B&M vs. Intamin

[Casio]

I think a good stance is thinking about what your first reaction would be to hearing news of a new ride from either company. If I heard a park was building a B&M, I'd be thrilled. Whatever it's going to be, it'll be good. Sure it might be a slightly disappointing model or uninteresting layout, but it'll be a worthy addition. If I heard a park was building an Intamin, I wouldn't necessarily be thrilled. It could be a woodie or a mega, but it also could be a mutlilooper, a freefall, an impulse, a halfpipe or a zacspin which are all a bit lacklustre next to B&Ms.

So, yeah, Intamin have the very best of the best, but B&Ms consistency is what gives them the edge.

 

[bentcookie]

B&M, mainly for their reliability. I mean if I am going to a park for a certain ride, investing lots of time and money; I want to actually be able to ride the dang coaster. There has been so many times where I have been to CP when I have not been able to ride TTD or Maverick due to them being "broken down" all day. With B&M, I have no worries because I know the coaster will most always be operating.

 

[furie]

Intamin, because B&M makes super fun rides, but they all have similar layouts. Intamin roller coasters are almost always unique and thrilling.

You do realize that that is something the park decides, right? They're not gonna call up a company and say "build us something" and just settle with whatever they get.

Actually, the park will give a rough specification, budget and area to work with and then negotiate with the coaster manufacturer to come up with a solution.

I'll bet that there are plans at Intamin right now for a proposed coaster at Kings Island called Banshee. I'll bet it's something similar to Skyrush too as that's the kind of coaster Intamin are pushing and it's their current competing product to the B&M Wing Riders.

The designs though would have been pushed by the manufacturers and then the park picks the one which they feel suits their needs best. It may be KI and CF love the reliability of B&M, it may be they felt that an Invert just fitted better. It may even be they rode Skyrush and hated it.

There are hundreds of reasons for the end decision, but the design comes around based on quite a loose discussion from the park as to what criteria the ride must meet, then the manufacturers design to fit. John Wardley doesn't design the coasters, he works with the manufacturer's designers to produce the coaster he wants. He's one of the few very hands on park staff (or was before he retired) to deal so closely with the manufacturer. Most of the time, it's just "there you go, come back with something for us to work with".

 

[PeskyTrimBrake]

 

[Hobbes]

This is a pretty tough call for me. My two favorite rides, MForce and Toro are both Intamin. However, I have six B&Ms in the rest of my top ten. I pretty much agree with what everyone else is saying, that Intamin is very hit and miss, while B&M are consistently good or great, but never mid-blowing awesome. I think I give the edge to B&M, just because I've been on very few quality Intamin rides.

 

[ultradude306]

I'd have to say that I like older B&Ms and newer intamins... I hope to god B&M starts building more intense rides again like they did 20-10 years ago... If not, although Intamin may not be able to beat them due to their somewhat poor reliabilaty, once RMC starts to build steel coasters, they won't have a chance, as RMC seems to combine the best of the two companies. Thry push the limits, and have sone wicked crazy intense moments on their rides, yet they still try to keep the coasters rideable.

 

[Hyde]

^ Technically, RMC already builds steel coasters with their Iron Horse treatment.

 

[ECG]

B&M <3 but just look at my Top Ten and I have to go with Intamin.

 

[Smithy]

My top 10 has 4 B&M's (Shambhala, Khan, Nemesis, Swarm) and 0 Intamin's. Pretty much answers it, though I'm not much of a fan of accelerators.

 

[ThomVD]

I've only ridden two of both. Bob in Efteling, Goliath in Walibi, Silver Star and Black Mamba, but I prefer B&M so far. Super comfortable trains, very smooth, re-ridable and it just feels so modern and sleek. And their safety record is helping me a bit deal with convincing my girlfriend to go on coasters, because she's always scared of accidents.

 

[TilenB]

Looking at my top 10 there are 5 B&Ms (Katun, Nemesis, Tatsu, Kumba, Air) and only one Intamin (iSpeed), so it's kind of an easy choice for me. On the other hand, I haven't really ridden much of Intamin's finest coaster. Apart from iSpeed there are just a family water coaster (DiVertical), another family ride (Th13teen), dull accelerator (Rita), painful looper (Indiana Jones) and pointless launcher (Superman Escape from Krypton).
So, for now, B&M wins it, but that may change at some point in the future.

 

[Hutch]

Both are great, but in my opinion I like Intamin more. My top 3 steel coasters are all made by Intamin!

But really, B&M's probably the better company, as it has more variety, reliability, comfort, smoothness, and more coasters than Intamin. Intamin is kind of all out go big or go home, with, as others have already said, many amazing rides, but some bad ones.

 

[CoburnJason54]

Intamin. They make some of the best coasters in the country. (El Toro, Bizarro, Maverick, Skyrush, Storm Runner, Dragster, Wicked Twister) B&M has some great rides, but I prefer the intensity of intamin. B&M's tend to be less aggressive. B&M's can be more comfortable sometimes but can be as head beating as some intamins. B&M's may break down less, but I still like intamin better.

 

[CedarPoint27]

intamin by far in my opinion just because of all the amazing coasters they have produced but that dosent mean i dont like b&m they produce some epic coasters as well but not as good as intamin