are tactics shop boards any good? Does anybody have experience with them? they are usually cheaper than brand-name decks so I was wondering.
Tactics are 100% BBS / Generator, so for those who like them, it is always good quality and something I can rely on (given I like the wood, concave, life of the boards), but if you are not so much a fan of BBS concave or shapes or whatever, then there are other shop boards on other woodshops that might be a better preference.
I never presume to know what anyone specifically likes, or to tell them what they should or should not like, but the list of BBS brands is extensive to say the least and many people like them.
As far as how much boards cost, with anything that is a company big or small, you are paying for someone to have a brand, a team, a marketing and promo budget, supporting skateboarders, etc.
If you just want the cheapest deck you can find, all good and well, go with a blank or shop board, but if you are stoked on someone or whatever, that is usually when people who can afford it will pay more for what might be almost the same deck, or out of the same woodshop, with some pretty paint that is going to cost a lot more.
Again the choice is yours, but this is another regular conversation in skate shops that some people may not be quite so aware of.
Sorry if that sounded preachy - didn't mean it to be.