Snowboard Review: 09-10 Signal Omni

Location: Breckenridge & Steamboat, Colorado

Snow Conditions: Mixture of weather with hardpacked groomers to overcast on new snow.

Setup: I rode the Signal Omni with my Union Force SL’s and my Bonfire Geo boots.

First Impression: Definitely not what I was expecting but a nice surprise on signal’s take to reverse camber.

Size: 156cm

Weight: lighter than average

Flex: The omni isn’t as stiff as some other reverse camber boards I’ve ridden, it’s on the softer side compared to them but it isn’t a soft flexing snowboard.  It’s stiffer longitudinally with a softer torsional flex that gives you really quick edge to edge response when riding and the longitudinal flex helps keep the board stable on the mountain.  I actually found this board a easy and predictable ride for the mountain.  The omni’s reverse camber so it has camber between the feet, rocker from your feet out to the tip and tail.  I didn’t ride it in deep powder but in smaller amounts of powder, the reverse camber helped float and felt comfortable while staying centered on the board.

Turning: This is where the omni excels, groomers and carving.  This board can rally on edge through short and long radius turns, you can really carve with this board and feel stable in the carve.  It won’t catch with how the reverse camber is set up and the mix of camber/reverse gives you good stability for freeriding. The edgehold was surprisingly a good grip on some of the icy spots and I never felt uncomfortable on it with how it handled, this might me from the additional contact point at the transition from rocker to camber.  It felt very comfortable staying centered on the board and riding that way, if I was leaning back it didn’t feel as good but that could have been me and my riding.

Stable: The omni for it’s size has held up very well for stability when handling the mountain.  I’ve taken it freeriding and never felt any chatter or vibrations, it absorbed rougher terrain and when I took it out on a snowy day with low visibility I could rely that the board would handle it without being able to see bumps ahead of time.  It handles speed quite nicely and despite some early season conditions the base looks brand new.  I rode this board in the superpipe and the board handled the icy walls just fine.

Pop: It’s not as poppy as I was expecting and I just played with it on some rollers but didn’t stand out in that arena.  The flex made it still playful when it came to butters and presses, not as easy as the Signal Park Rocker for obvious reasons but still capable of fun.  I had some fun playing with the omni in the park, it wasn’t catchy on the boxes and I felt comfortable going into boardslides on it (still dialing them).

Switch: The omni is interesting in the shape, it’s directional in that the nose is longer than the tail but it’s twin in that the radial sidecut meets in the center.  When I first got it, I mounted it up switch and ended up riding it switch which rode exactly how it did regular.  Of course I then realized I did that and totally felt like an idiot for it but the good thing was that it rode switch as it does normal.

Overall Impression: It was a good surprise to see how Signal took to reverse camber and their mountain board is definitely a board that can ride variables on the mountain.    The response is a board that does everything decent, it can ride powder or park, freeride groomers or chop and it won’t break your bank on owning it.  Definitely the best bang for the buck reverse camber board I’ve seen on the market.

Shay’s Honesty Box: For me personally I’d probably ride the 159 all over the mountain with how it rode, the 156 was perfect for the blend of park to mountain which was great for early season riding.   It was a good ride and I spent a good number of days on it so far this season but I’d probably ride it only early/late season due to the size and flex for me.

Ready to buy? Head over to evo for men’s snowboards or shop their full line of snowboards

Review Disclosure: This product was given to me from Signal.