2009-2010 Snowboard Review

Each season I take to the slopes to try/test/borrow snowboards to see how they perform and review them for this site. What started out as 10 boards a season has now become over 50 boards a season and I’m the only rider doing the review. This year with opportunities from multiple demo days, Board Insiders and Good Wood I found myself able to try more boards than previous years. So far I’ve rode a total of 46 2009-2010 snowboards: 35 men’s boards and 11 women’s boards. The majority of snowboard reviews were a mix of rocker/reverse camber from various companies and a smaller percentage were camber.

This review will be updated throughout the season as I demo and test more 09/10 snowboards. Each review is judged by the same standard and for the majority of reviews I used my own boots (some exceptions).

If you have a specific snowboard you would like to be reviewed please request it in the comment section.

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About me as a snowboarder:

• I’m coming up on my 16th season snowboarding.
• I am a freerider (I ride trees, powder, steeps, groomers, natural terrain) and I ride halfpipe. I now occasionally venture into the park, riding rails.
• I am 5’6″ and typically ride a 158cm for my all mountain board, my powder board is a 161 or 164cm and my park board is a 155cm. I weigh about 200lbs give or take.
• I am a regular rider with a 22 inch width, +15, -15 stance angles.
• I wear size 8 womens snowboard boots and feel comfortable riding both men’s and women’s bindings.

My opinion is only my opinion…of how these boards rode. Take it as you want. If you are looking for more snowboard reviews, go here

2009-2010 Snowboard Review

This list goes by brand alphabetically, to read the full review click on the name.  I’ve added some key parts to this review that should give a good idea of the review highlights, my own personal yay or nay and Shay says (which covers if I think the price is right or off)

09-10 Arbor Cadence

Overall Impression: Definitely a solid board for the mountain as your playground, outside of the park. I spent the day with it in heavier powder and crust underneath the powder, where it held an edge through the rougher spots and still floated well in the powder. I can’t imagine taking it in the park except for jumps or halfpipe where the medium stiffness would be suitable, it didn’t seem as soft as I’d prefer for a park specific board but for making the mountain your park it was golden.
Honesty Box: This is the type of board that the women who ride it will probably not care about the graphics because it’ll be covered up in snow most of the time but I still think the chick graphic on the board is a bit scary. I have seen the footage of me riding the cadence and definitely a board I would ride again for the entire mountain.

Women’s
Retails for: $495.00
Shay Says: Price is right
Best for: An aggressive female rider who doesn’t care about graphics.
Shay’s Yay or Nay: Yay. I don’t care about graphics.

09-10 Arbor Coda

Overall Impression: The Coda did best just freeriding, it says it’s more all mountain focuses but I found that a little hard to believe. On the groomers it was a more freeride, charge the mountain board than being more freestyle, fun focus. It had good pop and easy to initiate turns with, stable on longer radius turns but still quick for short radius.
Honesty Box: The coda wasn’t bad but probably a board I wouldn’t ride all the time, still a good ride thought but I like having a board that I can still play with.

Men’s
Retails for: $545.00
Shay Says: Price is a bit high
Best for: A freerider who stays on the ground
Shay’s Yay or Nay: Nay. I stay on the ground but I still found it a little too eh for me.

09-10 Atomic Pivot

Overall Impression: I made sure to include an image down below of the Pop Rocker FS description for the Pivot because it has a different take, it does have camber and it’s flat. The nice thing is there isn’t much adjustment to this board and I didn’t have an issue when getting the first couple turns in, still had the benefits of camber and the flat under the bindings made it pressable for me with the tail and nose.
Honesty Box: The first time I rode an atomic with the pop rocker FS, the board was too stiff but now with the Pivot it’s the forgiving softer freestyle flex that lets the board be a lot of fun and still carve good on the mountain. I didn’t need to adjust to it (unlike the stiffer version of it) and I was really happy with how it rode. I was surprised at how well it got on edge for me, you can see in the first photo the ww is more than I need.

Men’s
Retails for:Best bang for your buck
Best for: a rider wanting a freestyle rocker board that handles the mountain and won’t break your bank.
Shay’s Yay or Nay: Yay. Best bang for the buck for freestyle rocker in my opinion.

09-10 Automaton Time Fighter

Overall Impression: The first day I rode was pretty rough to judge but I spent most of the day in the park where I was completely happy with the board, good pop and fun to play around with, could ride switch easy. When I took it into the halfpipe it held an edge on the slush to ice walls. The base held up good in the slush, I was passing by my friend riding my NS premier with no wax on the base and the Time Fighter didn’t have much wax either but no issues with it still cruising on the cat tracks. For most of the days when I was riding the Time Fighter, I was riding with people who like to haul down the mountain, I videotaped while riding the board and had no problems with feeling stable and confident riding on it. It wasn’t a board that would surprise me or want to turn when I didn’t…predictable ride.
Honesty Box: For playing around and riding groomers, it didn’t feel like it was a 151 or couldn’t handle the mountain. One the last day I combo’d the board with the GNU agro bindings which I was not a fan of (forward lean was killer) and I still enjoyed the ride. Easy board to ride and solid everywhere I took it, park to steeps.

Women’s
Retails for: $410.00
Shay Says: Price is decent
Best for: A rider wanting a freestyle camber board that is like riding a cougar (I’m told).
Shay’s Yay or Nay: Yay if I rode camber, but Nay since I rarely ride camber anymore.

09-10 Bataleon Enemy

Overall Impression: The enemy is an aggressive board, it’s one of those boards that can ride you easily if you arent’ riding it. It’s a really good charger board, good handling and edging on the mountain. The lightness came into play over some really cruddy spots but over than that, it was a solid board that’s lightweight.
Honesty Box: Ah TBT…what can I say, it’s one of the technologies that I definitely need to get used to and it’s hard to ride it for a couple runs when I know a couple days is always better with TBT. Later on I rode the evil twin, I liked the evil twin more than the enemy just for the playful factor.

Men’s
Retails for: $799.95
Shay Says: Price is high but low compared to similiar boards
Best for: An aggressive rider wanting light, fast and TBT that carves on a dime. If you want the Vapor but are cheaper, this is suitable.
Shay’s Yay or Nay: Nay. I don’t care for the light/fast boards.

09-10 Bataleon Evil Twin

Overall Impression: It is Bataleon’s park board and it definitely rode like that. I stayed in the park with it and didn’t feel as comfortable riding any powder with it mostly from the size and how it handled on groomers with speed. It was very fun, playful and poppy which made it perfect for park riding, easy to throw around and I was able to make turns with just freeriding but it should stay in the park.

I took this board down the chute to the park and from there you have to gain a lot of speed to get over a flat area, the evil twin was easy to get quick responsive turns in the chute and it handled the speed to get over the flat area.
Honesty Box: This is the park board for Bataleon, outside of park it’s not as well handling as say the Riot is but it’s a fun poppy true twin board that is great inside the park boundaries. For my own riding I liked the Riot better (sintered base) but I’m not riding entirely park so I like having a board that handles the whole mountain.

Men’s
Retails for: $459.95
Shay Says: Price is high
Best for: A park rat who wants a park board only with TBT.
Shay’s Yay or Nay: Nay. I want to ride outside of the park.

09-10 Bataleon Riot

Overall Impression: I can look at that photo of the carve and tell you that’s where this board impresses the most. It’s stable for a true twin on riding the whole mountain and freeriding it does better than some freeride boards. I had a really good time on it and even though it’s stiffer than the last time I rode it, it handled better for freeriding than the last time. Bataleon continues to make good boards. I just wonder if they know that flower graphics are funny on men’s boards.
Honesty Box:The last time I rode a Riot was a couple years ago and I really liked it at the time, fun board that was a mix between park and mountain. This time I rode it, I noticed it was a lot stiffer than last time and that was with the kevlar enhancement they added after I rode it the first time. Now it’s more all mountain handling, stiffer true twin.

Men’s
Retails for: $499.95
Shay Says: Price is right
Best for: A rider wanting a TBT board that can carve, handle the mountain and still play in the park with.
Shay’s Yay or Nay: Yay. The Riot is my favorite TBT board, I’d buy it if I had the money.

09-10 Burton Easy Living

Overall Impression: The Easy Living is the replacement for the uninc board in 09-10 with some added bonuses like PDE giving it better edgehold. The Easy Living had it’s ups and downs, I enjoyed how it handled freeriding with it being stable, good edgehold and overall solid for just cruising and bombing runs with. In the park, with the stiffer tip/tail it made buttering & pressing more difficult but in the halfpipe those downsides were the upsides for charging the pipe walls and feeling good pop and consistent lines. Is it the uninc, no…is it better or worse? depends on what you want.
Honesty Box:I was a fan of the uninc series, I thought they were some of the most fun boards out there to ride and enjoyed riding them every time at demos but I’m on the fence with the easy living. It didn’t win me over as much as the uninc had, but I still liked it and want to ride it again.

Men’s
Retails for: $549.95
Shay Says: Price is high
Best for: A rider wanting more from the uninc series.
Shay’s Yay or Nay: Nay cause Unincs rocked and Yay cause easy living is good but still on the fence.

09-10 Burton Hero

Overall Impression: The hero to me is a solid ride, obviously popular because it’s a do everything board but still park orientated. With ICS/EST you get good response and feel connected to the board. The only issue I have with the hero is through choppy conditions, it doesn’t handle as well and you definitely feel it in the board.
Honesty Box:It’ll be interesting to see what is said about this board when it comes out. The catalog says a flex difference, down 2 points to make it even softer but I haven’t seen anything to prove why it would be softer (catalog descriptions are the same). When I rode it, it didn’t feel like a different flex, it rode the same to me as the last time with the 08-09 model. So It’ll be interesting to see other’s reports on if they think it changed. Overall the hero is a fun ride, I like Burton’s take on rocker.

Men’s
Retails for: $499.95
Shay Says: Price is right
Best for: A rider who shreds the entire mountain with one board.
Shay’s Yay or Nay: Yay. I have no complaints with the Hero.

09-10 Burton Malolo

Overall Impression: I was impressed, best word to describe how I felt about the malolo. Overall a really good riding board and I knew it could handle powder so I didn’t worry about having to find some, just enjoyed the groomers with this board. The best riding with it was arc’d out really long S turns, you could really lay out each turn and hold an edge.
Honesty Box:The reason I rode the malolo was because I’ve had a lot of people ask how this board does on groomers…obviously a board for powder but is it worth it to buy when the powder turns are done, can I hit up groomers and my answer is yes, it handles groomers. Finally I rode the men’s malolo which comes in more sizes, the women’s malolo comes in a 149cm and 154cm, offering up a powder board for the smaller women or women that want to size down on it like recommended.
Men’s
Retails for: $579.95
Shay Says: Best bang for your buck
Best for: Best bang for the buck Powder board, that can handle groomers.
Shay’s Yay or Nay: Yay. I got it for me this season, that says a lot.

09-10 Capita Green Machine FK

Overall Impression: Definitely after riding the Indoor Survival, this board gives another good ride to the Capita name while staying green and not making it look like a tree. I was impressed with how the board rode, it was the last couple runs of the day and I still had fun even though I was tired and it held an edge through some “eh” conditions.
Honesty Box: Definitely the most fun eco friendly board I’ve ridden, where it doesn’t ride like a plank of wood that is green…it has style and I can see it being very popular. For my own riding, I liked the carbon in the Indoor Survival and preferred that board over the Green Machine but that’s my own personal preference. Of all the eco friendly boards I’ve ridden, this is the one I’d ride everywhere and be cool with it.

Men’s
Retails for: $499.00
Shay Says: Price is right
Best for: A rider wanting a green board that rides everywhere and doesn’t look like shit.
Shay’s Yay or Nay: Nay. I’m not green so I like the Indoor Survival better.

09-10 Capita Indoor Survival FK

Overall Impression: I hadn’t rode the Indoor Survival before and having the FK made it still a fun ride but not a crazy soft noodle board, it was able to charge and handle the mountain with a little extra spice to it. There wasn’t much of a transition to ride it, no adjustment period. The only place I didn’t like the Indoor Survival was in the halfpipe, but I wasn’t expecting it to hold exceptionally well in the halfpipe either. I liked how it rode, it was fun to play with but still could handle freeriding.
Honesty Box:It was the first board of the demo’s and I never forgot it which to me is a good sign that I liked it even after 3 days of riding other boards.

Men’s
Retails for: $399.00
Shay Says: Best bang for your buck
Best for: Best bang for your buck for all mountain riding.
Shay’s Yay or Nay: Yay. Indoor Survival FK was a favorite even after all the other boards.

09-10 Capita Midnight

Overall Impression: Good all around board, rideable in all conditions and a good progressing board with women. I rode it freeriding to some leftover pow, to park to pipe. I didn’t take it off jumps but I bet it would have done fine. I have to comment on the base, it’s extruded which I found interesting for a freeride board but the best part was in the spring slush I had to some heavy leftover powder, the base held up very well. I didn’t get slowed down and I think it liked the spring slush to ride in.
Honesty Box:My honest opinion was caught in a video watch the very end, 5:04 mark. My only complaint was getting it to press and butter, it wasn’t as easy. The best part about this board is being able to review it over a couple weeks, I was able to ride it in a variety of conditions. I rarely mention board graphics…but this is my favorite graphic for 09-10, tj knows what the ladies want.

Women’s
Retails for: $379.00
Shay Says: Best bang for your buck
Best for: A female rider wanting a board that handles all mountain and best bang for the buck.
Shay’s Yay or Nay: Yay. I borrowed this board from Capita to ride and it was tough to return it.

09-10 Capita Saturnia

Overall Impression: I ended riding the saturnia with a variety of conditions from groomers, to slushy snow to hardpacked ice and to very heavy powder. Even with the smaller size, it handled the mountain and made the mountain more fun. With the small size, it made it very playful and fun. I ollie’d over some rock patches and ollied onto a log, the base held up very good through some end of season terrain.
Honesty Box:Its starting to get more rare that I find a regular camber board a lot of fun, reverse camber to me is fun but with the Saturnia I found myself on a board that was fun, charging and really handled the whole mountain surprisingly well. I’m not a fan of the 09-10 graphic but that’s just me.

Women’s
Retails for: $329.00
Shay Says: Price is right
Best for: A female rider looking for a camber park board that is rideable outside of the park.
Shay’s Yay or Nay: Nay. I liked it but probably wouldn’t ride it that much for my style of riding.

09-10 Drake DF1

Overall Impression: I wasn’t expecting to ride the DF1 but when I took it out, I really liked it and it was fun to ride a Drake camber board that I liked. It handled turns and speed but still had good response and pop to it for the freestyle fun. It was a stiffer park board you could ride outside of the park and an option for camber board riders. My one regret with the DF1 is not having a halfpipe to ride it in, it would have been ideal with the stiffer flex.
Honesty Box:It’s becoming rarer for me to ride a camber board and this was the perfect example of riding a camber board between riding a whole lot of non-camber boards. The best part was, it reminded me that camber won’t die…it doesn’t suck to ride camber, it can be fun and very predictable. I’ve snowboarded longer with camber than without it, so when I went back to it…it was like ahhh I remember you, I missed you and we still have fun together, high 5 and then ride on.

Men’s
Retails for: ?
Shay Says:Not sure since no retail price
Best for: a rider wanting a predictable aggressive camber board.
Shay’s Yay or Nay: Yay. Definitely one camber board I enjoyed a lot.

09-10 Drake DF2

Overall Impression: Overall I was impressed, I think Drake did a great job with the DF2 because it’s not anything crazy for a reverse camber but a good ride whether you want to ride park or just play around freeriding, it’s a good mix of both. It had a good fun flex, with good pop and was still rideable outside of the park if you were just cruising with friends. There wasn’t an adjustment to it, which was nice.
Honesty Box: Last year when I first tried a Drake board, I wasn’t impressed but I went back on the saddle and tried the new DF2 for 09-10 and found myself on a board I really enjoyed.

Men’s
Retails for: ?
Shay Says: Not sure since no retail price
Best for: A rider wanting a good mix of rocker that won’t sacrifice good riding.
Shay’s Yay or Nay: Yay. I thought the DF2 killed it.

09-10 Flow Era

Overall Impression: The era is the freestyle reverse camber board meant to absorb the landings in the park and occasionally venture out, it’s softer flex made it easy to ride and play with for freestyle tricks. For turning, it took some adjustment to how the sidecut would take me in and out of turns. It is most definitely a park board meant for the park.
Honesty Box: It wasn’t my style of ride but I took a while to figure out that it wasn’t the I-rock rocker that through me off, just the softer flex and sidecut of the board wasn’t my cup of tea.

Men’s
Retails for: $379.00
Shay Says: Price is right
Best for: A rider wanting a straight up park rocker board.
Shay’s Yay or Nay: Nay. I just wasn’t the rider for it.

09-10 Flow Team

Overall Impression: At the time I remember how funny it was to be back on a camber snowboard but the Flow Team is definitely meant to be a hardcharging aggressive pipe board and the camber does it good. When I rode with it at Steamboat I felt comfortable riding with it and filming my friend riding on a tight cat track to get to the park. It’s not an easy board to ride, it’s easier to turn than one would expect but it’s still a stiffer more controlling board meaning the better the rider who can control it, the better the board treats you and can hold up when you progress with it. In the two days I spent riding with it, one day it rode me and the other day when I was angry I rode it was the best. It’s definitely a board you can have rougher days with and feel it come back to you hurting.
Honesty Box: I’ve owned the Flow Team before and I think it’s a really fine board but there are days where it can ride you especially in the halfpipe. When I took out the 09-10 flow, I took it out at my home pipe in Steamboat where I was having a really lousy day and it kicked me hard because of it. But when I took it to Breckenridge for a day especially when I really was riding better, the board excelled me so much and pushed my riding in the pipe without killing me this time. I think it’s a fine board, is it for everyone nah but for pipe riding, hitting jumps or just turns to the park it’s solid.

Men’s
Retails for: $469.00
Shay Says: Price is right
Best for: A aggressive rider wanting a stiffer deck for pipe or jumps
Shay’s Yay or Nay: Yay and Nay, when I’m on my riding game Yay, when I’m not Nay.

09-10 GNU B-Pro C2 BTX

Overall Impression: I think the C2 definitely makes this a better board, still very stable and a fun ride. It just charges which is great for women riders to have a board like this.
Honesty Box:I love the B-pro, it’s one of my favorite women’s boards and a board I love riding at demo’s even when it’s a smaller size. I never feel like it’s that small and it still impresses me when I charge with it.

Women’s
Retails for: $538.95
Shay Says: Price is a bit high
Best for: A female rider wanting an aggressive charging board.
Shay’s Yay or Nay: Yay. B-pro is a hands down favorite and C2 made it better.

09-10 GNU Billy Goat C2 BTX

Overall Impression: It’s not an easy ride, definitely a aggressive men’s board meant for charging. It made banked walls very easy to ride, quick response edge to edge and it was still a fun fast ride but fun by charging and hauling on it. I can’t imagine riding this board everyday at my resort, no way but if I ever did a Banked contest or boardercross…I’d ride this board. Like most Mervin boards, it handles NW conditions very good, charging through heavy snow with no problems.
Honesty Box:This is not a easy board in any way, shape or form. Just look at the main man behind GNU whose board it is: Temple Cummins. Big mountain, banked slalom…this board is created for that shred type, while it does fine on groomers it’s meant for more than just resort groomers.

Men’s
Retails for: $538.95
Shay Says: Price is a bit high
Best for: A rider wanting a hard charging quick response board for the big lines/narrow chutes.
Shay’s Yay or Nay: Yay. B-pro is a hands down favorite and C2 made it better.

09-10 GNU Park Pickle

Overall Impression: I can see why people will buy this board, easy ride and easy to ride heelside edge, just to lay it over and get a better carve than without it. Fun ride overall and a handle the groomers to park board. A lot of people are comparing this board to the skate banana and it was a different ride to me, more stable, less loose feeling and a tad stiffer.
Honesty Box:I thought that maybe this board was hyped up but I was proved wrong. I felt a lot better on my heelside turns which aren’t as strong as my toeside turns, the park pickle helped that. Yes I know GNU is not the first to do this but it’s cool to see it brought back and I like it. I am curious to see if this second round of asym will stick around and people will take to it.

Men’s
Retails for: $489.00
Shay Says: Price is a bit high
Best for: A rider wanting a all mountain/park board that can rally on heelside turns.
Shay’s Yay or Nay: Yay. Park Pickle brought out the stronger heelside turns, nothing wrong with that.

09-10 K2 Eco Pop

Overall Impression: It’s flat and while it has a good broken in board feel to it, the K2 Torsion Forks really give it some life to how it rides. The board was impressive all around on the mountain, from freeriding to good pop in the park and in the halfpipe where it was easy to maneuver with the lighter swing weight. Pull a 180 and get a 360 kind of ride.

In terms of what board it’s replacing, it’s been said to replace the mix which is Gretchen’s 08-09 board, but comparing the catalog, the construction matches the Duchess and the Mix matches the Airdu but the pro riders names to each board are different. I’ve never rode the mix but I can see the eco pop being the duchess replacement, same shape, same core and with a new lighter, still all mountain ride everywhere style of ride.
Honesty Box:K2 surprised me at SIA, I was expecting more rocker and they came out with flatline technology and I questioned it at the time. Now after riding the Eco Pop, there’s no question on why K2 did this and I really liked how it rode. For me it’s a good medium between camber and reverse camber but with K2’s signature style. It’s the first eco friendly board that I would actually purchase based off how it rode.

Women’s
Retails for: $499.95
Shay Says: Price is right
Best for: A female rider wanting an aggressive charging board without an adjustment to rocker, flatline is a good mix between camber and rocker.
Shay’s Yay or Nay: Yay. Eco Pop was a favorite for women’s boards this year.

09-10 Lib Tech Dark Series C2 BTX

Overall Impression: So the big debate is the whole Lib vs NS double camber/rocker and from what I’ve rode it’s not the same in how they ride. Two different feelings in the double camber/rocker. The old Dark Series is just that, this new Dark Series really shows that the board is a stiffer freeride board and less freestyle than it has been. You can charge with it.

I wish I could have rode this board in some powder and I’m going to re-ride it to take it out again in more conditions.
Honesty Box:I freaking love the Dark Series, it’s one of my favorite boards by Lib Tech and I’m still warming up to this new board with C2. I’m gonna re-ride it to really judge it with some detuning thrown in.

Men’s
Retails for: $665.00
Shay Says: Price is expensive
Best for: A rider wanting a stiffer charging park board that still rallies freeriding.
Shay’s Yay or Nay: Nay. I loved the dark before it had C2.

09-10 Lib Tech Skate Banana BTX

Overall Impression: I can see why this board is so popular, it’s the easiest non progressive ride-everywhere board. I mean that in the best sense of saying it. It’s an easy ride, it doesn’t take much skill to ride it and it handles everything…it’s truely a good entry level board that will last years, it can handle powder, it can handle park, it’s very easy to ride. I’ve seen people charge on their Skate Bananas and that amazes me cause when I get to going faster with it, it feels so loose and off that I don’t trust it. I don’t think it’s a board that will ever push your riding, make you work for it. It’s like a bar slut, you know it’s a good ride…but you never have to work for it.
Honesty Box:The Skate Banana and I have a love/hate relationship. I’ve tried to ride it at demo days but it generally is a board I can’t wait to get off of, so I set out to borrow the board for a day and really get a feel for it to see if I just hated the first impressions of it or if it grew on me after more turns. I didn’t hate it at Copper…but it’s still a board that is not my preference, I prefer the stiffer lib BTX boards.

Men’s
Retails for: $489.00
Shay Says: Price is a bit high
Best for: A easy fun playful board to make you love snowboarding but not push your riding.
Shay’s Yay or Nay: Nay. Some days it could be a Yay but usually it’s a Nay.

09-10 Monument Momento Mori

Overall Impression: Out of the two Monument boards I rode, this was the more stable board and was really best in superpipe for me where the lightness and stability came into play. For freeriding I had no issues with how it rode and only once I took it in the trees did I wish I had some quicker edge to edging. As a freestyle board, it’s on the stiffer side and with the lightness, it was awesome in pipe and I’m sure off jumps the same thing. For my first time riding a Monument, it was great to see a smaller company with a board that I could rally on…I just need to catch up to those guys more often.
Honesty Box:I’ve ridden a couple light, fast and freestyle based boards. There’s a certain board I can think of that costs double of this board and reminded me of it but without the techy terminology and big name behind it. It was really fun in halfpipe, light, fast, stable and held an edge on the icy early morning walls.

Men’s
Retails for: $459.00
Shay Says: Price is right
Best for: A rider wanting a light, fast, charging board.
Shay’s Yay or Nay: Nay. Not my style.

09-10 MTNOPS Burden

Overall Impression: It was good for charging but riding at Keystone with it didnt do it justice. On the groomers it was really stable and just a solid board for charging, not really a board that you can play with or it’ll ride you. Despite MTNOPS being a new name to snowboards, they boards are built by Unity out of Silverthorne, Colorado and they know how to make boards so that’s always a nice heads up for MTNOPS.
Honesty Box:I wouldn’t ride this board because it’s not my style of board but it’s still a good quality board just a little too aggressive than what I’d like on day to day riding.

Men’s
Retails for: ?
Shay Says: Not sure since no price
Best for: A really aggressive rider wanting someone that you’d never take to the resorts.
Shay’s Yay or Nay: Nay. Bit too aggressive and bomberproof for daily resort riding.

09-10 MTNOPS Levianthan

Overall Impression: Good all around board, quicker edge to edge, good response and a stable ride. It fit me as a rider for just a easier ride than the Burden. To me the levianthan was more I like to make turns down this run while the Burden was I like to point it straight down this run.
Honesty Box:I rode this right after riding the MTNOPS Burden and it was definitely clear that this board was more my style and my kind of ride. I can’t pronounce the name for the life of me which kind of annoys me, but luckily I only have to write it down not say it aloud.

Men’s
Retails for: ?
Shay Says: Not sure since no price.
Best for: A rider wanting all mountain capability.
Shay’s Yay or Nay: Nay. I enjoyed it, but am bummed that the products are done before ever riders hands.

09-10 Never Summer Evo-R

Overall Impression: The softer flex definitely suits the park riding that the evo-r is meant for. I’ve been used to the stiffer evo-r so it was some adjustment when I first stepped on the board and now that I’m riding park more it is helping with the park riding since it’s softer and more forgiving.
Honesty Box:At first I was bummed when I took the new Evo-r out at the resort, I liked the stiffer flex because it did handle outside of the park. Now that I’ve been riding the evo-r specifically for park, rails and just playing around with, it’s more suitable to that than the previous ev-r. So there’s some give and take with the board and I’ll just plan to ride my Lotus for the entire mountain and evo-r for park.

Men’s
Retails for: $479.95
Shay Says: Price is right
Best for: A rider wanting a park board with good stability.
Shay’s Yay or Nay: Yay. Even though it’s softer, I still love riding it.

09-10 Never Summer Lotus-R

Overall Impression: I was impressed when the Lotus first came out, a women’s equivalent of the premier which stepped up to women’s freeriding with another solid board to choose from. The Lotus-R is the next step up, with the reverse camber/camber you still get the charging women’s freeride board but with extra float in powder and still capable of freestyle. I’ve ridden my Lotus everywhere this year, in pipe, on rails, in trees and in powder. It’s been my everything board and it was the only board I took to Whistler with me because it does everything.
Honesty Box:I really did hate it that first night riding session, I think my friends were amazed that I could hate a board that was gripping the snow on a icy night. It held an edge, but it was too much for me at the time. I ended up dragging it along some stairs at the contact points to detune it so I could keep riding it. Since then it’s been my main snowboard when I’m not demo’ing. My only gripe with it is the stance width and stance insert options. I wish it wasn’t set back as much and allowed the rider to have a broader stance range. I keep my bindings at the first insert and then the 2nd insert from the back, which is perfect for me.

Women’s
Retails for: $449.99
Shay Says: Best bang for your buck
Best for: Women who charge freeriding and in powder.
Shay’s Yay or Nay: Yay. It’s my favorite board from NS.

09-10 Never Summer Premier F1-R

Overall Impression: It was great to spend more pow days on this board with the switch to RC Technology, it’s still that freeride board that charges but now it’s got extra float and a tad more fun than before. It’s perfect for the freerider who might dive into the park every now and then, but still rally’s up the mountain on edge.
Honesty Box:I rode the premier F1 and the Lotus in my size, 157cm that I would ride all mountain and I will continue to ride the Lotus since it suits me better but having the premier on a powder day did make it just a notch above because it was stiffer and wider, it had better float through the powder but the Lotus still holds up and I’ll continue to ride the Lotus unless my feet grow bigger. Between last years Premier F1 and this years Premier F1-R, it just gives it the upper hand in powder and with a bit more quirkyness for those park sessions.

Men’s
Retails for: $499.99
Shay Says: Best bang for your buck
Best for: A rider wanting a freeride charging board that handles pow.
Shay’s Yay or Nay: Yay cause I ride the women’s version, but Nay cause the women’s version is enough for me.

09-10 Nitro Carrara

Overall Impression: It was impressive, another women’s board that isn’t for the light hearted, it can handle speed for freeriding or take it into the park for a stiffer freestyle board to land jumps with, has good pop and really just a good all around board.
Honesty Box:This was the first women’s nitro I’ve ridden and I really liked how it rode, good all around board for women that can still charge with. I would have liked a bigger size for myself, but the small size held up just fine.

Women’s
Retails for: $579.95
Shay Says: Price is a bit high
Best for: A women’s board to charge with that is camber.
Shay’s Yay or Nay: Yay. Just how I like it when it comes to camber.

09-10 Omatic Extr-eco (Regular and BS Version)

Overall Impression: For those not familiar with the BS Tech, it’s not rocker and it’s not TBT. The wiggle stick base as they call it,the board is bowed edge to edge creating somewhat of a rocker edge to edge, but it’s flat from tip to tail and the edges are slightly lifted off the snow. You can ride without your edges touching the snow until you initiate them into a turn, less catch, easy to maneuver.

I’d recommend demo’ing the BS Tech to see if you like it, definitely for another park board it does the job, the bowed surface won’t catch on rails and makes it an easy more forgiving ride. I wouldn’t call it a do-everything, ride the whole mountain board but that’s just my first impression of the demo.

There is a lot of discussion is about the TBT and these boards, since the bowed surface on the o-matic runs the whole length it’s not the same ride as TBT where it’s variable and towards the tip and tail. TBT has it’s place and BS will have it’s place but they ride nothing alike other than good carving.
Honesty Box:At the end of the day and the first time riding the extr-eco series, I actually preferred the board without the BS technology. I can definitely see a place for the BS board, fun to ride and cool to try both tech but also for my own riding, I felt more comfortable on the cambered version.

Men’s
Retails for: $390.00
Shay Says: Price is right
Best for: A rider wanting a park board with extra fun.
Shay’s Yay or Nay: Yay. I preferred the regular version but the BS still had some good style to it.

09-10 O-matic Sweet

Overall Impression: The sweet definitely goes by it’s name, I didn’t expect it to be a hard charging board but for making the mountain your playground it was fun to ride. It’s a good all around board for someone looking to go more into freestyle.
Honesty Box:The combination of bindings to board didn’t suit the board at all and I was really let down by that because I liked the board but didn’t like the bindings with it.

Men’s
Retails for: $388.95
Shay Says: Price is right
Best for: A rider wanting an all mountain board that can help progress into park.
Shay’s Yay or Nay: Yay, I enjoyed the ride overall.

09-10 Option Redline

Overall Impression: For a freeride board it was stable and held a good edge on longer S turns down the mountain. It wasn’t as quick edge to edge and the stiffer flex which I found worked best in the powder. For 09-10 the Redline has an upgraded base, it used to be a extruded 4400 and now is sintered 7200 which I was happy for, it deserves the better base. It was an okay ride overall but I didn’t find it suitable for me as a rider.
Honesty Box:This was a real test for me going back to camber on a powder day and I definitely struggled with keeping the board afloat when I’m used to not struggling to keep the board afloat. However in the conditions, it did good in the heavier powder and I had some great turns on it but definitely me as a rider prefers reverse camber in the powder. I’ve been hesitant about putting this review up since I had heard that Option might not be around but it’s a review and there are still Redlines out there and hopes that Option continues on.

Men’s
Retails for: ?
Shay Says: No idea since no price
Best for: A rider wanting a freeride board that helps you progress.
Shay’s Yay or Nay: Nay, not sure if Option is around and a little too eh for me.

09-10 Prior AMF Rocker

Overall Impression: I certainly wouldn’t expect Prior snowboards to put out a snowboard that wasn’t solid for charging the mountain and the AMF rocker was exactly that, very stable for bombing, not as forgiving and it didn’t ride like a typical rocker, reminded me of camber boards when it came to turning and carving. It’s a board meant for an aggressive rider who will ride it hard or the board would ride you.
Honesty Box:This is exactly why demo’ing board is best to see what each person likes, I took out the Prior AMF and was so-so on it but my friend Marc took out the Prior AMF, reviewed it and loved it (said he would buy it). For me, it just wasn’t my style of board. The cool thing with Prior is you have your choice of graphics when it comes to the AMF rocker.

Men’s
Retails for: $646.57
Shay Says: Price is expensive
Best for: A rider always on their game who wants a rocker to handle the mountain.
Shay’s Yay or Nay: Nay. I’m not always on my game when riding.

09-10 Ride Compact

Overall Impression: In the smaller amounts of powder, the lowrize rocker helped but it wasn’t enough rocker to handle the snow and the smaller size meant riding the backseat more than anticipated. When I got it on groomers, it didn’t feel like the smaller size like it had in powder and I felt comfortable riding it again. It was a really easy ride and I liked that it reminded me of the Crush but a softer more forgiving women’s ride of it. I’d definitely recommend this for a progressing female rider.
Honesty Box:According to people who judge snowboard sizes on height, this would be the perfect fit for me..however my skill, riding style and weight disagree with riding a board smaller than 153cm. If I had learned to ride though, I would have learned on this. The compact came in a 150cm and I took it out even though it’s on the small size for me. I was still able to ride it, see how it handled and at the end of the day I liked it but in a bigger size.

Women’s
Retails for: $379.95
Shay Says: Price is right
Best for: A great progressing board for upcoming female riders.
Shay’s Yay or Nay: Yay if I was learning to ride, Nay cause I’ve been riding too long for this board.

09-10 Ride Crush

Overall Impression: Of all the reverse cambers, I think Ride’s is the most entry level progressing one. It’s not enough rocker to make the ride completely different, you can still hold an edge and carve but also be a little playful with it and it won’t catch…good progressing board because it’s easy to ride.

I highly give props to Ride on the graphics, it’s cool to see it change and the collaboration with a art class of kids.
Honesty Box:I think it’s a good step in the right direction, but still not investing fully in the reverse camber so it’ll be interesting to see how it’s received. I can see a lot of people liking it because it’s not crazy reverse to get used to and you can progress on it. I probably wouldn’t pair the Bandita’s with it again, too soft of a binding for that board.

Men’s
Retails for: $379.95
Shay Says: Price is right
Best for: A great progressing board for upcoming male riders.
Shay’s Yay or Nay: Yay cause it was good for progressing but Nay cause I’m need more from my board.

09-10 Rome Pusher 1985

Overall Impression: I was riding the 156cm and it felt like it was a longer board because of the stable feeling and longer effective edge. It wasn’t a stiff board, but definitely not a soft board either but overall a really good ride.
Honesty Box:Interesting mix between the agent and mod which I loved both of those boards when I rode them so this take on the agent makes it more fun and still a stable ride.

Men’s
Retails for: $499.95
Shay Says: Price is right
Best for: A great all mountain do everything board.
Shay’s Yay or Nay: Yay. The Pusher was another board that stood out during all the demos.

09-10 Rossignol Angus

Overall Impression: Having a hardpacked groomer day on the Angus didn’t give it a fair review in my opinion, the angus could handle it but it needs more of a mountain and terrain for that board. I liked how it handled freeriding, very stable and a fast responsive board that just charged. Despite it being camber between the feet and rocker that lifts towards the tip and tail, the freestyle focus was less because of the stiffer tail.
Honesty Box: I liked certain parts of how it rode but it was one of those boards I wished I had a lot more time on. There’s definitely a couple boards this year that reminded me of the angus, all mountain freestyle boards that are meant to be big mountain where riding groomers with them isn’t enough. I’ll be definitely borrowing it again this upcoming season to get a feel for it on my home mountain, Steamboat and ride it in the trees, powder…where I think it belongs.

Men’s
Retails for: $399.95
Shay Says: Price is right
Best for: A charging board for big mountains.
Shay’s Yay or Nay: Yay/Nay hard to say on this one.

09-10 Roxy Envi BTX

Overall Impression: I had no complaints on the envi, it was a great ride everywhere and meant for a more aggressive freerider who wants a directional twin that can float in the powder. The raised nose certainly helped with that and when it came time to playing with it on the mountain, it still had the fun factor when it came to riding the mountain like a playground. It’s also made with green materials using sustainable processes so that’s a perk. The best part was this board handled some NW crud/heavy powder riding like a dream.
Honesty Box:I am always stoked when I get to ride a women’s board that comes in a range of sizes and up to the larger sizes for girls like me, seriously kudos to Roxy for understanding that. The envi is a freeriders dream for female riders who want a board to handle the mountain and ride just as hard as a men’s board. The envi was that for me, I thought the BTX complimented it perfectly although it would be even radder to see it in C2 in the future.

Women’s
Retails for: $509.00
Shay Says: Price is a bit high
Best for: A charging women’s board that can handle pow and groomers.
Shay’s Yay or Nay: Yay Envi totally won me over by it’s ability to handle all terrain.

09-10 Salomon Ivy

Overall Impression: Hands down a very solid women’s freeride board, stable and good for charging with. I would have liked to try it on a powder day but riding at Whistler was a good test for it. I wouldn’t recommend it for beginners, definitely intermediate to advanced women riders that mostly freeride. For 09-10 the ivy is part of the G.I.F.T project with ABC wrapper and greenlight core but since I hadn’t rode the previous models I couldn’t compare the difference.
Honesty Box:Even though I called it a cadillac which it did remind me of, it was a very stable and fast ride. I never had to worry about the board not handling the early morning at Whistler. It was a board to keep up with the boys on and go faster than them. I liked that Salomon had a women’s 156 there to ride, definitely appreciated.

Women’s
Retails for: $449.95
Shay Says: Price is right
Best for: Women who point their boards straight down the hill and charge.
Shay’s Yay or Nay: Nay it was a bit too sluggish and cadillac driving for me, solid freeriding but not enough life.

09-10 Signal Park Rocker

Overall Impression: It’s soft, no surprise there. It has a lot of rocker making it very easy to butter/press and it does float in pow. The park rocker needed more help in pow cause it’s a softer board but even in the deep stuff it had float…just had to make sure the board didn’t buck you in the float. All around it’s a park rocker board, just like the name. If you can’t press or butter, this board is the easiest I have rode to do it. It could turn on groomers, but this is not a freeride board…it’s not as stable at high speeds and it will turn but it’s not a board you’d take in a boardercross. I can see why a lot of people might not like it, but man if you are up for a soft rocker…this is it.

Honesty Box: I had been eyeing up the park rocker for a while, definitely a board that was built for fun. I was warned that people weren’t too stoked on it at the reviews, I found it to be a super fun board…insanely easy to butter and while I wouldn’t expect it to freeride and charge with…if you want fun, play around and not take the mountain seriously…this is the board. I rode a smaller size and felt fine on it, you could size up to have more stability or size down to have even more softness, easy to play with.

On a side note, I came away from the review wanting the board because it was fun. For me riding A-Basin or other early/late season mountains where you ride the same run all day…this is the board to make that run insanely fun. Doing the tail grab in the photo was too easy and it didn’t feel like the board would break on me doing it. I ended up getting the board, should be arriving soon and I’m looking forward to the fun it offers. I’ll update this review if I had any additions to make to it.

Men’s
Retails for: $339.95
Shay Says: Price is right
Best for: A very soft park/butter the world board.
Shay’s Yay or Nay: Yay cause it was so soft and magically fun but Nay cause I wouldn’t ride it all the time.

09-10 Smokin Vixen

Overall Impression: When I took out the Vixen, I had no worries on how it handled. Easy board to ride but still capable of freeriding with, torsionally stiffer and still had a lot of play in the nose and tail. It wasn’t the best day for conditions, icy hardpacked and the mtx had no problem with holding an edge and making freeriding stable.
Honesty Box:The Vixen was the last board of the day and ultimately the most suitable board for me, just handled the whole mountain. I had no complaints on the Smokin Vixen and it totally won me over. It never felt like I was riding a 153cm by the way it rode and definitely the 156cm would suit me better.

Women’s
Retails for: $449.95
Shay Says: Best bang for your buck
Best for: A all mountain board for women that rallies.
Shay’s Yay or Nay: Yay I was impressed by it.

09-10 Stepchild Chi Borg

Overall Impression: The rocker on the stepchild is 6mm for all three of the sizes, making it easier to press the nail and tail without sacrificing good edge and stability. This is the board that could handle park to powder with the reverse camber/rocker and is the step up from the jib stick for getting out of the park. It was my first time with a Stepchild board and I was impressed, good overall board.
Honesty Box:You definitely want to size down with this board, I rode the 158 and I would have preferred the smaller 155 for the Whistler riding. I just wish for all mountain riding, it didn’t have extruded base on it…I can see it doing a lot better without extruded but it’ll keep the cost under $400 so that’s good. I can see this being a good board because it won’t be a major adjustment from regular camber into the reverse camber/rocker arena. I can see this board in powder still having good float and rideable when the powder is tracked out.

Men’s
Retails for: $394.95
Shay Says: Price is right
Best for: A great all mountain rocker board for men.
Shay’s Yay or Nay: Yay the Chi Borg was a blast to rad.

09-10 Unity Reverse

Overall Impression: What I liked best about the reverse is it’s not insanely rocker, it’s Unity take to rocker giving it enough to help when you need it but still being a Unity snowboard, charge the mountain kind of board. It handled well, on icy spots and freeriding, it didn’t need any adjustment because the rocker was so minimal but it’s also not a just take it to the park kind of board.
Honesty Box:The reverse is based off the Unity Origin which I’ve ridden in the past, definitely a stiffer freestyle board by Unity but I like it a lot better with the rocker, it’s barely noticeable and when you need it, it gives you the fun, lift that reverse offers for park or pow. I can see people liking this board because it’s not an insane difference or adjustment from camber but still give the perks that come in handy.

Men’s
Retails for: $399.00
Shay Says: Price is right
Best for: A great intro into rockers, barely noticeable and still handles the mountain.
Shay’s Yay or Nay: Yay it was Unity’s rocker and it’s a good step for them into rocker.

09-10 YES Asymmetric Rocker

Overall Impression: I went into riding the YES completely blind on what features it had and what to expect from it. As soon as it hit snow, I knew it wasn’t a typical reverse camber…it wasn’t rocker in the center and it didn’t ride like it was. I also noticed how well it held an edge on icy conditions that morning, without feeling grippy like MTX. This was a little less freestyle focused than those because of where the rocker lies.

I felt like the 156 was actually longer than it was because of how it handled and definitely with a freestyle focus, it wouldn’t be hard to go down in size.
Honesty Box:The YES has camber between the feet and rocker towards the tip and tail and reminded me of the Atomic prototype I rode last summer with how it handled and rode (different flex though). It makes it a bit less freestyle focus but at the same time it handles freeriding very well, stability and speeds very well. I liked riding the board, definitely was a board that needed more than just groomers.

Men’s
Retails for: ?
Shay Says: Not sure since no price.
Best for: A charging rocker board
Shay’s Yay or Nay: Yay it handled some cruddy conditions and still impressed.