Never Summer Eclipse Snowboard Review

An In Depth Objective Breakdown of How the Never Summer Eclipse Rides Review by The Good Ride

• User Reviews
• Product Specs
• Product Images
• Questions?

How The Never Summer Eclipse Was Tested:

I borrowed the Never Summer Eclipse for a very extended demo and will be sending it back very soon.

Size: 156
Days: 5
Conditions: I got this in a wide variety of conditions. Everything from some powder to excellent groomers to variable spring conditions.
Riders: James (Size 9, 5’10”, 185-190lbs). 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
Redundancy: Strapins in case boots or bindings break.
Jacket: Skyline Fuse 3L Jacket, Skyline Fuse Light 3L Jacket
Pant: Burton AK Gore-Tex Pro 3L Hover Pant, Skyline Faze Pant
Helmet: Smith Method
Goggle: Smith 4D Mag
Gloves: Burton AK Clutch Mitt, Burton AK Tech Leather Glove, Drop Tahoma Mitt

James’s Set Up

21”-21.5” Wide. Stance Angles +18/-3, +18/+3, +18/-9. Close to Reference on groomers, set all the way back on groomers, and set all the way back in powder.

I really got to get to know the Never Summer Eclipse and compare it against a lot of boards like:

• The Discontinued Cougar
• The Proto Freeride
• The new Proto Type 3
• The Proto Ultra with setback inserts
• The Benchmark with setback inserts.
• I also compared this against a lot of other freeride boards throughout the season. You can see all of the comparisons on Patreon

Similar Boards We Like (but not the same):

Amplid Souly Grail, United Shapes Cadet, YES Pick Your Line, Korua Otto,  Capita Black Snowboard Of Death, Cardiff Lynx, Nitro Alternator, United Shapes Horizon, Gnu Antigravity, Lib Tech Dynamo

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Construction / Durability / Weight

Never Summer has top tier construction from the carbon mapping to the very durable and damp top sheet to rubber lined inside the core, durable sidewalls and a durable base. It’s built to last and isn’t that heavy either. It’s more on the medium side for this type of construction but you would think it would be a lot heavier for this type of construction.

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

Sizing

I feel like I’m in between sizes with the Eclipse 156 and 160. I’m very 160 curious and would like to see if it feels as cumbersome as the 160 Proto Fr did for me of if it’s more managable. However, the 156 did handle my weight well enough, and it turned well enough for my size nine boots.

Never Summer is pretty fair to a little conservative with their recommended weight but a bit liberal with the suggested boot size. So you can go over the max weight but stay more in the middle of their recommended boot sizes if you want to avoid toe / heel drag or have it turn too slow in tight spots.

152: 8.5-9.5 US
156: 9-10 US
160: 9.5-10.5
157x: 10.5-11.5
161x:11-12
165x:11-12
162DF: 13-14 or ride it with smaller boots if you are just about good condition carving.

Sizing is all about balancing what fits your boot size (most important), weight (second most important) and height (third most important) for how you like to ride. Too wide and it’s hard to turn. Too narrow and you might boot out which often slams you into the ground.

There are often up to 2 or 3 sizes that will work for your specs. Size down for more control and size up for more speed/stability/carving power. Most Brands, Including are very conservative with recommended weight and very liberal with recommended boot sizing Here are some ideal US boot sizes for these boards. 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

The Never Summer Eclipse has a a more tapered and directional shape than the old Cougar it replaced. It’s 10mm vs. 6mm, the nose it bigger and the tail smaller. They set this back at 32mm back from center of sidecut (same as the cougar) but it’s not very set back on board at 2.5″ all the way back at a 21.75″ stance width.This has the tapered shape of a Freeride board and the setback on board of an All Mountain board.

Camber / On Snow Feel

The Never Summer Eclipse has a modified recurve camber profile in comparison to the Cougar, which had a more aggressive lift right where the camber ends and a higher camber point in the middle. This is a little less but emulates the feeling of full camber without the catch.

Thanks to this early rise there’s a lot more on the nose than my old Cougar and a decent amount before the tail. So this could work with just about any ability level, and I think committed beginners willing to spend a little cash might take a lump or two could make this work. It’s a great board for intermediates. Advanced, and expert rider won’t get bored and they can push this ride but it can also cruise when the mood strikes. .

It has a really consistent, stable feel underfoot in all conditions, unlike the Proto Freeride with Tripple Camber Fusion that can feel a little unstable and hooky in some conditions when flat basing. It’s more stable vs. the other Rocker & Camber Profiles as well. If you want camber stability in a Never Summer ride, Recurve is the only choice.

Edge Hold

The triple camber technology and the multi-radius sidecut does an amazing job at grip. It grips almost as hard as a full-on aggressive original Magnetraction without that grabby feel in softer snow.

So the Never Summer Eclipse is a great board for those of you that live on the East Coast but also travel out west and want something that can handle each condition really well.

Flex Personality

The flex  medium side of things for sure. Down by the tail it’s a good bit stiffer, and the nose feels softer. In between the feet it’s pretty stiff. It seems like Never Summer is doing cool things to mill out the nose and tail area to make it a little softer. That makes it easy to butter, easy to play around with but also reduce weight.

I found that I could lean back into this tail and butter okay, and it was a little easier in the nose. This new carbon mapping in the tip/tail allows the flex of the tip and tail to be softer while still having the same pop of the old Cougar.

Buttering / Ollies / Airs

It also has that typical Never Summer easy pop, but it’s not as poppy as the old Cougar it replaced. That Cougar was special but this is no slouch though.

This pop is really is easy to access. This isn’t there, but it’s good enough. It’s really easy to ollie, and I find that it tracks really well into, pops off of, and lands really well on the small side hits I did.

This could handle a big drop of any size off-piste or a big kicker in the park. The Cougar was better but again, this is no slouch.

Switch & Pipe

If you want to ride switch, I don’t feel it was as good as the Cougar, but it’s not bad. And it’s a very good pipe board as well.

Uneven Snow

When you get this somewhat poppy but very damp flex personality into uneven snow, it performs much better than Never Summer’s Rating. There’s so much dampening under the damp top sheet that it holds up better in hard, uneven snow than a lot of boards I’ve compared this against.

It doesn’t take too much away from the pop either, so there’s a great balance. In soft, thick, uneven snow, this did a great job as well. Never Summer understands how to make an equally damp / poppy board better than most of the industry so their ratings are not apples to apples.

Turning / Carving

Turn Initiation

Turn initiation was really fast with this, even though it had a 25.9 waist and it’s a little wider than I normally prefer for my size nine boots. Over the inserts it initiated a turn really quickly.

For tight tree lines, though, I didn’t like it just because there’s so much tail behind me when I’m in the trees and the snow’s uneven. I like being closer to the tail and having my nose up and not letting anything catch behind me. This feels too centered for those that really like that quick turning, tight tree run kind of board. But as it stands, it’s not bad at all for being so centered.

Carving

When you get this on edge and try to engage it into a harder turn, this has very good spring out of the turn. Again, on same-day tests, I liked the Cougar a lot better as it had a lot more drive, pop, and spring out of the turn, but this was still pretty good.

Except for one thing—if I tried to front foot weight my turns like I could with the Cougar, the tail got washy. If I center weighted the turn and committed really hard, the tail could sometimes wash. When I back foot weighted the turn really hard and set this board back, it held better. If I owned this board, I’d ride it set all the way back all the time.

This board really likes a heavy back foot weighted turn in order to keep the tail from washing, and that personally for me was the deal breaker because I actually love front foot, center foot weighted, and back foot weighted turns equally well. This would only be a one-trick pony for me.

Turning Experience

This has a pretty balanced turning radius. It doesn’t mind a circle carve, doesn’t mind going across the groomer carve. Medium radius turns are really fun. As you get into longer drawn-out turns this isn’t perfect, but it’s not bad.

Speed

If you want to really open it up and get some speed while you’re making those down-the-line turns or just go straight for a long, sustained period, the Never Summer Eclipse will do pretty well. I actually preferred it more than the Proto Freeride. That’s rated as a damper, faster, stiffer board, but this recurve camber profile versus the triple camber fusion profile with the Proto Freeride just handled the snow flat-based better and felt more stable underfoot.

Base Glide

The base can get a little dry and thirsty, but overall it has very good glide. When well waxed, it’s on the upper end for sure and it’s very durable.  The base does hold its wax for a good amount of time, and you can go several days without waxing it, no problem.

Powder

In Powder, I thought this was a slight improvement over the Cougar, but still behind many freeride boards that ride more set back. I ride a lot of low-angle powder and this struggled in comparison to many boards I tested it against.

Getting off this and getting on the Benchmark made me really envious of the Benchmark’s setback inserts. It might be really fun to add set back inserts on this and the Proto Fr. Conversly, if you’re a big mountain rider who loves launching off cliffs or big drops this could be a great choice. It has that centered feel with a lot of landing gear, so this is a great choice for steeper terrain. But if you’re like me and you like that setback, easy cheater float, this might not be the board for you.

Final Thoughts

So overall, I felt like the Cougar almost completed me, and this replaced that Cougar. I’m going to miss that Cougar, but the Never Summer Eclipse could be more fun if you like a more centered stance location on board, but in a tapered directional shape so you can go big and have lots of landing gear.

Along with a very stable camber profile and excellent grip, the Never Summer Eclipse could work for you.