There’s no better known snowboarding stick out there than the Burton Custom. And if there’s a snowboard that Burton is known for, it’s the Custom board.

In line with all the improvements, redesigns, reintroductions, etc… Burton added their own version of the reverse camber technology to their most popular snowboard and I finally got a chance to try it out over the weekend. Here’s my review:

Conditions: Very cold and icy.
Setup: Burton Mission Bindings.

Technology Worth Mentioning

Expectations - Given Burton’s Custom snowboard great track record, the rocker design, and more importantly the hype I’ve heard and read, I was expecting this thing to rock the mountain.

First Impression - Burton’s Custom V-rocker is a fun board to muck about and butter the snow with as the rocker shape nicely lifts up the tips and gives you a center base to pivot on. Unfortunately this meant the board did not hold any edge on icy/somewhat icy surfaces. I felt uncomfortable bombing down the mountain, and the V-rocker does take some getting used to. But boy did I have a blast switching and doing spins with the board.

Flex – The Custom V-rocker is a truly flexible board and you’ll feel it right away under your feet. Obviously this is where the rocker design comes in play.

Feel/Turning – The board feels light and steady through straight lines, but it’s when you start going faster that things get ‘iffy’. Although the board is stable under higher speeds, making turns is not the most natural thing with the Custom V-rocker. My guess is that the lifted tips make it extra hard to grab an edge if there isn’t enough snow on the surface. You’ll find yourself feeling somewhat off balance when making turns, so make sure you have enough space.

Park Riding - Naturally this board would fare well in the park and the reality is very close to that. Although I’m not a park person, I found myself wanting to spend more time in the park, because it’s a fun board for the park. Once again, the rocker design really helps as it softens the landings and makes spins easier to pull off. I highly recommend that you take this on boxes, but be careful with rails. The rocker shape will take some getting used to, but once you settle into it, you’ll enjoy the park very much. Unfortunately the half pipe was in bad shape so I couldn’t test this thing properly, but I felt a lot potential fun to be had from the few half pipe runs I got.

Stopping/Switching – Stopping with the Burton Custom V-rocker required more effort and space than expected. Like I said, the rocker design lifts up the tips so much that, unless there’s enough snow, holding an edge was more frustrating than expected. Switching on the other hand was SO MUCH fun. Given my disappointment with the turns and stops, I was stoked at how much fun this board was at switches. If it means anything to anyone, I’ve (un)officially renamed this board the Burton Buttertom V-rocker.

Pros

• Rocker design is a lot of fun
• Fun in the park
• Amazing for buttering/switching and overall mucking about

Cons

• Does not hold or grab as much edge as advertised/hyped

Overall Impression – Despite what Burton says about the Custom V-rocker being a “mountain monopolizer”, I regret to inform you that it isn’t. Unless snow conditions are great all over, you’ll find yourself frustrated with its stopping/turning abilities. Admittedly, snow conditions were (annoyingly) mostly icy, I still don’t think this stick is meant for all-mountain freestylers. But at the same time, if you’re going to stick around the park, you’re better off getting a park board. I feel the biggest culprit behind this is the imbalance between the traditional Custom feel and the V-rocker design. Needless to say, I’ve changed my mind about buying this board.

Who is this board for? If I really had to describe the ideal rider for this board, I’d say it’s for the intermediate freestyle rider that wants a bit more speed and more mountain ride time without sacrificing the goodness of effortless buttering, switching, and spinning.

Related posts:

1. 2010 Burton Rider Review: Method, Jussi, Custom V-rocker, Jeremey Jones, Easy Living
2. Burton Jussi 2010 Review
3. K2 Brigade 2010 Snowboard Review

Finding the right snowboard is undoubtedly a very important mission, but finding the right pair of boots is just as important. I’ve had 2008 model of the Burton Ion boots for a couple seasons now, but this year I upgraded to the 2010 model.  I wouldn’t normally review a boot, because the feel of one will differ from person to person, but this will offer some light into your dark search for a boot.

Setup: I used the Burton Ion boots with Burton’s T6 snowboard and Burton’s C60 bindings.

Where: Blue Mountain, Mont Tremblant, Banff, Colorado, and Whistler with all kinds of snow conditions.

Technology:

• Speed Zone Lacing: makes loosening and tightening boots very easy.
• Low-profile EST Optimized Midsole: essentially this tech brings you closer to the binding and thus lowering your center of gravity. In my opinion, every little bit counts.
• RX Adjustable Cushioning: Very fancy way of saying that you can change the gel pack used in the boots, but useful nonetheless. You can opt for more cushioning for easier riding, or less cushioning for more aggressive riding.

Pro’s:

• Very easy to put on/take off: The boots’ speed zone lacing combined with the excellent boot quality and build, putting them on and taking them off was very easy. Just loosen them all the way, tighten the liners (the inside layer), and pull away on the two laces. Done.
• Comfortable: Man are these comfortable boots! Strapped and unstrapped, the Burton Ions hug your feet oh so warmly.
• Flexibility: This is an all-mountain freestyle boot and I must say, it lives up to that designation. Burton pegged the Ion a 8/10 for support (1/10 being least stiff and 10/10 stiffest). In other words, these boots are excellent for all around riding. With over a 100 days of riding, my older Burton Ions are (surprisingly) as stiff as new and thus wear n’ tear has not diminished the boots’ excellent responsiveness.
• Style: The Burton Ion 2010 are very well designed, and unlike most boots, they look sexy (I have the black ones, but they also come in white).

Neutral:

• Heel lift: I didn’t want to put this in the Con’s section, simply because I’m a very aggressive rider who likes taking jumps, so heel lift is inevitable. Nonetheless, I still experienced some heel lift, and I really wasn’t expecting any given that the Burton Ions are Burton’s 2nd most expensive snowboarding boots. With that said, the extra ankle support pads that come with the boots work well to decrease the heel lift. However, those pads were designed to be used after a few years of usage, but instead, I had to install them within the first season.

Con’s:

• Expensive: Did the Italians design these boots or what? I bought my first Ions a season old for $250, but I shelled out $400 for the new ’10 model. Boots that cost more than a decent number of snowboards are expensive any way you spin it.
• Too stiff for the park: The Burton Ions are unfriendly when it comes to park play. While taking and landing jumps are doable in these, you’ll feel the pain when you switching and more so when landing switch jumps. Tip: make sure you are wearing thick socks if you insist on park play.

Current Model v.s. Previous Models

• Design has been changed, albeit slightly, but I like the new ones more.
• The current model has been optimized for EST bindings (explained above in the ‘Technology’ section).
• Speed zone lacing system has been altered to easier usability (I didn’t feel much of a difference, but that just could be my experienced hands).
• Changeable gel pack (explained in ‘Technology’ section), which was also available in the ’09 model, but non-existent in prior to that.

My Suggestions to Burton:

• As always, please find it in your hearts to use less fancy ‘BS’ terminology.
• Let’s work on improving the heel lift issue, even if I’m the only one experiencing.

I love my Burton Ion boots, and there’s a reason why I bought the newer models. As an aggressive rider who likes to play around a bit on the mountain, these boots are as good as they get at the moment. With that said, keep in mind that your experience with boots will be different than my experience, so make sure you try them on first at the store. And when you do, feel free to walk around in them in the store for 5-10 minutes before you make a decision. Finding the right snowboarding boots is important!

If you have any questions, comments, or want to share your experience with the boots, leave a comment below or contact us.

Related posts:

1. Top 5 Snowboarding Boots for 2010
2. 2010 Burton Ozone Boot Review
3. Burton T6 2010 Rider Review

A rider review by Hoon, a rider, surfer, biker, and all around family man: hoonhwang.blogspot.com

There’s that old marketing message that’s used for everything from cars to ketchup that goes like this: everything you need, nothing you don’t. After testing a pair of Burton Ozones, this slogan kept coming to mind.

The Ozones fall in the middle of the Burton lineup with a cost of $279.95. Pro riders testing, defining and riding the Ozones are: Mason Aguirre, Jussi and Dave Downing. The boots feature such Burton innovations such as Speed Zone lacing, EST optimized soles with B3 gel, articulating cuff and Park-Specific Soft Flex 3D® Molded Tongue.

In the past, my go-to boots have been the iconic Burton Sabbaths, which have been remade into the Grails, and the Vans Andreas Wiig pro model boots. You’ll notice that both boots offer similar features: stiffer, freestyle flex, adequate cushioning and laces.

The Ozones are a different animal. Lightweight, Lacing system and medium flex. Kudos go to Burton as the Speed Zone system has continually evolved for the better. The boots are also ridiculously light yet have sufficient cushioning to handle many a flat, icy landing with my thrashed knees. Articulating cuffs are great, nuff said. And I have a size 9 foot, but the footprint reduction really helps when I happen to jump on a smaller deck or Women’s board. The EST optimized sole seemed to offer better feel when paired with an EST binding, but I can’t offer a definitive answer on this. Of course Burton’s boot are compatible with anyone else’s binding but always have that glass slipper feel with their brethen binders.

Complaints? Worries? Jabs? After about a few months of riding, I started to notice a tear in the back of the boot around the calf as well as some wear and tear, usually consistent with a longer length of riding (6 months). It could possibly be he killer calf bite of my Cartels. I can only speculate that the light weight of the boot comes at the cost of long term durability. Or that the size 9 boot wasn’t designed for a 185lb dude.

All in all, a sick super fun boot! It felt like a skate sneaker (and I think weighs the same) and cushioned like that goose down pillow on your bed. If you’re rotating boots each season, I suggest that you add the Ozones to your line-up. But if you want a boot that lasts a few seasons (a tough request by most standards), I’d look elsewhere.

Related posts:

1. Burton Ion Boots 2010 Review
2. Top 5 Snowboarding Boots for 2010
3. Burton Jussi 2010 Review

2010 Burton Rider Review

A rider review by Hoon, a rider, surfer, biker, and all around family man: hoonhwang.blogspot.com

As I wrote before, I spent a sweet weekend at the U.S. Open of Snowboarding. It was fun times with friends and some awesome snowboarding. I did a quick write up for Fuel here on it. As part of the weekend, I demo’ed a bunch of 2010 Burton Snowboards. I’ve been moving to smaller boards with a more blunted tip/tail shape so keep that in mind. Here’s a quick review for each board tested. Of course these aren’t production boards, and things may change before the fall.

Conditions: Spring VT. Nice groomers bright and early. Sugar, crap and ice mid-day. Slush, rocks and bare spots in the afternoon. US Open chaos but took runs all over Stratton. Found some rock jibs, stump and tree jibs. Didn’t roll through the park as my “rider” pass didn’t allow me into the Stratton parks (just the US Open pipe and slopestyle).

Burton Method 155

Burton Method 2010

This is the board that you’ve been hearing about. It costs around $1,300 to $1,600, depending on who you ask, and Burton raided the R&D department to create this ubermachine. I was 100% skeptical about this board, but like the Vapor, I was pleasantly surprised. The shape is pure freestyle with blunt tip and tail. Many boards in 2010 will be rocking the blunt tip/tail shapes, which are old skool, but I love them. It was surprisingly a fun ride. It handled everything well, but was a bit too dead compared to the liveliness that I’ve come to expect from Burton. Lighter and softer than a Vapor, livelier than a T6.

In the air, it was ridiculously light, like hit a kicker and totally overshoot the landing, light. After a few runs, I got a handle on the feel and started getting really comfortable with the board. I did a few rock taps and log jibs with no problems. You have to test the durability right? According to the Demo Tent Dude, it’s lighter than a Chopper kids board (that’s with bindings), whoa. I’d say my biggest issue was fearing that someone would steal it, so I had to bring it into the bar with me to keep it safe at lunch time.

Burton Jussi 156

Burton Jussi 2010

Holy fawking crap! I’ve always liked the Jussi as a nice stiff freestyle board with insane amounts of pop and springiness. But it seemed a bit too stiff to be that versatile board that you want to rock everywhere. The latest incarnation of the Jussi offers a softer (not too soft) flex between the bindings and scoop tip and tail. In the past, I’ve also really liked scoop as seen in the Fix or Seven for 2009. Scoop seemed to provide me with the extra little love for butters and flat land without sacrificing the ollie pop that I crave. The Jussi didn’t disappoint. From first to last run, it was like meeting back up with your old girlfriend. Sweet, comfortable and trustworthy. From high speed 180s to crud busting to goofing around, it was shredtastic. I’d right more, but I fear that this would be just another cliched “this is awesome” review.

And the graphics? Amazing. Burton put out all the stops on this one. For a short summary, I felt like they took my 08 Uninc, slightly softened the flex, added Scoop and sped up the base. This is definitely top 5 for 2010.

Burton Jeremy Jones 159

Burton Jeremey Jones 2010

Another tested favorite from ye old closet, the Jeremy Jones was one of my favorites way back in 2007. My assumption that this would be that same board, but now updated with better construction, a faster base and zero camber in the 159. To my surprise, I hated this board. Hate might be too strong, but I really disliked this board. Part of it could be because the base wasn’t really that well waxed, even though the Demo guys pulled the board right of the bag. Could it be that the zero camber was affecting the base on the flats? I couldn’t really get a good feel with the board. Riding it was ok, nothing special. It just didn’t feel right at all. I respect Jeremy Jones as a rider a lot, but I gotta say, it might be time to retire the board from the lineup after this season.

Oh and the graphics? Absolutely horrendous. Sorry Lance V, I’m just not into the topsheet. I do like the new Forum graphics though for 2010.

Burton Custom Vrocker 159

Burton Custom V-Rocker 2010

Every time I went into the demo tent, the Custom Vrockers were out. So finally I stalked the board by getting to the demo tent first thing on Sunday AM. The 156 (my preferred size) was already out, but they did have a 159. Unlike the Custom, the Vrocker is a mid-wide. The 159 has a waist width of 255, so I was totally able to take the board out even though it’s a bit long and wide for me for East Coast riding.

Many people I know were pushing me to ride this board. And it pains me to say this, but they’re right. The board is sick. The flex is slightly softer than the regular Custom and the Vrocker works in synch with this stiffer, all-mountain deck. It was super stable, held an edge at speed on ice, etc. and also at the same time was able to utilize the Vrocker to make your park riding, freestyle dorking sessions more fun. I’ve been testing the Never Summer SL-R. The Custom Vrocker reminded me a lot of the SL-R or the T.Rice that I was also riding. The common themes are: slightly stiffer flex, reverse camber, yet still maintains an edge and has ollie pop off the tail. So I think you’ll see a lot of Custom Vrockers on the slopes in 2010 as it combines the traditional best seller: the custom with Burton’s version of the rocker. Definitely a killer combo and this is also on my short list now. I just wish it came with blunted tip and tail.

Burton Easy Living 155

Burton Easy Living 2010

The Easy Living is Burton’s replacement of the Uninc (RIP PIG). The Unincs are my opinion of the gold standard. I’ve had an Uninc in my quiver for as many year’s as the boards have been around. I love the way these boards ride: stable, twin tipped, slightly stiffer flex and of course, sick graphics. So I fully expected to jump on the Easy Living and have a similar experience. On paper, the Easy Living looks almost identical to the 2009 Uninc 155, which was hella fun when I tested it a few months ago. The major difference is that Burton upgraded the base for 2010. The graphics in person are friggin’ rockstar. I remember when I first saw them, I was skeptical, but they’re tight.

The ride was a different story. It was stiffer than this year’s Uninc, and it kinda didn’t impress me at all. Of course it could have been the horrible conditions or the fact that I was super hungover or possibly still drunk, but I tested all the boards in this state. The board rode fine, but IMO it didn’t meet the standards that I’ve come to expect from the Uninc boards. Rocking it switch was super twitchy, like unpredictable not happy to ride switch twitchy. The board rode fine straight and was also fine in the air. Talking to a few different people, there’s been mixed reviews of the Easy Living. Surprisingly this board is not on my list for 2010.

Related posts:

1. 2010 Burton Custom V-Rocker Review: It’s Not What You Think
2. Burton Jussi 2010 Review
3. Burton Vapor 2010 Rider Review

Burton Vapor

Every year Burton comes out with a new lineup and every year they manage to dominate the headlines, snowboarding communities, and virtually anything to do with the sport. And with a market share of roughly 60% to 70%, I’m not surprised. But are Burton snowboards deserving of such publicity? Are their snowboards really that good? Or is it just a case of first mover advantage (they didn’t invent snowboarding but they were one the first companies to commercialize the sport on a grand scale)? Depending on who you ask, you’ll get different responses, but in any case, Burton does an amazing job of staying on top of their market. It’s no coincidence that anywhere you turn, you find their brand and products in the spotlight.

One has to admit though, Burton snowboards are well designed, engineered, and manufactured. But not every board they create is a success and we want to help our readers make better decisions when it comes to buying Burton gear. Many of us turn to the internet to learn more about the gear we want to buy, but let’s face it, almost every review article out there is a sales pitch and not a useful product review. Since it’s almost impossible for our crew to review all the gear out there, we plan on leveraging the snowboarding community out there for bias-free and independent rider reviews. We will also focus on comparative reviews, where our rider reviewers will compare to similar boards to each other to give you an even better idea of what to expect. After all, if you’re going to shell out $500-$2500 for snowboards, boots, bindings, jackets, pants, helmets, etc… or a full set of  gear, you’ll want to make the right purchase. Check out our Burton Snowboard reviews page for a full list of our featured reviews.

$$$: If you consider yourself an expert rider and would like to have your rider review featured to 10,000′s of our readers, contact us and let us know. If we feature enough of your reviews, we’ll sponsor future ones by hooking you up with some sweet gear for you to review and keep at no cost.

Related posts:

1. Will My Old Bindings Work With the New Burton ICS Boards?
2. Burton Cartel 2010 Bindings Review
3. Burton Ion Boots 2010 Review