The 2013 Burton Sherlock is pretty close to the 2012.

The 2012 Burton Sherlock has a change in the effective edge to give it a little more board on snow and they added “squeezebox” to give the board better flex/pop between the feet. The ride improved in terms of flex and feel but the edge hold is still lacking.

Size: 160

Days: 6
Conditions: A little bit of powder to hard bordering on icy snow.
Riders: James, Peter
Boots: Burton Ion, Burton SLX, Burton Imperial, Nike Kaiju
Bindings: Burton Cartel, Burton Cartel EST, Burton Cartel Limited, Burton Diode,
Set Up:  A little set back, 23″ wide 15 front -12 back

On Snow Feel: The hybrid rocker feel of the Sherlock feels a lot like a continuous rocker board between the feet and it’s very loose. On hard pack when you flat base or one foot it takes some getting use to and it’s not ideal for a long skate down a cat track.  It feels like a skate board with loose trucks. The positive side is it is very forgiving loose and playful.  It’s really fun to cruise and play around the mountain in softer snow. As the conditions get softer the board becomes more stable and it’s a lot more fun to ride.  It’s the

Powder: The Burton Sherlock is a border line excellent ride when it comes to powder.  It’s actually one of it’s best qualities. The Flying V Rocker tech might be chattery in hard pack but it really shines in powder. It has a quick edge to edge style that makes it pretty surfy for only a 12.5mm or 1/2 inch set back. What is fun about this board is you can make a few surfy turns, hit a natural feature, land switch and ride away switch without much of a problem. We liked the Sherlock a little better in pow than we did the Custom Flying V.

Turn Initiation: The Sherlock was really easy to turn for a board of this flex and it’s one of those boards that anyone can ride. For some it might be too easy but most will find it to their satisfaction. There is a very loose and playful feel here and the board responds very well to quick short radius turns.  It also is very easy to get into wider turns. 

Speed:  The Sherlock has a good base that can perform well but not exceptional.  We liked the Custom Flying V a little better here.  You can mach down a hill on a powder day but the chatter the Sherlock generates on a hard pack day is less than ideal for speed. You can feel the chatter coming from the nose and it works it’s way to the bindings. On a snowment day I rode the nose/tail slapped the snow up and down making a sound similar to a bike with a card in the spokes. Another thing to mention is it’s not ideal to flat base so if you are one of those ballsy riders who likes to set their board flat and bomb you won’t be impressed with the Sherlock if you like stability.  Some don’t have issues with a loose board but I do. In better conditions many of the complaints about the Sherlock went away.  It wasn’t as chattery and was more fun when it came to speed.

Uneven Terrain: When you slow down and hit uneven snow the Sherlock can negotiate uneven bumpy end of the day snow very well.  What makes it chattery at high speed makes it pretty good in uneven snow at slower speeds.

Aproximate Weight: The Sherlock is pretty light.  It’s on the lighter end of the scale than most boards out there but it’s not in the ultra light category.

Edge Hold: On hard pack days the Burton Sherlock is just not where many boards are.  The pressure edge distribution aka frostbite edges are fine in good conditions but Burton’s claim about gripping icy snow is very much over exaggerated.  The Sherlock slid across icy patches instead of grip through them and barely hung in there when it came to keeping it’s edge in snowment.  We’d really like to see more of an extension of the board between the bindings.  The Frostbite tech is about 1/2 of a millimeter extension of the edges but we’d like to see a lot more to make this hybrid rocker grip the snow.  The 1/2 millimeter is ok for a camber board but you need more from a hybrid rocker board than this tech.  In my opinion the edge hold is holding this board back from being a really fun all conditions ride.  It’s only super fun in good conditions and I sincerely wish they would do something about this. 

Flex: As far as Burton goes it’s more of a medium to even medium/stiff flex.  Burton caters to lighter riders. I’m pretty heavy for someone my height and shoe size so this board felt flimsy compared to many in it’s class. Burton’s sweet spot was really set for a rider who is much lighter and the same height as I.  So if you are thick like me there are other boards that will do better than the Sherlock. I would think that even for a much lighter rider this board will still have the ability to easily butter and press.

Carving- The lack of edge hold and design of their hybrid rocker snowboards doesn’t make for good carving.  It’s no steak knife but more like a butter knife. In better conditions the Sherlock will be rather fun to lay out a big turn and it holds but it just doesn’t hold well at all in harder conditions and becomes washy.

Switch: This is not a twin shape but riding switch isn’t bad. This is a twin like directional shape very similar to the Burton Custom Flying V Rocker.  It feels different but still easy. 

Rails/Jibbing: There will be some better boards but this does a good job. We’d much rather be on the Nug or Whammy bar here but this isn’t bad stopping in from time to time. 

Pipe: The edge hold just won’t be fun in an icy pipe but this could be really fun on spring or warmer days.   

Jumps/Pop– Might be the Sherlock’s best quality.  The Sherlock is really fun and it has a fun forgiving approach to your average kicker.  It is loose and easy to spin. It was pretty springy too and fun to generate your own air.  If you combine EST bindings with Hinge Technology you have one of the easiest boards to ollie out there. I personally enjoyed the Custom Flying V and Antler better here but it’s still a good board for riding around the mountain and looking for natural terrain to launch off.

All in all the Sherlock will be decent choice for riding when the conditions are good but it’s far from an all conditions ride.  Many can still have a lot of fun with this board if it fits their riding style but we’d like to see some more edge hold and a lot less chatter when the conditions are hard.