K2 Excavator Snowboard Review

An Un-Paid, Un-Biased Breakdown Of How the K2 Excavator Rides Review by The Good Ride

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How The K2 Excavator Was Tested:

I borrowed the K2 Excavator 150 and 154 for an extended demo and sent them back.

Size: 150 and 154
Days: 3 this time around, but many with past tests of the same model.
Conditions: Mostly good but varied spring conditions for this time around, but last time had great groomers and even some pretty good pow, and even some slackountry time with Drift Board bindings with Union Rovers
Riders: James (Size 9, 5’10”, 185-195lbs). I’ve tested and compared 800+ boards and close to 1,000 if you count different versions of the same Model over the years.
Boots: Nitro Team TLS
Insoles: Footprint Kingfoam Orthotic Elite
Bindings: Union Force, Union Atlas
Redundancy: Strapins in case boots or bindings break.
Jacket: Skyline Fuse 3L Jacket, Skyline Fuse Light 3L Jacket, Jones Mtn Surf Anorak,
Pant: Burton AK Gore-Tex Pro 3L Hover Pant, Skyline Faze Pant, Jones Mountain Surf Pant, Skyline Faze Light 3L Pant
Helmet: Smith Method, Smith Scout
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, +24/+6. Close to Reference on groomers and Set all the way back in powder.

Similar Boards We Like (but not the same):

Lib Tech Orca, Gnu Gremlin, Salomon Dancehaul, K2 Excavator, Stranda Biru, Telos Backslash

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Construction / Durability / Weight

The K2 Excavator has their lighter weight construction with the hydrophobic topsheet, but it’s still pretty durable compared to many competitors that do the ultra-light board construction. It doesn’t feel ultra-light though and is more medium. (We don’t put in the exact weight because with wood cores, there is no consistency in a board’s weight)

Sizing

So when it comes to sizing, I really felt torn between this 150 and 154. The 154 could feel a little slow and fatiguing in uneven snow or when having to turn through tight spots. Conversely, the 150 did great there and was a really fun all-day ride.

But in the mornings when the snow was good, I really liked the 54 better. I wish they made a 52. If I were riding all day, I would go to the 50, but if I was mainly just riding this in clean conditions, putting it away and grabbing another board, I’d go 54.

K2, like many brands, feels the width is self-explanatory, so it leads the customer to focus more on weight, which can lead to bad decisions. It’s always best to factor in Boot size first, weight a close second, and height third.

The Good Ride’s Conservative / Safe Boot Size Recommendation

These are sizes that will keep you from booting out (super bad) or being too wide to turn quickly in critical situations.

150: 8.5-9.5
154: 9.5-10.5
158: 10-11
162- 11-12

There is often more than one size that will work for your specs and your riding style. Size down for more control and size up for more speed/stability/carving power. If it comes down to boot size or weight, I would ensure it fits your boot first and then your weight, a close second.

Shape & Setback on board

This K2 Excavator is tapered and directional with a good bit of taper, 20 mil of taper, a very short tail, and a much longer nose.

Camber / On Snow Feel

The K2 Excavator has a mellow camber that doesn’t go up too high, but it goes for a good distance. It goes almost to the tail. There seems to be a little bit of early rise before the tail, then a good bit of early rise before this long nose.

This is a pretty stable, easy-to-one-foot flat-base kind of ride that I think would work for intermediates and up to experts, as long as it’s sized correctly. It doesn’t feel super locked in or technical, and it’s pretty easy to skid a turn.

Even though the flex is a little more on the medium stiff side, the camber profile with early rise before the tip and a little bit before the tail allows this to not catch an edge that easily. This K2 Excavator is a very consistent ride in all conditions.

Edge Hold

The K2 Excavator edge hold is pretty good, but it starts to let go a little bit in harder snow, and you have to dial back your turns a little bit. If you want a hard snow specialist, there are better rides out there, like the Gnu Gremlin and even the Stranda Biru.

Flex Personality

The K2 Excavator has a little more give than you would think between the feet, but it’s still on that medium to medium-stiff side. The tail is pretty stiff, and the nose is reasonably stiff too.

You put that all together, and combined, it’s a very poppy, energetic flex.

Ollies & Butters

And when it comes to getting air, this has pretty good ollie power. I love this construction. It just feels easier to engage in an ollie and get air underfoot. It’s not bad for a butter. I could butter off the tail okay, and the nose a little better, and play around.

It’s not really a board I like to ride switch with too much. I like the Almanac a lot better for that.

While this wider platform didn’t track that well into complicated side hits that had a weird path to get to launch off, it does track well into bigger drops and bigger kickers. If you want to launch off something off piste, you have enough landing gear here in the tail to do so.

Uneven Snow

And this can handle hard, uneven snow, okay. It can get a little cranky, a little chattery, but powering through soft, uneven snow, this K2 Excavator does a great job, especially for a short, wide. It doesn’t bounce and bark as much as you would think.

Turning / Carving

And when it comes to turn initiation, this 50 felt pretty quick edge to edge for a short wide. Short wides are not the best when it comes to initiating a turn. Where they really shine is once you get the edge committed, and you engage this deeper side cut.

Then it turns a tighter, quicker radius because of its size. The 54 was slower to me because of my size nine boots, but this 50 was pretty quick. When I got it on edge, it had more of a balanced turning radius than I thought it would be for having such a deep entry into the side cut.

I really found that this K2 Excavator shines when it comes to making across the groomer carves and circle carves.

Speed

And if you want to make longer, drawn-out turns, this can work, and it’s not bad for a straight line. I thought this side cut would fight the straight line a little more, as the Ride Seeker does, but it doesn’t. It tracks pretty well.

So if you want to pick up some speed and go straight, this isn’t bad. For a short wide, this is pretty competent at speed.

Base Glide

The wax absorption is pretty good, but I felt the glide is mid-tier, and there are a lot of faster bases in this price range when looking at other competitors.

Powder

I thought this floated very well for a short wide. While this isn’t the best board if you’re going to use it primarily for powder, it’s good for a little bit of both groomers and powder. It’s got pretty good, easy directional float.

Final Thoughts

Overall, this K2 Excavator was a fun ride before and still isnow. It’s very recommendable. It works for a wide variety of riders that just want to do a little bit of everything, but want a more tapered, directional, short wide that is set back but not super set back / snow surfy, where you’re riding really close to the tail.

It’s a board I often recommend and will continue to do so.