B&M vs Intamin

[Satchboogie3]

I go by ratings. If you look at the top 10 ranked roller coasters of 2009 (Mitch Hawker) in BOTH wood and steel, 10 of those 20 roller coasters are Intamins. Intamin had 5 in the top 10 Steel (B&M was next with 4), and 5 in the top 10 wood. No other company has both a Top 20 wood and Top 20 steel roller coaster. The fact that Intamin now produces better wooden coasters than all of the companies that ONLY make wooden coasters (many of which have been around for a long long time) is amazing.

 

Sure, B&M have more roller coasters and many different types, but I go with quality over quantity. I also go by my favorites of each category, where, again, intamin wins. (steel: "Superman: Ride of Steel", Wood: "El Toro", Hyper: "SROS", Launched: "TTD", Looper: "Storm Runner", Inverted: "Alpengeist", Floorless: "Dominator", etc. I also believe floorless, flyers, dive machines, etc are just gimics. I'll take a good sitdown/hyper over any of them.

[chauncey]

I go by ratings. If you look at the top 10 ranked roller coasters of 2009 (Mitch Hawker) in BOTH wood and steel, 10 of those 20 roller coasters are Intamins. Intamin had 5 in the top 10 Steel (B&M was next with 4), and 5 in the top 10 wood. No other company has both a Top 20 wood and Top 20 steel roller coaster. The fact that Intamin now produces better wooden coasters than all of the companies that ONLY make wooden coasters (many of which have been around for a long long time) is amazing.

well, i kind of have a problem with that — you seem to be trying to use the Mitch Hawker as authoritative “proof” that B&Ms are somehow “better” than Intamins, which is, of course, ridiculous! at the most all you can say is that more people who took that particular poll think that Intamin is better than B&M, and isn't this topic supposed to be about what you think? but, then again, how else could you ever really “settle” this issue? i guess you can't, and i guess that's also sort of the whole fun of debating it!

 

of course, i can't really debate it, since i've never actually been on an Intamin rollercoaster (because i'm from Florida, and i'm broke!), but i will say this much: whenever a new Intamin ride comes out, i'm always excited to see what they've come up with this time — whenever a new B&M ride comes out, i honestly just don't care! B&M was once my favorite coaster manufacturer, but the couple of relatively “recent” B&Ms i've had a chance to ride were really dissapointing, and their layouts are so predictable that it's becoming pathetic! Intamin, though, at least seems to try and do different things, and while not everything they do looks all that impressive to me, there's enough that does to make me feel genuinely kind of awful about never having had a chance to ride one!

[DeMickeys]

I voted in this thread a long time ago, when I hadn't ridden any Intamins. What an idiot!

 

Well now (surprise surprise) my choice has changed. I now like Intamin more at the moment, although this might change when I go to Alton Towers.

 

I didn't say I haven't been on any intamin coasters, just not TTD and Fahrenheit. (And I can't imagine you have, living in the UK, age 15!) I have been on goliath in Walibi world, kanonen in liseberg and stealth in TP. But those didn't tip the scale. So my earlier response in this topic wasn't that stupid "rollerboy"! I've probably been on more coasters than you, so a little more respect!

[rollerboy]

Dude, you have got the wrong end of the stick. I meant I'm an idiot for voting in the thread when I had not been on any Intamins. Not you. I'm sorry I didn't make myself clearer.

[DeMickeys]

Sorry but your response appeared to be addressed to me, my mistake.

[netdvn]

I've only been on B&M coasters so far (because there are three next to my house) so currently my opinion is biased towards B&M right now, but I'm dying to ride any kind of Intamin coaster.

 

Judging by the few coasters I've ridden...

Alpengeist - My current #1 coaster. The ride is fun & intense as well as highly underrated.

AC - My number 2 coaster. I think a theme needs to be added. Has some very good airtime in the back.

Griffon - My number 4 coaster. Fun coaster but feels gimmicky, I think Busch only built this coaster because Tampa got one. No theme or shade whatsoever

 

Hopefully I'll be able to visit KD or some other park this year and expand my coaster count.

[TYTL]

Intamin. B&M makes only a few types of roller coasters while Intamin produces next to everything. Hersheypark's Fahrenheit pushes me over to Intamin even more, though SFGAdv's Nitro pulls me back to B&M. El Toro breaks the tie, since I prefer wood over steel.

 

Oh crud. I forgot about Great Bear, but then again, Fahrenheit is a wild animal while Great Bear is more like a Tuna. Fast, but predictable.

[Bolliger&Mabillard]

B&M makes only a few types of roller coasters while Intamin produces next to everything.

 

This is exactly why you can't really compare the two head to head. They may be the top two coaster manufacturers, but they don't really make similar specific products. Why would you compare a rocket coaster to a flyer? Or an Invert to a to an LSM coaster?

[Montupoopc]

Dive Machines, Floorless, and Flyers being gimmicks? That idea to me is absolutely foreign. Dive Machines and Flyers especially; they're a kind of experience that can' t really be recreated, and make for some amazing rides.

[stricklandCC]

Satchboogie3 wrote:

I go by ratings. If you look at the top 10 ranked roller coasters of 2009 (Mitch Hawker) in BOTH wood and steel, 10 of those 20 roller coasters are Intamins. Intamin had 5 in the top 10 Steel (B&M was next with 4), and 5 in the top 10 wood. No other company has both a Top 20 wood and Top 20 steel roller coaster. The fact that Intamin now produces better wooden coasters than all of the companies that ONLY make wooden coasters (many of which have been around for a long long time) is amazing.

 

 

 

well, i kind of have a problem with that — you seem to be trying to use the Mitch Hawker as authoritative “proof” that B&Ms are somehow “better” than Intamins, which is, of course, ridiculous! at the most all you can say is that more people who took that particular poll think that Intamin is better than B&M, and isn't this topic supposed to be about what you think? but, then again, how else could you ever really “settle” this issue? i guess you can't, and i guess that's also sort of the whole fun of debating it!

 

of course, i can't really debate it, since i've never actually been on an Intamin rollercoaster (because i'm from Florida, and i'm broke!), but i will say this much: whenever a new Intamin ride comes out, i'm always excited to see what they've come up with this time — whenever a new B&M ride comes out, i honestly just don't care! B&M was once my favorite coaster manufacturer, but the couple of relatively “recent” B&Ms i've had a chance to ride were really dissapointing, and their layouts are so predictable that it's becoming pathetic! Intamin, though, at least seems to try and do different things, and while not everything they do looks all that impressive to me, there's enough that does to make me feel genuinely kind of awful about never having had a chance to ride one!!!

 

WHAT???^^^

Chauncey, your response makes no sense at all. Re-read it...you are not only mis-interpreting satchboogie3's post...you are you marking scratchboogie3's opinion as un-warranted. you clearly contradict yourself.

You state:

....... “proof” that B&Ms are somehow “better” than Intamins, which is, of course, ridiculous..."

You also say,

"...since i've never actually been on an Intamin rollercoaster........"

"...whenever a new Intamin ride comes out, i'm always excited to see what they've come up with this time — whenever a new B&M ride comes out, i honestly just don't care! B&M was once my favorite coaster manufacturer, but the couple of relatively “recent” B&Ms i've had a chance to ride were really disappointing, and their layouts are so predictable that it's becoming pathetic!

Explain...

Seems to me, but Sacthbogie3 was clearly voting for Intamin.[/u]

[netdvn]

Dive Machines, Floorless, and Flyers being gimmicks? That idea to me is absolutely foreign. Dive Machines and Flyers especially; they're a kind of experience that can' t really be recreated, and make for some amazing rides.

 

Both DM's and Floorless coasters are basically modifications of the sitdown coaster. For a floorless coaster, all you have to do is remove the floor on a sitdown coaster, which is very easy to recreate. The Dive Machine is a sitdown coaster with a vertical drop and a larger train. Also, with coasters like the El Loco model, Eurofighters, and the certain Intamin coasters with beyond 90 degree drops, and the numerous non-B&M vertical drop coasters, the gimmick seems to be lost.

 

I don't see the flyers as very gimmicky...

[Satchboogie3]

I do think that B&M flyers, Dive Machine's, and Floorless, and standup coasters to be gimmicky. I've never really felt any difference between a floorless and regular coaster, it's the same thing. Standup's are just a bad idea, it's just more comfortable and enjoyable sitting down.

 

For Flyers, I'll admit that I've only been on the Superman: Ultimate Ride layouts and Vekoma's models, but I didn't like them. They are just too boring. Yes, the pretzel element is cool and the loops on the vekoma are nice and forceful, but the rest of the ride is just boring and almost forceless. For me, it's all about forces. A forceless roller coaster is a worthless roller coaster, to me.

 

Also, I pointed out the Mitch Hawker ratings to show what other enthusiasts think.

 

I still love B&M, but they really haven't gone anywhere all that intense in the last 10 years. B&M seems to just crank out their same old "floater" air hypers and inverts while Intamin is building them taller, faster, and more intense. Again, I really don't care for Flyers and Dive Machines just seems like a floorless with a vertical drop.

 

To sum up my feelings, I just want insane ejector air and bone crushing +gs. You simply can't get that on a B&M.

[Bolliger&Mabillard]

^Maybe B&M should just go back to building Batman clones...

[atem122]

IMO (Brace yourself) B&M's just really bore me, I've been on all of them at sfmm (we have many types of B&Ms there) and I must say that almost none of them can give me a memorable ride. Tatsu's pretzel loop is the only element on a B&M coaster at sfmm that really thrills me, the rest just seems like a mass of decently forceful inversions. That said, I really don't have much experience with either company (I've only been on one REAL Intamin), but judging by how Intamins are always the better rated and liked rides, and how they're always coming up with crazier and more revolutionary layouts, I 100% go with them. B&M just plays it way too safe in my opinion, Diamondback is pretty much just Behemoth with a splash down, it has no surprises along the way. Intamins on the other hand are always filled with lightning fast transitions, random ejector hills, and just an all out great pace. Sure both companies are gonna have their duds, I personally don't think too highly of Time Machine or the bad RoS's (even though I havent been near either of them), but Intamins always seem to have the better successes. The one bad thing about living in So Cal is that we have 1 decent Intamin down here (California Screamin', Superman can die for all I care). So as stated about 50 times, Intamin is my choice

[DBru]

^How about Xcelerator at Knott's?

[atem122]

^forgot about that one, I dont have that credit yet, last time I went I was too scared and didn't know about credits so I didnt have the urgency to ride it

[netdvn]

Let's keep in mind B&M is a conservative coaster company. If you look at most of their designs, they take the basic sitdown concept and take it a step further or take their concepts from other companies

 

Look at their original concepts...

Floorless - Sitdown without a floor

Dive Machine - Sitdown with a vertical drop

Stand-up - Innovated by Arrow/TOGO/Intamin before B&M had the concept

Invert - their only innovative design, but based off the suspended concept

Flying - Taken from Vekoma

Hyper - Innovated by Arrow/Morgan before B&M

 

So B&M doesn't really like to innovate or push the envelope as much as Intamin on other companies do. That's why all their designs are similar and most feel forceless. That's also why their coasters are more reliable and safer than most...

[Bolliger&Mabillard]

MM has to decent B&M's in Batman and Riddler's Revenge, one mediorce in Tatsu, and a dud in Scream. It has no Intamin worth aknowledgement. Knott's has a B&M so tame it wouldn't wake a sleeping baby Jesus riding in row 8. I don't think the So Cal selection is enough to form an opinion on either company. I still don't think that you can really compare them head-to-head. I mean Intamin will make you anything you are willing to pay for, regardless of whether it will work or not. B&M will offer you an expensive but reliable and intimidating looking ride. If you want to say who makes the better hyper coaster, you've got yourself an argument there. However, who's to say that Intamin would make a flyer any different than B&M?, or that a B&M hydraulic launched coaster wouldn't be as intense as Xcelerator? This is best suited as who makes the better ride type. And in that, wht do you consider best? Intamin is a very innovative company, but when they are innovative, they throw reliability out the window. B&M's are all predictably the same, yet they provide thrills, reliability, and a smooth, re-ridable experience. If you want to make the arguement as to which is more intense, Well it depends. B&M's up until around 2001 or 2002 were designed by Werner Stengel, so many B&M's create similar forces to that of Intamin coasters. However, Intamin seems to work more with launches, which create the same force of a lift coaster, but does so at a faster pace, so agaiin its just whatever tickles your fancy. I (obviously) go with B&M, because the engineering and quality that go into each ride they build is a thing of beauty. But everyone's opinion will be different, for different reasons. Reasons that will differ on so many levels that you can't cover in such a general question.

[Movieguy]

A few years ago, I would have probably backed B&M, because of my positive experiences on Raptor, Mantis, Apollo's Chariot, and Alpengeist. Plus, back in those days, my only other experiences with steelies had been on Arrow and Vekoma rides... >.<

 

But right now, I think I have to pick Intamin, because they've really been going out there, taking chances, and trying lots of interesting new things with their coasters. I've already had good Intamin rides in the past on MF, Wicked Twister, and the Ride of Steel at Darien Lake, and I'm really looking forward to riding the two major Intamins at Hershey.

 

I still have a lot of respect for B&M for what they've done for the industry in the past. But today, in Hershey's case, Storm Runner and Farenheit look way more exciting and innovative than Great Bear. Plus, from what I hear about Balder, Intamin makes a hell of a woodie too. I don't think a coaster company has EVER mastered both kinds of track to the extent that Intamin has.

[atem122]

Even though I am a total Intamin Fanboy, I do have to say that Fahrenheit was just a huge knockoff of Gerstlauer's business plan, but from the POVs that I've seen, it does look much better than most if not all eurofighters to me

[Movieguy]

^ I can see why you'd think that. I don't really mind though, because Gerstlauer simply designed something that caught on. I think all the great coaster designers tend to borrow ideas from each other from time to time.

[atem122]

Haha B&M for example , but that is a good point, I guess the companies just go with whatever works, past vertical drops seem to be the big thing right now

[Allena.k.a.Alan]

B & M. Intamin has good coasters but it builds other rides too, so it might not completely focus on the coasters. B & M focuses only on coasters, that's why they have better quality.

[DBru]

^Intamin technically doesn't focus on other rides at all. Ride Trade does.

[larrygator]

^Intamin technically doesn't focus on other rides at all. Ride Trade does.

 

You realize that your comment makes no sense as Ride Trade is a division within Intamin.