OZ Fantasy Blaster 2017 - 2016 Review by The Good Ride

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The OZ Fantasy Blaster is new for 2016-2017 with a tapered directional shape and flat to rocker camber profile.  It has the same advantages and disadvantages that flat to rocker boards of this type have.  That means it’s stable underfoot and an easy floater but it’s not the best when it comes to dynamic turning. If you are ok with that then this could work.

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Size: 157
Days:   2
Conditions:    Pretty good spring conditions with hard snow in the morning going to medium and then to soft.
Riders: James, Jimbo, Matt, 
Boots: Burton SLX, Burton AMB, Burton Rover,
Bindings: Union Atlas, Burton Genesis
Set Up: Set back a bit, approximately 22.75″ wide 15 front -6 back.

Approximate Weight: Felt normal.

On Snow Feel: This flat to rocker profile is very stable and there is a lot of flat from just before the tail to a bit after the front binding.  It makes it very stable underfoot but not catchy. Very easy to one foot and flat base.

Edge Hold: Very good grip and Oz seems to make every board we have tried grip well in conditions you will experience out there.  Yes, this is mainly for good conditions but you can easily get through a hard patch on your way to a good patch.

Flex: Great mediumish flex for a free ride to powder board that’s easy to butter off the nose and tail.  It does this without compromising speed too.

Turn Initiation: Nice and quick edge to edge but not snappy or dynamic.  It doesn’t build on the effort you put into a turn.

Skidded Turns: Super easy to skid turns and if you get off your game you can skid out of it and regain control.

Carving: Boring to carve and a touch washy. We’d love to see Oz take the camber profile in the Woody and make it directional and then you would have a pretty fun ride when the powder is gone.

Powder:  There is 25 mm/ 1″ set back which I believe is on side cut but based on a 22.75″ stance width we could get almost 1.5″ back.  That combined with that big rocker nose and tapered tail this will float really really well.  It’s going to float effortlessly even in thicker deep Sierra Cement.  I would have no problem taking this out when it’s deep.  Even though there is a lot of flat in the tail section it still butters off the tail really well so you can wheelie up really easy.  We would personally like a little camber in the tail area so we could get a little more pop off the tail and drive out of turns in the steeps but the float factor is really good.

Speed: It’s pretty stable and fast. The board is damper that the flex would lead you to believe.  That’s a quality we like about all OZ boards.

Uneven Terrain: Great for dealing with uneven snow.  What makes it less chattery than you would think for the flex also makes it really good in uneven hard snow to bumpy messy soft snow.

Switch: Doable but not ideal. We all rode this switch a good bit but it’s most at home riding nose forward.

Jibbing: You can actually jib with this and Matt took it through a small to medium sized park a few times and it was better than you would think.

Pipe: We’d all much rather be in the Pipe on the Woody than the Fantasy Blaster but it’s ok for what it is in the pipe.

Jumps: There is decent pop off the tail but we felt much more ollie power from the Woody and other boards with similar shapes that have camber in the tail.  Still, you can get some mountain air with this.

So if you are all about easy surfy float in powder the Fantasy Blaster is a good choice but it’s missing a little something for carving up groomers that would make this a well rounded freeride board.