Kilter board beneficial over bouldering?

I’m mostly a trad climber and boulder around V3. Today, a friend was trying to convince me that if I used the kilter board instead of the gym bouldering, I would build finger strength and overall strength faster. I feel like my gym has various walls of different angles and have really good setters who set interesting and fun problems. I boulder 1-3 times a week for times I only have about an hour after work mostly for fun and utilize longer gym sessions for more regimented training. Would someone like me benefit from adding a kilter board to my gym time?  

Absolutely.  Great for finger strength and core tension.  The grades are all over the place, so don’t get discouraged. 

Boards have a much more basic style, left-right-left-right-jump-finish on uniform holds. The limiting factor in sending a board climb is almost always strength related, whether finger or body. Gym sets vary, and while they do have basic, board style problems mixed in, many climbs are technically or sequentially challenging, even in steep terrain. While these climbs have strength requirements, finding the right beta is more limiting. The techy climbs will make you a smarter climber, the board climbs will make you a stronger climber. It all depends on what's holding you back, if you don't feel limited by strength, don't bother, but if you get shut down on powerful movement it might be worth spending some time on a board. That being said, if you choose to go for it, you probably shouldn't go all in. Maybe replace one session a week or spend half of two of your sessions to ease into the board and avoid injury. 

Kilter board IS bouldering. On simplified terrain. If you use it at steep angles, you’ll absolutely get stronger, and more powerful. I don’t think it would do much for finger strength specifically, the holds you are using at steep angles on easy problems are just jugs.

I would say, add it in as one session per week, maybe, and see for yourself. I find it better than steep bouldering on gym terrain for SOME things, mostly the availability of problems in any specific grade, right at your fingertips, and the fact that you can go back to problems you are working in, time and time again, without being at the mercy of setters.  Your gym might only have one v3 on a 40 degree wall st one time. On kilter you can do as many of them as your time, skin, and body allows. 

You'll progress on the gym set and/or the kilter board.  Do what you like, maybe a mix of both.

Board climbing definitely improved my finger strength, among other things. Try doing one session every week or two and see if there’s a difference after a couple of months. Just be sure to warm up well on normal gym problems, ramp up the difficulty gradually, take longer rests between attempts (like 3-5 mins) and end your session as soon as your power starts to dip or something feels tweaky — and don’t overdo the frequency of the sessions, as they’re usually much more intense on fingers and shoulders. 

I am mostly a rope climber, and I use the Kilter in a way that maybe most do not, in trying to flash problems from slightly below to slightly beyond my limit, which is about V3 on the Kilter at 30 degrees.  I will set the filter for routes V2-V4 and try to climb routes in one go, and move onto the next with minimal rest in about 10min blocks, then rest about 5-6minutes and repeat until I feel like I'm climbing at maybe 75% ability, usually about 1-1.5hrs.  I do this every couple of weeks, and I do think it helps my finger and core strength, though I'm not sure I could quantify it.  I will vary the angle a bit, but don't really ever go beyond 40 or below 20.  Obviously route reading is fairly straightforward, but I think this sort of training helps with executing crux movement on routes while maintaining a slight pump.