Union Rover Carbon Split Board Alternative Review

An In Depth Breakdown Of The Union Rover Carbons Review by The Good Ride

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How The Union Rover Carbon Was Tested

I’ve put a lot of days on this with union bindings or other split board bindings.

I’ve actually been riding it with drift board bindings that now mount on this very well. But I have tried these with expeditions, regular chargers, the old charger FC that I have here, and my Spark R&D bindings. I’ve ridden these with a lot of different boots as well.

I also compared these against the regular rovers, the drift board cascades, the regular wider drift board carbon’s with a higher in skin that I still use on deep, untracked days where there isn’t an established skin track, several split boards like my Cardiff Powgoda Pro Carbon, and many others from Jones and many brands.

I asked to keep these and bought an extra pair so I can take friends up with me.

Size: 100cm
Days:40+
Conditions:  and some early morning Slackountry pow time with Drift Boards & Union Rovers
Riders: James (Size 9 E, 5’10”, 185-190lbs). I’ve tested and compared 850+ boards, 200+ bindings, and 120+ boots
Davey (Size 12, 240lbs, 6’4”)
Boots: Nitro Team BOA, Nitro Team TLS
Insoles: F.I.T. Gamechangers
Bindings: Union Force, Union Atlas Step On
Redundancy: Strapins in case boots or bindings break or to improve sidehilling with splitboard bindings.
Jacket: Skyline Fuse Jacket, Jones Mtn Surf Anorak
Pant: Skyline Fase 3L Bib Pant, Skyline Faze Pant, Jones Mountain Surf Pant
Helmet: Smith Method, Smith Scout
Goggle: Smith 4D Mag Low Bridge Fit
Gloves: Burton AK Clutch Mitt, Burton AK Tech Leather Glove

Similar Boards We Like (but not the same):

Capita Spring Break Powder Glider, Burton 3D Fish, Soul Blower, Capita Spring Break Powder Twin, Korua Pintonic, Weston Japow, Soul Shift, Nidecker Beta, Korua Pintonic, Jones Storm Chaser 2025, Stranda Tree Surfer, Salomon Wolle Nyvelt Fish, Burton Smooth Operator, Korua Pencil, Jones Hovercraft, Korua Transition Finder, Salomon Dancehaul, K2 Excavator, Amplid Surfari, Cardiff Powgoda, Jones Mind Expander, YES PYL Uninc, Stone Farther, United Shapes Cadet, Jones Flagship Pro, Burton Counterbalance, Weston Gnarnia, Nidecker Megalight 2026 or later, Stranda Descender Evo, Lib Tech Son Of Birdman, Korua Otto, United Shapes Horizon, Lib Tech Dynamo, and many many more

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Weight Comparison

So, when it comes to weight, the Carbon Rovers with the Charger Carbon binding weigh 3.8 pounds per foot. With the regular chargers, you’re looking at 4 pounds per foot. With the drift board bindings, you’re looking at 2.6 pounds per foot.

So in comparison to the regular rovers with drift board bindings on, you’re looking at about 2.8 pounds versus 2.6. But it changes Rover to Rover because they are now using wood inside. If you compare it to the drift board carbon with the mohair skins, the high-end lighter skins, you’re looking at 2.4 pounds. If you have the regular skins, it’s more like 2.5 or 2.6 pounds. Compared to regular cascades with nylon skins, you’re looking at 2.6 pounds.

So all of these approach ski options are a good bit less than a split board setup. Even really ultralight split boards are still around 5.5-6 pounds. Most split boards, with skins and bindings, are closer to 7lbs.

So when you add a board and bindings to your back, you have more overall weight. But the weight distribution is better with these because a pound on your foot is equivalent to 6 pounds on your back. It’s just like when people are geeking out on faster cars. They’re always trying to reduce the wheel weight. It’s a similar principle: extra weight on your feet makes it much harder to walk.

Wind Issues

As long as there’s no wind on a windy day, I’m desperate for a split board. On a day without wind, when I go up on the rover carbons or the rovers or the drift boards, and then I switch to a split board, it’s very hard to go up after being on approach skis like this because it’s so light on your feet. It’s so easy to go uphill.

If you have back problems, though, as one of my friends does, you just don’t like uphill travel with a backpack on. Also, she always defers to a split. If you see a lot of wind, you’re going to like a split board better because you don’t have a sail on your back. You don’t have to do some weird tacking to get up to the top of a hill.

Riding A Solid On A Down

But for me, these Rover Carbons are great because they let me ride a solid board with solid bindings like my Union Force, which I loved. I just get a much better ride down, especially being on a solid versus a split. The down is just so much better, and even average riders like myself really feel that.

Then I can go ride the resort, deal with uneven snow, and not have to ride a hybrid split board binding that offers no shock absorption and less response. And they’re far less damp too.

Uphill Travel

So let’s talk uphill travel.

This little bit of camber actually really helps.

In comparison to the drift board carbon, it’s flat throughout, but there isn’t any early rise in the tail, just in the nose.

You can see the nose peaks up a little higher with the drift boards. They don’t have a side cut, though. They’re very wide underfoot. But they’re shorter, so these do better in powder.

These Drift Board Carbons have a little more purchase with the skins going uphill than the rovers that have rocker here at the end. I like the uphill travel a lot more with the Rovers because they have edges and grip firm snow better without having to go right to crampons.

Grip and Sidehilling

With the urethane edges of the drift board carbons, they also side hill a lot easier because there’s a side cut, and you can really leverage in and side hill easier.

They’re narrower than the drift boards, which are pretty wide where your foot is. So they’re much harder to sidehill. I slide out a lot more with the much narrower Cascade Carbon. These side hills are a lot better, but you’re still missing an edge and a side cut, so this helps, but then you’re sacrificing float and powder.

For me, Cascade Carbons were mainly used when the skin track was very well established and packed in. Then these do great. This was a nice compromise between the cascade and the regular drift carbon pro. With the binding on the sidehilling is exceptional. I felt like it just gripped so well.

And if I had split-board bindings with slits on either side of the highback, I would take my Strap-Ins and wrap them around the top, and it really just adds to sidehill capability. It’s not quite a hard boot level, but it’s much better than this. And it does an exceptional job.

So if you’re going up a lot of steep terrain and you’re primarily riding soft snow to powder, you’re not seeing a lot of uneven snow, you’re not going to go ride the resort after you do an uphill adventure or two before the lifts open, then splitboard bindings are a better option.

But if you’re somebody like me, going with drift board bindings and the rover carbons is an excellent solution because it gives me much better side hilling than the drift board carbons.

Deep Powder

Now, when it comes to deep powder, I found these a good bit more challenging than my Rover Carbon’s. If I’m getting up super early, I know I’m going to be one of the first people to set the skin track, then I’m taking these. They just sit on top of deep powder a little better. They’re not amazing compared to a split board. But man, being able to ride any solid you want to go down with, I’m willing to give it a little more work, especially when they’re light.

I definitely prefer these over untracked skin tracks and deep powder. I also love putting these on my back rather than on the rovers. I have to angle down, and I always feel like these tails get in the way of climbing down a snow wall when I get back to the parking lot after my morning adventures. These make it a little trickier than these.

Length Comparison

But these days, this combination is my daily driver. You can buy these separately from drift boards. You don’t have to buy the rovers with bindings from Union either. So if you go with Rover or Rover Carbon, I think this is the best solution.

Rovers vs. Split Boards

And in comparison to a split board, when I’m going out on long tours, I want that split board. I can put more in my backpack, like food, etc. I don’t have to worry about wind. And with good splitboard bindings and strap-ins on top, I’ve got the best sidehilling you can get. These are close, though. Very close, especially with bindings on. And that’s what I take when I’m going for a longer splitboard mission. And I’m not riding the lifts, and I see a lot of soft snow.

If you’re somebody who wants to build a jump in the backcountry, this blows doors over split boards because you never take the skins off. It also makes the change time so much faster for me. Just going up the cone at Mount Bachelor, that’s a very short route. You can do as many laps as you want. If you’re not like me, go back to the car to get another board to compare. But if you’re just going down to the bottom of the cone and back up, down, back up, you can do several laps before the lifts open, and you never have to worry about managing skins. The transition time is so much faster. So it’s best for jumps and cones.

Final Thoughts

So, overall, the rovers aren’t without issues. But right now, the combination of the drift board binding along with the Union rover carbon is my choice. I like this lighter, easier uphill carbon version versus the regular. It’s not like how I feel about ultralight snowboards because I’m not going down with these. I’m only going up, so I don’t need to worry about ultralight issues as you do on snowboards.

So there you have it. I highly recommend it. I love that they transitioned from black to white top sheets, so they don’t heat up and collect more snow as the black ones did. I’d love to see less tail. I’d love to see more skin. Maybe have a little more surface area to allow for more float. But as it stands right now, for established skin tracks and sidehilling, this is the best approach ski out there.

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