How does the tool work

(And how to find the best snowboard for you)

TLDR: We combine objective snowboard science, curated and aggregated review, brought together by an intelligent model that understands your needs

Talking Bear

Finding the right snowboard can be broken into two main objectives

  1. The hard theory

    (aka things that are clear when you see the board specs). Some examples are (everything else being equal!):
    • A directional board with a huge nose will float in powder better than a true twin freestyle board
    • A volume-shifted board with a 6m sidecut radius will be more nimble than a bombing board with a 10m radius
    • An old-school full camber board will have more pop than a rocker board, despite what new `ground-breaking` technology the rocker board has
    • The same full camber will catch edges much more often that the rocker and will be more punishing for a beginner
    It is hard to argue those facts. When you go over a board's size, effective edge, sidecut radius, camber profile, and flex, you can already have a decent idea of what the board will be like. If you have the theory and numbers, you can already make a decision that 9/10 times will be more than decent.

  2. The fine print

    (aka you need to write the thing to get the full picture)

    The numbers can only get you so far. There are fine intricacies that are clear only when you ride the board. There are things like fancy sidecut shapes that help with grip and turning experience, different flex/materials in different parts of the board, subtle changes in the camber, fancy stuff like the spooned noses, etc, etc.

    Those factors are often overhyped by brands, but they can still significantly impact the riding experience. To understand this impact, one needs to turn to the evaluation of reputable riders who have tried out the board. In doing this, great care must be made to reduce the human bias.

How does this tool deal with these challenges to give you the best suggestions

Snowboard Science

This part is straightforward. We maintain a database of snowboards and their specs, wich we are constantly growing. Given the specs and your input, we can already have a sanity filter. If you want progress your buttering, we will not offer you a stiff big-mountain bomber like Jones Flagship or K2 Alchemist.

Given your size, style, and experience, we will recommend sensible board sizes. If your foot is too short or too long for a given board width, we will give you a heads-up so that you know what situations you might face.

Snowboard Vibe

This part is a bit more tricky. We want to supplement the hard facts with user experience. However, we can run into several problems:

  • If you go to the forums, you get a lot of comments that are of sample size of 1. You see a comment that board X is a noodle and unstable, but then you realize that this was written by a 6'4" 300lbs dude that got a board too sizes too small. You also get a lot of fanboys and girls, a lot of insane shredders that right 10cm longer board than you, and a lot of people that had 1 board in their life and watched a bunch of youtube videos. This is why there is no single grain of personal opinion sprinkled in this app - I don't have the years or number of boards ridden to make bold claims, I have loved some boards and been miserable with others but this is like, my opinion, man
  • If you go to the brand's website, you will get a whole bunch of 4.9/5 average scores from all the brand fans
  • And then you get to the expert reviews. True, there are a lot of guys that push out content without much thought, afraid to give an unfavorable review to brands because of some deals they have made.

But this is not to say that there are no reputable experts who are very knowledgeable and ride more than 50 new boards each season. These are the people who are never too busy to advise confused future snowboarders and prioritize objectiveness even when this might upset a brand that has put out a sloppy product. This, in fact, is a good place to start - if 3 people who know their stuff agree that a board is fun to ride, chances are, they are onto something.

The key is to remember that expert opinion is still human opinion with all the potential for bias. It is, therefore, used sparingly and only to supplement the hard facts. We do our best to curate and aggregate and if something is off, we will prefer to leave it out than put some hot take in there.

Putting it all together

We have collected your input - who you are, what you like, and anything else you decided to share (hey, if you want to share your favorite snowboard movie, we are all ears). We have filtered the best candidates, sprinkled in some feedback from the pros. All that is left to feed this into the large model that will narrow it down so you don't feel overwhelmed. Yes, AI can sound too sci-fi, or gimmicky, or even fake, but it is the best tool to share the collective knowledge available in a matter of seconds. Nothing will beat the good old human touch, so if you feel like you are left with unanswered questions, feel free to reach out to us at contact@snowboardpicker , and we will get to the bottom of it.