Burton Hometown Hero Review
Our Verdict
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This Product
Burton Hometown Hero | |||||
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Awards | A User-Friendly ATV | Best Overall Women's Snowboard | Best Women's Snowboard for Carving | A Board Built for Play | |
Price | $669.95 at REI Compare at 2 sellers | $559.95 at Backcountry Compare at 2 sellers | $629.95 at Evo | $550 List $549.95 at Evo | $500 List $499.00 at REI |
Overall Score | |||||
Star Rating | |||||
Bottom Line | Your Hometown Hero for all your ripping needs, this board will not dissapoint in whatever conditions you bring it to | Your one stop shop for all terrain and conditions on the mountain | An all-mountain freestyle ripper that can take on any terrain or condition with ease | Look no further for a freestyle, all-mountain womens snowboard that has spectacular performance and tons of play in all types of terrain | A stiff and wide speed demon that may not be ideal for playing in the park |
Rating Categories | Burton Hometown Hero | Cardiff Lynx | Jones Stratos - Wom... | Yes HEL Yes | Weston Rise |
Edging (25%) | |||||
Float in Powder (20%) | |||||
Stability at Speed (20%) | |||||
Playfulness (20%) | |||||
Pop and Jumping (15%) | |||||
Specs | Burton Hometown Hero | Cardiff Lynx | Jones Stratos - Wom... | Yes HEL Yes | Weston Rise |
Shape | Freeride directional | Directional Twin | Tapered directional | Directional twin | Directional twin |
Camber/Rocker | Camber, rocker | Camber, rocker | Camber, rocker | Camber, rocker | Camber, rocker |
Flex | 6 | 6 | 5 | 7 | 6 |
Tested Length | 148 cm | 149 cm | 149 cm | 149 cm | 152 cm |
Measured Weight of Tested Length | 5lb 10oz | 5lb 8oz | 5lb 10oz | 5lb 8oz | 5lb 8oz |
Available Lengths | 144, 148, 152, 156, 160, 156w, 160w, 165w | 142, 146, 149, 152, 156, 159, 162 | 143, 146, 149, 152, 155 | 146, 149, 152, 155 | 143, 146, 149, 152 |
Core Material | Paulownia, beech, aspen | Poplar, paulownia | Paulownia, poplar | Poplar, paulownia, bamboo | Paulownia, poplar |
Waist Width | 24.4 | 25 | 24.3 | 24.1 | 25.2 |
Radius | 6.9 m | 7.3 m | 6.5 m | 6.9 m | 7.4 m |
Our Analysis and Test Results
Performance Comparison
This board is easy to figure out and a blast to ride in all types of terrain and conditions. Designed with your everyday rider in mind, the Hometown Hero is a truly fun snowboard that doesn't require expert abilities to figure out. Fun snowboarding made easy.
Edging
Playful to carve and easy to maneuver, the Burton Hometown Hero was an impressive snowboard when brought on edge. Designed with directional camber that is placed beneath the feet, it offers stability through deep carves, while rocker in the nose adds extra lift for increased float.
Burton is a household name in the snowboard industry, so it was no surprise that the Burton Hometown Hero would be easy and fun to quickly figure out. This board seamlessly transitions from edge to edge and allows for easy progression on carving skills.
Float in Powder
A freeride directional shape makes the Burton Hometown Hero a champ when facing off with deep powder. This shape features a setback camber and a centered sidecut that creates a longer nose and taper with a shorter tail, offering tight turns when on edge with the float of a directional board when flat-based.
Rated at a medium flex, our testers found the Hometown Hero to keep up in powder riding, but it wouldn't be our first choice on the deepest day in comparison to other boards that were tested.
The rocker in the nose does provide that extra float, allowing the board to do the work for you when cruising through deep powder. The freeride directional shape creates a shorter tail with a tapered nose, naturally providing powder float simply from the shape of the snowboard.
Stability at Speed
When taken to top speeds, the Hometown Hero kept up with minimal chatter. The directional shape and setback stance lifted the nose just enough to cruise through all sorts of terrain while still feeling stable and grounded underfoot.
Burton knows how to make a good snowboard, and this was apparent when ripping the Hometown Hero at top speeds. The board felt stable and capable of taking on top speeds with ease.
Playfulness
The Burton Hometown Hero received the highest score in the category of playfulness by a landslide. This board is a heck of a good time, and we found ourselves with big smiles and frothing for one more run on this thing at the bottom of every run. What makes this board so playful is its buttery flex, its responsiveness, and jibbing capabilities.
Poppy and easily maneuverable, the Hometown Hero feels like it was made to play. From side hits off the groomers to booters in the park, this board was a blast to jump off of things with. Burton's shaping of this board is made to play. One of its design features is ProTip, with a tapered tip and tail to reduce swing weight and promote easier mobility.
Pop and Jumping
The playfulness of the Hometown Hero segues nicely into our next testing metric, popping and jumping, which it also thrived in.
The Burton Hometown Hero proved to be one of the most playful boards in our testing lineup. This thing wants to be airborne and popping off of any little side-hit you can find. It has a twin flex, which makes riding switch and jibbing extra fun.
Should You Buy the Burton Hometown Hero?
It was hard for us to find flaws with the Burton Hometown Hero, as we could see just about all boarders of any ability having a good time on this board. It felt easy to understand and maneuver, performed well in all test categories, and is a reliable option for just about anyone to add to their quiver. As noted in the powder section, we do feel there are better options if you are looking for a powder-specific board or a big mountain charger to complete your board lineup.
What Other Snowboard Should You Consider?
If you're looking more for a powder-specific board or a big mountain charger, then the Jones Stratos is an all-mountain assassin that is hard to beat for most snow types and terrain. If you want a board that's substantially more playful but still holds its own on jumps and in powder, you can't go wrong with the Yes Hel Yes. Finally, our hands-down favorite for deep powder is the Cardiff Lynx.