Burton Name Dropper 2017 - 2014 Review by The Good Ride

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Ethics Statement: We don’t get paid by the manufacturer to write these reviews.  We do make money from the “Where To Buy” links, but this is our best attempt at an honest and objective review from an average riders’ perspective.

Other than a few minor tweaks not much has changed over the last couple of years.

Size: 155 and 151
Days: 4
Conditions: Soft perfect Colorado snow with only a few hard patches in shady spots and soft perfect Sierra snow. Then decent PNW snow at Mt. Bachelor.
Riders: James, Peter
Boots: Burton Imperial, Nike Kaiju, Burton Hail,
Bindings: Burton Malavita EST, Burton Genesis
Set Up: Centered about 23″ wide 15 front -15 back

It’s got an asymmetrical flex, re-positioned extensions in the sidecut to match a duck stance but the sidecut is the same on each side.  Most companies change the sidecut for the heel and toe so this is a different type of asymmetrical board.  Another thing to mention is it’s also incredibly thin throughout the core.  It’s so thin it requires padding near the inserts to fit the bindings.  When we found this on the display at the trade show we knew we had to try it.

On Snow Feel: The Pure Pop camber profile has a pretty poppy but technical ride to it. It’s stable between the feet and easy to one foot and flat base but isn’t ideal for skidding a turn.  It’s so thin! It’s hard to get over that at first.  It’s soft very playful and super easy to butter. It’s not for those riders that like to make springy turns but it is very playful and buttery. It feels like it wants to mainly stay in the jib park and then hit the occasional small to medium size kicker.

Powder:  We had no powder but it seems like the Name Dropper with its narrow waist, big blunted nose and rocker in the tip tail would make an OK board for those used to camber but it’s far from ideal coming from other hybrid shapes.

Turn Initiation: It’s quick edge to edge but doesn’t have any spring that makes turning fun. It’s boring here and your time is better spent buttering around instead.

Skidded Turns: It’s very easy to skid a turn.

Carving: This is probably the boards weakest point. It’ pretty much just wants to ollie and butter.  It isn’t about railing a turn but instead, hitting a rail. Still if you want to lay into a turn and it’s soft it had good pop as long as you didn’t give it too hard.

Speed:  I think both Peter and I thought this would be really chattery with this thin deck.  It wasn’t as bad as we thought being so thin but It’s no bomber board. Maybe it’s better than we thought because of the padding in the binding area. It’s not really at home on the mountain and feels much better at slower park speeds.

Uneven Terrain:  Moves over bumps at slow speeds like you are on water over rock but it doesn’t really handle chunder well at all. It’s more for just negotiating bumps on end of the day groomers well.  The padding on the inserts probably helps too.

Edge Hold:  The edge hold wasn’t great but it’s made to slide across jibs sideways so that’s expected. We only had this board in good snow but the Name Dropper didn’ hold well few harder patches we found. I’ve never felt much edge hold with Frost Bite technology and found it to not bite.  With this board, it doesn’t matter but it’s mainly a soft snowboard.

Flex:  Very easy soft flex that is the definition of playful. It took little effort to butter and play around on and it just wants to butter.  It still has a little snap through at the tip/tail which is good.

Switch:  Asymmetrical boards are incredibly easy to ride switch.  It’s got re-positioned frostbite edges (1/2mm extension near bindings) and a flex set up for those that ride duck so the board reacts pretty well if you have a duck stance.  Other than the re-positioned frostbite extensions the sidecut is the same on the heel side as it is the toe side.  I personally like asymmetrical side cut’s to match the positioning of the heels on the board and make it turn easier but this is only a touch better than a true twin and a little less than an asymmetrical sidecut twin.

Jibbing:  The Burton Name Dropper feels like it’s best for jibbing.  Peter loved this board in the jib park and even though I’m a pretty weak jibber I felt a lot more confidence with this board.  It feels very stable and forgiving and the soft flex won’t bonk you. It really locks into a rail and you can jib all day with this.

Pipe:  Not a good pipe board for us mainly because of the edge hold. if there was more grip it wouldn’t be bad driving from wall to wall.

Jumps: It has a good amount of pop when it comes to an ollie.  We found it not to be on par with many button boards with traditional camber or camber somewhere in the profile but it’s not bad.  If you combine the Burton Name Dropper with some Burton Malavita EST bindings you will get a good amount of spring that takes the rating from good to great.  It is pretty easy to flex and snap an ollie with this combo.  Also, it’s stable approaching a kicker in the park and pretty good there too.

All in all, we felt this is a fun jib board that many will like.