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Over the past 8 years, we've tested more than 100 of the best snowboards side by side. This updated review compares 8 different contenders, highlighting their abilities and characters. Our expert testers have spent countless hours turning, jumping, straight-lining, buttering, and riding powder across the western United States to illustrate the distinctions between each model. We then convey our findings through a series of performance metrics. Our metrics are based on what influences your quality of experience the most, like floatation, stability, pop, and edging. The goal of our effort is to help enhance your snowboarding experience by providing product recommendations in this specific and user-friendly resource.
Editor's Note: On November 3, 2024, We tested a selection of 8 of the most promising boards that just hit the shelves for the 2024-25 season.
The YES Standard Uninc DC snowboard excels in versatility and fun, which helped it claim our top prize. It offers a balanced performance across various terrain and conditions, from carving groomers to gliding through powder. The board's directional volume twin design provides the playfulness of a twin on groomers and jumps, while its wider profile and strategically designed nose enhance float in the powder. The MidBite technology and core construction deliver excellent edge hold and responsiveness, making it ideal for riders who appreciate precision and energy in their turns. The board does very well at speed as the moderately damp construction and camber profile absorb chatter and ensure control across uneven surfaces. The flex pattern wowed our test team; it has a lively and dynamic feel that gives a playful yet capable ride across the mountain.
The Yes Standard Uninc DC is capable, reliable, and fun; it left us with large smiles. We have very few complaints about this model. When you purchase, consult the Yes size chart to ensure your boot and weight fit the desired size. You want to find the smallest waist width that can support your boot and weight without being too wide, making for a slightly slower turn initiation. The directional volume twin shape has many pros and a few compromises, one of which is stability when traveling over medium-sized bumps with speed, as the nose length and stiffness rely on more feedback and force on your body rather than blasting through and over easily. Ultimately, we recommend it to advanced and expert riders looking for a versatile daily driver with a playful feel who can accommodate different riding styles with small sacrifices to stability. If you are looking for a board to blast through chop after stomping a backside 360 of a cliff, check out the Arbor Candle Rain, which features a stiff profile and stable platform.
The Cardiff Goat was going to join the leader pack of our list and didn't need our permission to do so. It delivers a dynamic and plush feel that balances fun and performance. In our tests, it provides edge hold in the firm to icy snow while providing a fluid, engaging, and powerful experience with a poplar and paulownia core. The Goat floats well in powder with its 11mm taper and it easily planes across medium to steep slope angles. The cambered medium flex and semi-damp ride is stable, allowing for big swooping turns and a smoother ride in uneven snow. The board's playful nature shows its ability to butter and spin effortlessly. At the same time, its pop and jumping capabilities are enhanced by a user-friendly design that accommodates intermediate to advanced riders.
The main challenge for the Goat is its ability to make carvings with short radius turns. The 162 we rode had a sidecut of 10m, and you could feel its reluctance to make short radius turns. After about half a run, we started dialing it in, but it took moderate effort to get the turns around. Fortunately, it remains more agile and easier to make the turns than other boards of similar sidecuts due to the medium flex pattern. Overall, the Goat is for those riders who want a capable freeride board that doesn't feel like an edgy plank but a fun, reliable ride. If making tight banking turns is your riding style, look at the Jones Stratos that will have you swooping from side to side.
The Jones Stratos is one of the test team's favorite models the company has produced. Its alternative freeride shape is a departure from a classic all-mountain ride, which enhances its versatility. The medium-length sidecut with Traction Tech makes for tight fluid turns that can leave trenches in firm snow. The 3D Contour Base makes for smooth edge-to-edge transitions and a catch-free ride despite having a healthy dose of camber. The camber creates a generally stiff profile tip to the tail for impressive pop, stability, and powerful turns. The model did everything better than your average mountain board, and our tester was happy to ride this board on any day and in any condition.
Although the Stratos is incredibly fun and capable, an intermediate rider may struggle to ride this board to its potential. The stiffness and powerful yet edge experience require some technique and commitment to pilot and derive the benefits. Some riders may struggle to showcase their best riding due to the level of refinement required to capitalize on some of its performance capabilities. The Jones Stratos is great for advanced to expert riders looking to ditch the classic all-mountain shape without sacrificing versatility for tight carving turns and powder slashes. If you want a capable, playful, and user-friendly model to progress your skills on, check out the Never Summer Proto FR.
The Never Summer Proto FR is a board you are unlikely to outgrow as you progress in snowboarding and freeriding. We appreciated that the skill level required to unlock the potential of this board is significantly lower than other models. That means intermediates will likely have more fun and progress faster; throughout that progression, the model's capabilities will continue to serve your growing demands. The triple camber profile and vario side cut give excellent edge hold in the firm to icy snow, while a very damp ride is stable at speed and absorbs chatter among the best of them. Whether carving groomers or hitting jumps, we were consistently impressed by this model's user-friendly and high-performance ride.
The easy-to-ride Proto FR has a small learning curve from the triple camber profile with seven different transition points between the camber and the rocker. Advanced riders coming from a directional cambered board may notice a learning curve for this board. Determining where you want your weight on the board, which camber to engage, and when can take some time. Riders who make this transition must be patient for a day while they tune in to the ride. The learning curve isn't as big when you “grow up” on the board as you are tuning into it while developing your movement mechanisms and habits. The hybrid profiles are the brand's bread and butter, and one of the reasons there is so much loyalty to the brand is because the board rides hard when you want it to, but it can be as easy to ride a cruise. The Proto FR is a great board for those looking for an easy-to-ride, capable board as a daily driver; it particularly appeals to those who know they love the Never Summer ride or intermediates looking for a performance board to streamline their progression to that advanced level and beyond. If you want a board with a more traditional camber and all-mountain feel, check out the Burton High Fidelity with a stiff camber profile, easy turn initiation, and excellent powder float.
The Burton High Fidelity is built for speed and freeride-oriented powder. The board leverages design characteristics to improve stability and float from the nose with a smaller egg-shaped tail, reducing surface area to sink into the snow. Our test team avoided several seemingly inevitable tomahawks until the nose rose above the snow. The stiff directional flex pattern and high-quality base keep you riding fast, confidently, and stable. The narrow waist width makes for a quick, responsive in, hard pack and powder. It's a great powder-focused pick for those riding challenging terrain at the local resort.
The biggest tradeoff here is the narrow waist width may give most riders toe and heel drag. We rode the 158cm with a waist width of 25.0 cm and experienced toe drag even in a men's size eight boot. Toe and heel drag can dampen the carving experience as it's a limiting factor and challenging to manage. Be sure to evaluate your riding style and look at the size chart to see if you get consequential drag on your respective size. Also, think about your riding style; it may not be a big deal if you are not into making deep turns. This board is stiff and aggressive but best suited for expert riders in winter conditions. Intermediate and advanced riders are unlikely to tap into the board's potential. If you want a board for making deep carves, consider the Yes Standard Uninc DC as its wider waist width can eliminate toe and heel drag when properly sized.
The Candle Rain delivers impressive pop, float, and stability, all the attributes one hopes for when hitting cliffs and kickers. Riders will appreciate the solid landing platform and ability to make micro-adjustments to their approach, which will inspire confidence for bigger jumps and tricks. The Candle Rain's construction ensures a smooth, stable ride even at high speeds, making it perfect for confidently tackling challenging terrain.
While the Candle Rain excels in certain areas, it does have some limitations. Its stiff flex and medium-length sidecut contribute to its stability and speed but make it less playful and more difficult to carve, especially at low to medium speeds. It is a classic, old-school all-mountain board with modern construction: stiff, camber, mid-length sidecut, classic shape. This board is not ideal for intermediates, and advanced riders may find additional challenges. It's best suited for experienced mountain riders prioritizing airtime, speed, and stability to tackle challenging lines. If you are looking for a more forgiving ride, the Cardiff Goat could be a great option, as its traditional mountain shape provides lots of stability but in a more forgiving flex pattern.
One of our favorite tricks on a favorite board for its pop and stability when the landing gear goes down.
Credit: Ben Wynn
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Our lead tester has spent over 100 days on snow per season for the past decade.
Credit: Jake Pollock
How We Test Snowboards
To get our hands on next year's boards, we reached out to 20 of the most reputable brands in the industry. The brands you see in this review are the ones who chose to participate. We had them sell boards to us as if we were any other snowboard shop, sticking to our guns of no bias. For the brands that weren't able to charge us for boards that aren't for sale yet, we donated the total dollar amount the board are worth to the nonprofit organization of their choice. Never Summer, for instance, had us donate to the Morgan Adams Foundation which funds cancer research for children. Check out our how we test article to gain further insight into our process.
We tested snowboards using five rating metrics:
Edging (25% of overall score weighting)
Float in Powder (20% weighting)
Stability at Speed (20% weighting)
Playfulness (20% weighting)
Pop and Jumping (15% weighting)
Why Trust GearLab
Isaac Laredo has been snowboarding for well over a decade. Ever since he started, every waking winter moment was spent doing, thinking, or dreaming about snowboarding. Since moving to Lake Tahoe, he consistently rides over 120 days a season. As a passionate and dedicated rider, he prides himself on being a well-rounded snowboarder, from big mountain riding to the terrain park. He has ridden across the globe from deep powder in Japan to big lines in Alaska and 19,000-foot volcanos in the southern hemisphere. He strongly believes that snowboarding is a blast no matter what, but to take the experience to the next level, the rider must match the board to fit their goals, ability level, and terrain. His well-rounded background as an AMGA Certified Splitboard Guide, snowboard coach, adventure scientist, industry geek, and expert rider allows him to bring expertise in experimental design, movement mechanics, and board design/construction to conduct the best review possible.
The bases says it all, this board is pretty sick.
Ross Patton has been snowboarding for more than 25 years. He was practically raised on snow, with a chairlift mechanic dad and a mom who won Ski Patroller of the Year at Solitude in 1982. Ross has ridden hundreds of snowboards and with a degree in Environmental Science and a background in snowboard R&D, you can trust that he is not pulling punches when it comes to critique.
OutdoorGearLab snowboard tester evaluating the Arbor Carbon Coda on picture perfect dat in the Tahoe backcountry.
Credit: Ben Wynn
How to Pick the Best Snowboard for You
Here are four key buying considerations to help narrow down your snowboard selection. You'll want to consider factors like shape, size, and your riding style to find the right board. This summarizes our complete buying advice article.
Does Riding Style Matter?
Riding style is one of the biggest considerations as there are so many great snowboards on the market; it comes down to which board best fits your riding style. Depending on the terrain and your skill level, snowboards come designed to meet the needs of various riders. Some riders spend their time across the mountain and prefer a board capable of all-mountain riding. Others tend to spend their days chasing powder and are looking for powder-specific snowboards. Regardless, it's wise to consider your skill level and desired riding style to narrow down on the right board. This will help dictate your snowboard's size, shape, and flex characteristics and help steer you in the right direction.
What About Shape?
Manufacturers have created a wide variety of different shapes over the years as a way to refine the riding experience. The three main shapes include directional, twin, and directional twin. A directional board typically sets the rider further back on the board and alters the sidecut and flex pattern to help initiate turns, plow through chunder, and float above the powder. A twin board is symmetrical across the board, including the tip and tail, to help ride switch, nose butter, and hit rails while in the park. A directional twin bridges the gap between the two by making tweaks in the nose and tail to improve riding in deeper snow while still giving the same symmetrical sidecut for riding switch, choosing the right shape ties into your preferred riding style and typical terrain selection.
Whether you want to carve, slash, or turn, finding the right board for the job makes it more fun.
Credit: Isaac Laredo
Is Rocker or Camber Best?
Both rocker and camber provide an advantage in their own respects. A cambered board helps initiate turns and maximize the responsiveness of your board by utilizing the contact points on your board. On the other hand, a rocker board is designed to gradually rise in the tip and tail to improve float and create a looser ride. Deciding on rocker or camber comes down to personal preference, and the type of riding you do. Someone chasing deep storm days will appreciate the extra floatation of a rockered board, while someone riding morning groomers will want a cambered board to carve down the mountain. Most boards feature a hybrid profile that will give the best of both worlds relative to the overall design intention of the board.
What About Size?
With the wide variety of shapes and sizes on the market, manufacturers will list the appropriate size guidelines for each board. This is a good place to start, but it's still a wise idea to narrow down the size to be specific to your proportions. Consider your weight, boot size, and gender, along with your height, as important considerations in finding the ideal range. For example, someone with a larger foot will want to keep note of board width and consider if their feet fit within the optimal range for that board. Keeping these considerations in mind will help make sure you find a board that works as intended.
Finding the right size board makes a world of difference in confident and comfortable riding.
Credit: Laredo
Analysis and Test Results
Imagine taking part in a blind taste test, tasting one percent and whole milk; easy peasy! Now, imagine that you're tasting milk ranging from 1.1 percent to 1.9 percent, and your job is to pick the best. That's harder. Each milk is so close in taste that, in the end, it just tastes like milk. See what we're getting at? But wait. What if one milk had a touch of chocolate in it? That would make things easier. We're here to help you determine which all-mountain board is your chocolate milk. Your friends' opinions might vary, and other factors might weigh in. But if you know what characteristics are important to you, we'll tell you the board that has them.
What's the Best Value?
Two things every snow enthusiast loves: free refills and good value. However, in the world of snowboards, the cost spread is narrow; generally, a couple of hundred dollars between the most affordable board and the most expensive. But generally speaking, boards are within 50 dollars of each other. The pricing difference depends on a few factors, such as materials, manufacturer location, and brand size. In our testing, cost didn't always correlate to better performance. Numerous boards were lower in cost and put up impressive and competitive scores. Generally, lower prices and higher performance scores indicate better value. The Weston Range represents a great value. The high-scoring Cardiff Goat is a rather pricey board, but it is far from unreasonable, given the average cost of performance snowboards. In this case, it presents a solid value based on the materials used, performance scores, and quality of this product.
Edging
Have you ever been on the lift and seen someone laying down a crisp edge in fresh cord and thought, "That was beautiful"? Fortunately, over the last ten years, snowboard design has progressed to accentuate the carving experience. Carving can be one of the most enjoyable parts of snowboarding, particularly since it can be done anywhere on the mountain.
The tester's heart is taken by the groomers of Palisades Tahoe.
Credit: Ryland West
In the quest for the best edging board, we looked for a model that rolled on edge easily, maintained good edge hold, and finished turns easily and powerfully. We tested every board in hardpack and pristine groomers to dunk heelside turns and surf toe side turns to find the standout models. Critical sub-components of edging include edge hold on firm snow, stability, ease of turn initiation, ease of edge disengagement, and the overall turning experience.
Edge hold on firm snow is attributed to a variety of design factors but largely the board's profile, edge disruption technology, stiffness, and sidecut radius. Manufacturers have utilized different edge styles to obtain better edge hold; Jones Traction Tech and Arbor's Griptech Pods are examples of this. The approach is different: Traction Tech features a wavy edge design, which increases the number of contact points along the snowboard's edge. This is found on the Jones Stratos. In contrast, the Griptech has three different unblended sidecut radii to create an additional contact point underfoot. This system is found on the Arbor Carbon Coda. Both boards offered excellent edge hold in firm to icy snow. However, we found the Griptech to be catchy. We caught our edge and slammed once, which hasn't happened to this tester in a while.
The Carbon Coda loves to make fast long turns and plows through chop.
Credit: Isaac Laredo
The Yes Standard Uninc DC provided incredible edge hold that could cut through ice. It uses one of our favorite edge disruption technologies called MidBite. MidBite narrows the snowboard's waist for quick edge transitions while maintaining wider tips for stability, enhancing maneuverability, and improving edge hold. In addition to edge hold, the indentation added power and precision to the turning experience. These additional contact points allow the board to bite into the snow more effectively, providing improved traction and stability, especially in challenging conditions.
The Yes Standard Uninc is one of our favorites for turning due to the twin-esq sidecut, width, and flex pattern.
Credit: Natalie Kafader
The Never Summer Proto FR also gave incredible grip on icy snow due to its triple camber profile and Vario sidecut that increases the number of contact points in the snow. Together, these technologies ensure that the snowboard maintains a strong edge grip by maximizing contact points and pressure distribution, providing a reliable and stable ride on firm snow.
Another factor that adds to the security and stability a board can provide on edge is the board's stiffness. The Burton High Fidelity and Weston Range are stiffer cambered boards that, when driven, would bite into firm snow to provide secure and crisp edging despite the lack of edge disruption.
Common themes of boards that provided the best overall turning experience were: width, camber with rockered nose, 6-7.6 meter sidecut, medium to stiff flex, and blended cores with poplar, paulownia, and bamboo. The Yes. Standard Uninc DC and Cardiff Goat stand out for their excellent edging experience, offering fun, plush, and dynamic throughout the core. The Yes is significantly easier to make a short radius turn on then the Cardiff, yet it feels stable if you open it up into longer radius turns. The Cardiff is capable of medium-effort short radius turns thanks to its medium flex pattern. It loves to make medium to long radius turns at medium to high speeds. The Yes was the board we would grab to go and carve because of its fun, high-quality ride experience and edge hold. The Jones Stratos also proved a fun and versatile on-edge experience. Its solid grip, power, and feel made it another favorite for our team.
An example of the edging experience of the Cardiff Goat. Easy to slash with a bit longer radius turns.
Credit: Isaac Laredo
Being able to go full tilt on a board helps with deep carves; a wider waist width is essential to avoid the dreaded toe and heel drag. The key is not to go too wide, which will make for a slower, more tiring turn initiation. Every board in the review, aside from the Burton High Fidelity, was easy to size to avoid heel and toe drag.
The Standard Uninc DC was a top performer for its ability to execute powerful, fun turns with an easy exit. The Stratos is a capable edging model with a lively, energetic core and a softer torsional flex between the bindings, allowing for excellent mid-turn control. The Cardiff Goat had a plush flex that provided a playful yet driven turning experience that thrived at medium to long-radius turns. The Burton High Fidelity surprised us with its stiffer flex that was impressively athletic and easy to turn. If these characteristics are not your chocolate milk, the Candle Rain or Carbon Coda have longer sidecuts and robust camber profiles, which excel at longer radius turns, provide serious edge hold, and make long drawn-out turns at speed.
Even with the long radius turns the Goat can put down and impressive turn.
Credit: Isaac Laredo
Stability at Speed
Your snowboard is the foundation for your riding security. Riding security means the rider feels in control at high speeds, straight-lining or carving edge to edge. If your board feels squirrely at high speeds, you're likely to fall, and that is no fun — except for the people on the lift. To help you avoid this situation, we tested each board by straight-lining, carving at high speeds, and some good old-fashioned wrecking. The board's camber profile, flex rating, and sidecut primarily determine its performance regarding high-speed stability.
Boards with longer sidecuts, stiffer flexes, and cambered profiles generally perform better at high speeds. In contrast, they are often less playful and can be more challenging to ride when going slow. Boards with rocker profiles (due to the raised contact points) and softer flexes excel at slow to medium speeds and provide a playful ride. However, these same attributes compromise the board's stability when blasting through chunder or straight-lining. These two designs are at opposite ends of the spectrum. Like the story of Goldilocks, most snowboarders are looking for something in the middle that's just right.
The models that found this balance exceptionally well were the Yes Standard Uninc DC, Jones Stratos, and Cardiff Goat. The predominantly cambered profiles, unique core profiles, and flex patterns dampen chatter, track down the fall line, and remain stable at speed or through uneven snow surfaces with a little bit of chatter.
The most stable models were those with a stiff cambered profile and semi-damp construction like the Arbor Carbon Coda, Arbor Candle Rain, Burton High Fidelity, and Weston Range. We experienced little to no chatter on these models at high speeds or turning through uneven snow. The Arbor Carbon Coda and Candle Rain leverage carbon and a long sidecut that blasts through uneven snow and anything in its way. The flex pattern of the Burton and Weston board offered comparable stability with more maneuverability.
Damping refers to a board's ability to absorb micro chatter from slight inconsistencies in the snow surface. This becomes increasingly important with speed. Dampening increases a board's stability at speed. The Never Summer Proto FR is the dampest board in the review. The damping properties and triple camber profile make it feel stable at speed.
Bases are very important components of a snowboard's construction to help you carry speed around the mountain. The Burton High Fidelity,Never Summer Proto FR, Cardiff Goat, and Jones Stratos have the fastest bases in this review.
The beginning of our straight line test, we topped out at 45 mph on the Goat and felt stable.
Credit: Isaac Laredo
Float in Powder
Few things can top fresh powder turns with effortless floatation. In contrast, a few things are more frustrating than nose-diving and continuous tomahawking. The rider experiencing effortless floatation is happily shredding powder from 9-4, while the freshly tomahawked rider can be exhausted, frustrated, and potentially injured. When riding powder, the design of the board can work either for or against you. The question is, how hard do you want to work?
Fully cambered boards have a downturned (frowny face) profile and contact points. While they are stronger carvers, they tend to dive into the snow, which makes you work significantly harder than rocker profiles. The uplifted (smiley face) profile of a rocker model is looser when carving but works to keep the tip of your board up so you can focus on your turn rather than anticipating your next tomahawk.
The Burton High Fidelity earned top marks in this category with its blunted nose and rounded tail.
Credit: Corey John
To test this metric, we rode as much powder as the winter allowed. Through turning, jumping, and tomahawking, we were able to assess each model's powder prowess.
Keep your nose and your head up! Even Travis Rice had a hard time on his first-ever deep powder day. The learning curve is steep, but powder riding arguably provides the best onboard experience. After you have selected a model that does some of the heavy lifting for you, the next step is to ride powder. Soon, you will unlock the euphoric feeling that individuals dedicate their lives to. The testing process and prior experience have shown that hybrid profiles, such as the mostly cambered profile with a rocker tip of the Burton High Fidelity, mitigate the tradeoffs in edging and flotation.
The best powder boards had a few attributes in common: A tapered directional shape, a directional camber, and an opportunity to set back the stance. The boards that floated above the rest were the Burton High Fidelity, Jones Stratos, and Cardiff Goat.
The Burton is one of our test team's favorite models as the it kept us on top of the snow and planed over lower angle snow decently well. The directional camber, unique shape, and 7mm of taper worked in our favor; staying on top of the snow took a little effort. We enjoyed the ability to make long swooping turns at speed and also quick, tight, nimble turns in the trees in large part due to the rounded tail shape.
The Jones Stratos has a shape designed to reduce the surface area of the tail and a long nose to aid in planing which we found to be fun and effective at all angles. The 3D contoured base gave smoother edge transitions at speed. The Cardiff Goat offered less low-angle planing potential than the aforementioned boards but thrived in medium-angle terrain with some speed.
The Yes Standard Uninc utilizes a Directional Volume Twin shape and MidBite technology to achieve impressive powder flotation from a generally twin shape. This design offers a twin-like feel with a setback stance and increased nose volume, which enhances flotation by keeping the nose elevated in deep snow. MidBite technology complements this by narrowing the waist for agility while maintaining wide tips for stability, ensuring weight is distributed evenly across the snow for better float. We were pleasantly surprised by how much float this design offered. We found it also thrived on medium to steep slopes and took a bit more effort on low-angle slopes.
The Yes Standard UnInc has a Directional Volume Twin shape, adding width to the nose and tail to improve flotation.
Credit: Ryland West
Playfulness
What is your primary goal on a board? Are your ears and eyes waiting for the race gates to drop to bash gates on a slalom course? Are you looking for the gnarliest line at your local resort? How about stomping that triple-cork 1440 while the world watches you on ESPN 8? You may want to do all this, but we guess you're typically just looking to have a fun day with your friends. Only you can decide what constitutes fun, and we can help you find the board to match that.
To test this metric, we made the tightest turns possible through the range of sidecuts. We popped off of side hits, buttered, and pressed our way around the mountain, wandering through trees. During testing, we found that big, stiff, and longer sidecut boards were not nearly as fun or versatile as smaller, softer, and shorter sidecut models.
The most playful boards have medium flex patterns, tight side cuts, and a decent amount of tail. The attributes are synonymous with freestyle riding. Freestyle riding is defined as playing on jumps, rails, and snow features. Certain boards in this review exhibit some or all of these characteristics, and they performed very well.
Buttering is a classic snowboard maneuver where you press and flex one end of the snowboard into the snow while balancing and keeping the other end sky-high; it's one of the joys of riding. Just watch Chris Roach do it on YouTube.
Credit: Tucker Adams
The medium flex and tight sidecut of the Yes and Never Summer Proto provided versatile and fun riding that could be taken anywhere. Additionally, the short radius turns, butters, and the forgiving ride create a fun experience for the rider.
The Yes had a playful approach to every metric. This was derived from its flex, which feels plush and alluring when engaged. The board was incredibly versatile and maintained a high overall standard. Its playful nature made it one of our favorite boards to ride around the mountain.
The Never Summer Proto FR has a hybrid profile with a triple camber profile. The FR can have a playful slashing style or a more carving-based approach to the mountain. Its split personality made it stand out for playfulness and overall fun. It can rip when you want to rip and play when you want to play. The easier-to-ride nature makes it a great choice for intermediates looking to upgrade to a board that can help them progress without the fear of it being too aggressive or outgrowing its performance capabilities.
A strong competitor in this metric was the Cardiff Goat, also known for its versatile ride and fluid flex pattern. We were buttering, slashing, and turning this board around the mountain. It takes a bit more effort to make short radius turns, but it is possible and significantly easier than boards of similar sidecuts.
A tail roll on the Cardiff Goat. The nose is noticeably soft, and it rolls and holds a press rather easily.
Credit: Isaac Laredo
While the Jones Stratos takes an advanced to expert-level rider to really butter and capitalize on the potential of the board, it does have some playful attributes that make it a fun all-mountain ride. The torsional flex helps control and feel the mid part of your turn and helps your ability to slash around the mountain. The board is fun to ride around the mountain; slash turns, and ollie side hits; all great attributes to have in a daily driver.
The Jones Stratos demonstrates a fun and playful edging style, as evidenced by this back lip.
Credit: Isaac Laredo
Pop and Jumping
It would be rad to ollie over that SLOW sign at the bottom of the run, wouldn't it? Yeah. Then you can tell your friends how rad it was and pop a beer. How do you know what model has what it takes to pop you that high? In testing pop, we ollied, hit park jumps, and flexed the competitors in the parking lot. Then, after snagging the nose on the sign, shoulder-checking the hardpack, having the patroller take my ticket, and sulking as we walked to my car, we looked down and realized we were using the wrong board for the job.
This metric's best-performing models feature predominately cambered profiles such as the Arbor Candle Rain, Arbor Carbon Coda, Weston Range, and Burton High Fidelity. This is due to the exponential energy return that the stiffer camber profile provides. The Candle Rain and Carbon Coda, with the mostly camber profile, continually sent us to the moon. However, the stiff profile was challenging to pop; expert riders will get significant results, but those still improving their technique may not receive the same benefit.
The Weston Range packs some serious pop that is easier to harvest than some other stiff boards. Its poplar, bamboo, and paulowina core takes medium amounts of preloading and can get significant returns for less effort. We enjoyed the easier-to-ollie yet stiff and powerful feel.
The Cardiff Goat, Yes Standard Uninc DC, and Jones Stratos all offer plenty of pop from their mostly cambered profiles. Like the Range, some of our test team was able to ollie higher and faster because it was easier to move energy through the board and let the core profile do the work of making it more explosive.
What goes up must come down. This metric also tested landing security. When you are not able to put down a clean landing on the balls of the feet, the board should prove a margin for you to recover, rather than the alternative of looping out and sliding down the landing ending your sweet jump line.
As a rule of thumb cambered profiles (which feature stiffer profiles and more edge contact with the snow) help provide a larger margin for landing. Also, boards with larger tails like the Candle Rain will provide a larger margin for backseat landings than setback boards with smaller tails like the Jones Stratos. Other standout models for landing security were the Carbon Coda, Never Summer Proto FR, and the Cardiff Goat. K2 Alchemist, and the Jones Frontier.
Fast and confident on the in-run, balanced in the air, and reliable on the landing; that's the Candle Rain.
Credit: Ben Wynn
Conclusion
The goal of this review is to match you to the perfect board. We hypothesized and tested each model, then communicated to you the character, benefits, and drawbacks of each board. Identify the metrics that resonate with you the most and find the models that thrived there. Then, go to each review to understand their character to find the board for you. There is a board in this review to support each objective to its fullest. Here at OutdoorGearLab, we snowboard because it's fun and allows us to live in that moment of stoke. Whichever board you choose, you'll be happy because they all provide a high-quality experience to cultivate that stoke. Happy Turns.
