What snowboard(length,width,brand.....

yeah thats about right you should get a burton or a ride snowboard.

i agree with the instructor, i think that a board that comes up to or just below your chin is the best place to start. keep in mind that this isn't the ONLY board size for you. as you gain experience, you might want to go longer or shorter. then you'll also get into how rigid or flexible, how wide, your weight, etc- it depends on what you and what you want to do . keeping all that in mind that as you gain experience you might want to change out your board in the future. which leads me to my point of my answer; you don't need to break the bank to have a good snowboard. or bindings and boots for that matter- if you're just getting into the sport, then go economy (not cheap- as in cheap materials). here's a site that i like to refer folks to: http://www.boardreviews.com/ you don't have to have the top selling, name brand, like burton, for example, to have a nice board. use this as a guide and check out your local shops, ebay, and craigslist. also, last years models are still good and used isn't always a bad thing when coming into trying to learn the sport to decide if you like it or not. now use common sense; don't buy something that looks really beat up. and stay away from your wal marts and other discount stores- those are crap and most of the time they don't have metal edges. oh and take a lesson- it's worth the cost!

AWESOME TO HEAR YOUR GOING TO START SNOWBOARDING.. I am a snowboard instructor, and for a beginer i would suggest getting a board that is shorter than your chin, maybe around your atoms apple. The shorter your deck the eaiser it will be to learn. Im not saying get something crazy short but around the neck area is good. A GREAT PLACE to look for snowboards is CCS they have good deals on Deck and binding combos for pretty check. Or thehousesnowboarding.com has boot binding and deck combos. If you get everything seperate then you will pay alot. HOPE THIS HELPS SEE YOU ON THE SLOPES