Burton High Fidelity Snowboard Review

An Honest Objective Write Up of the Burton High Fidelity Review by The Good Ride

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An Un-Paid, Un-Biased Breakdown Of How the Burton High Fidelity Rides

How The Burton High Fidelity Was Tested:

I borrowed the Burton High Fidelity for an extended demo and sent it back.

Ethics Statement

I was not paid to do this review, and it comes from an honest, objective perspective with no brand oversight.

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Size: 158
Days: 3
Conditions: Low lit but good groomers, Ok pow and then legit pow thanks to my Drift Board Bindings & Union Rovers
Riders: James (Size 9, 5’10”, 185-190lbs). I’ve tested and compared 800+ boards
Boots: Ride Deadbolt,
Insoles: F.I.T. Gamechangers
Bindings: Union Atlas, Union Force
Redundancy: Strapins in case boots or bindings break.
Jacket: Jones Mtn Surf Anorak, Skyline Fuse Jacket
Pant: Jones Mountain Surf Pant, Burton AK Gore-Tex Pro 3L Hover Pant, Skyline Faze Pant
Helmet: Smith Method, Smith Scout, Smith Maze
Goggle: Smith 4D Mag
Gloves: Burton AK Clutch Mitt, Burton AK Tech Leather Glove, Drop Tahoma Mitt,

James’s Set Up: 21.5” Wide. Stance Angles +18/-3, +18/+3. Close to Reference on groomers and Set all the way back in powder.

Similar Boards We Like (but not the same):

Amplid Souly Grail, K2 Alchemist, YES PYL Uninc, Weston Backwoods, United Shapes Cadet, Burton Gril Master, Jones Flagship Pro,

Approximate Weight

(We don’t put in the exact weight because with wood cores, there is no consistency in a board’s weight)

Sizing

The 158 Burton High Fidelity felt a little narrow for my boot size, and I felt a little heavy but not too heavy. Usually, boards this size and in this recommended weight range fit me well with Burton, but I think the lighter/poppy construction combined with the narrow width made me very 162 curious. Its recommended weight range of 180-260 puts me at the bottom at 185-190lbs, but at least it’s not wide, so my size nine boots have better leverage on edge than many other family tree boards in this weight range.

Sizing is all about balancing what fits your boot size and your weight for how you like to ride. If your boot is too wide, you can’t turn it; if it’s too narrow, you get the dreaded Toe & Heel Drag. Your weight is a close second to boot size because it determines how the board will feel under your foot.  Height comes in a distant 3^rd. Some prefer control, so matching the boot size is the priority. Others prefer dampness over control and like to size up.

Here are some ideal US boot sizes for these boards.
150: 6.5-7.5
154: 7-8
158: 7,5-8.5
162: 8.5-9.5
166: 9-10
158w: 9.5-10.5
162w: 10-11

I would stay in the lower to upper middle of Burton’s recommended weight ranges. If it comes down to boot size or weight, Make sure it fits your boot first and then your weight a distant second because these boards run narrow, and you really want to avoid toe/heel drag.

Shape

There isn’t a lot of taper, but it has a pretty directional shape with a much larger nose than the tail. The Burton High Fidelity does feel a little more tapered.

Camber/On Snow Feel/Ability Level

There is a good bit of camber, just a few centimeters less than full camber. All that camber, combined with the almost stiff flex, makes the Burton High Fidelity pretty technical. Skidding a turn takes some work, but it’s still not as unforgiving as full camber. It tracks one footing and flat basing very well, but compared to many boards these days, it feels very narrow, so for some, it might not feel as stable one footing and flat basing. It’s twitchy but not hooky.

Edge Hold

It’s not on par with many peers regarding edge hold but if you don’t like disrupted sidecuts it makes for a

Flex Personality

The Burton High Fidelity is on the border of being stiff, but I’d still call it medium/stiff, as it doesn’t feel as gnarly as past boards like the Leader Board and others. It wasn’t super easy to butter in the nose/tail, but there was a lot of pretty easy pop. You would think it would be harder, but it snaps into the air easily for average riders like me.

Uneven Snow

This board was light but not ultralight and poppy, so it didn’t feel too chattery. However, it wasn’t ideal in uneven snow when it was hard. If you are seeing soft, uneven snow, it will do pretty well for a narrow little board.

Speed

This is pretty fast, and although narrow, it can go straight well.

Base Glide

So the blue WFO base on the Burton Straight Chuter and Hometown hero in the past felt a bit faster. This is much better than past bases and doesn’t need to be waxed, rewaxed, and waxed again. It’s just not as good as expected for a board at this price. I wish this had that old, super-fast blue base.

Turning Experience/Carving

The High Fidelity turns super quick for my size 9 boots. Whenever I needed this board to be somewhere, it got there lightning fast. This is a great board for those who like to slalom through trees or bumps. Once you get it on edge, it slows down, giving you a more balanced turning experience. This like’s down the line, it turns a little more than across the groomer carves, but all can be accomplished.

The spring out of a harder carve is pretty special. It likes a little more backfoot weight, but it won’t feel that washy on a front foot or center-weighted turn, either. I love Burton’s balanced freeride geometries tech. It makes you feel taper in pow when needed, but not as much on groomers when you don’t

Powder

For more of a narrow, big mountain board, the Burton High Fidelity did a very good job floating in powder. I thought it would suck after taking the same run as the Alekesam, a much wider/better powder board, but it didn’t feel as far behind as I thought.

The High Fidelity can’t set back that much at 3.25″ at a very wide 23″ stance witch, but it feels like you are further back because of that small pin tail. It makes it feel more like you are 4″-4.5″ back, but you still have some landing gear if you want to get a lot of air.  If I were on the 162, this would have been a pretty good floater. In pow, it does have more of a surfy/slashy feel to it versus how it feels on groomers, which I appreciate.

Final Thoughts

Overall, I liked the Burton High Fidelity. I’d love to try a 162, but as it stands, it’s great to see a board made for smaller feet during a time when everything seems more focused on 10-11s, which is the new normal size.