Before that I had a liquid force S4 138 and I really liked the amount of pop that board had and the landings felt ok. It was a little loose but that never really bothered me. Overall it was a great board and I really enjoyed riding it. I had a chance to try out some of my buddies boards over the summer and got me thinking I might like something different and probably a bit longer. First I tried out a hyperlite Murray 150 and that board was awesome! It had tons of pop but was still very predictable and landings felt about the same as my board only I was getting twice as much air. Toe side jumps and 180s felt way easier too and I just felt better balanced and more solid on the board. I was able to ride with a rope 5ft longer and was still landing in the flats a lot. I could still land all my tricks on it but it did fell a bit heavy when doing inverts which took a bit to get used to. I'm sure if I had the next size down it would have solved this. Then I tried my other friends hyperlite franchise 142 and it was a good riding board. Not quite as much pop as I had with the big Murray board but still enough to have some fun with and it felt very smooth and easy to ride. I think the size was just about right for me too because it never felt too heavy and I could still throw it around without much effort. Plus the landings felt nice and soft which I liked.

I'd like to get a board with a lot of pop since I like going big and having more time in the air to do my tricks but still want something that lands soft so I can keep my knees healthy for many years to come. I like the feel of the continuous or subtle 3 stage rocker for the little bit of extra pop but still want something that's predictable and not going to kill me if I get my timing a little bit off. I'd say I'm probably about 50/50 between going wake to wake and landing out in the flats depending on my mood that day. I want something that is fast and smooth and I can get a lot of air with and still have somewhat of a soft landing but also something I can progress on and learn some new tricks with. I'm also looking for something lightweight which is what got me interested in these two boards. I feel like have something a little lighter would allow me to ride a longer board without losing any benefits of the shorter board that I've been riding. Also, is there really much advantage by going with the nova core vs the bio core on the hyperlite? I know they say the nova is lighter and snappier which sounds like a good thing but is there really that much difference between the two?

Thanks in advance for all your great advice.