2013 and below Turbo Dream Review

The 2013 Turbo Dream isn’t much different from the 2012. We found this and the Raygun to be some of our favorite boards from K2. We feel their flat/rocker shapes that they call “All Terrain Rocker” are really fun for a wide range of riders.

The 2012 K2 Turbo Dream has improved a bit.  It’s a little lighter and a bit more easy to control. It’s still the same Turbo Dream ride but it might be worth it to upgrade to 2012.

The 2010 and 2011 K2 Turbo Dreams aren’t that different except for the addition of harshmellow (more dampening) to the 2011.

On Snow Feel: The flat to rocker profile makes for a stable ride that is just as catch free as continuous rocker. The Turbo Dream is best for taking an all mountain freestyle approach to the mountain.  It a playful catch free feel here. You are basically on a nicer version of the Raygun and can play all over the mountain. The Turbo Dream is going to be comfortable everywhere on the mountain  and I think all of us here at The Good Ride would recommend this as the board for someone with many moods.  It’s one of those butter/wide turn/Ollie boards. The Turbo dream has a little more tech than it’s lower priced cousin the K2 Raygun like a better/faster base, better core and more dampening.

Powder: We love the directional twin shape with a setback stance.  It says if the mood strikes you to hit things switch as much as regular then go ahead but if you want some easy floating directional good times on a deep powder day the Turbo Dream can set back  your stance pretty far and accommodate you.   Even boards with rocker can benefit with a set back stance and we like that K2 didn’t hop on the “make every board a true twin” bandwagon.

Turn Initiation– With the Flat between the feet and the rocker after the Turbo Dream had a very smooth predictable ride.   We all had an easy time making short quick turns or slower wider radius turns.  Mellow wide radius turns feel more true and circular compared to K2’s Flat camber profile boards. When it came to laying down a hard carve the Turbo Dream was ok but far from ideal. It could get a little washy compared to many hybrid rocker or hybrid camber boards with a similar ride and you had to be careful when engaging into a harder carving turn.

Speed: There is enough flat between the feet and dampness to make this pretty decent at speed.  There is a noticeable improvement over the Raygun  but it’s still no straight line everywhere kind of Slayblade.  Most of us felt it’s just a little better than the good rating or on the bottom side of great.

Uneven Terrain: It’s great dealing with bumpy snow you can find at the end of the day.  It’s easy to go over or quickly turn through the ruts.

Edge Hold: The only thing we would ask more out of the Turbo Dream is edge hold.  We don’t want it to rival magnetraction but we’d like to see a little more grip for those days that are less than good.  There are other boards out there that are doing better with edge hold while still not being ultra grippy like Magnetraction boards.

Flex: There is a smooth predictable flex that is easy to butter. It’s also not bad torsionally.  All in all the flex is very good for freestyle manuvers but still damp enough for getting a decent straight line on.

Switch: This is a directional twin with a set back stance so it’s not as easy to center compared to a true twin wit a centered stance.  Still when centered it’s just a bit shy of being a twin.  You can ride groomers switch and regular but if you want extra float for directional powder riding you can enjoy the 3/4″ or -20mm setback it offers.

Jibbing- Not that bad for a medium flexing flat to rocker board.  You can hit some boxes and bonk around in the jib park without much trouble. It’s even ok for some mellow rails.

Pipe: We’d like a little more edge hold here for this to be a great pipe board but it did a good job in terms of being forgiving and stable inside the ice taco. It’s better for softer pipe days and it would need a better drive from wall to wall to bump it up here but it can satisfy the rider who likes to visit but not lap the pipe.

Jumps: Not going to win the generate your own air award.  You can ollie around the mountain without too much effort but the spring isnt there like it is with other boards we have rode. Hitting the Jumps in the park aren’t bad.  It’s stable approaching the kicker and forgiving when it comes to awkward landings.

It does nothing great but everything well and you really can’t ask for more when it comes to a peak to park weapon. I think what we loved about this board most is the dual personality exactly like Raygun had.  Most boards that have this kind of powder ride have a much more aggressive feel when on groomers.  The Turbo Dream and it’s little bro the Raygun offered up a fun easy freestyle to all mountain freestyle ride instead but can also be surfy set back directional ride when it dumps.  We applaud the duplicity and the only thing we missed was a little more spring out of the turn.