Soul Tree DX Snowboard Review

An Honest In Depth Review of the Soul Tree DX Review by The Good Ride

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An Un-Paid, Un-Biased Breakdown Of How the Soul Tree DX Rides

How It Was Tested:

I borrowed the Soul Tree DX for an extended demo and sent it back.

Size: 150
Days: 4
Conditions: Varied early winter conditions and some wet but fun pow
Riders: James (Size 9, 5’10”, 185-190lbs). I’ve tested and compared 800+ boards
Boots: Ride Deadbolt, Ride Torrent, Ride Fuse,
Insoles: F.I.T. Gamechangers
Bindings: Union Atlas
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
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, +27/+9 back. 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, Ride Psychocandy, Salomon Dancehaul, K2 Excavator

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

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Approximate Weight

It felt light because it was wide and short but not ultra-light. (We don’t put in the exact weight because, with wood cores, there is no consistency in a board’s weight)

Sizing

The Soul Tree DX is wide for even a short/wide, so while this felt pretty good for my size 9s in good conditions, the super wide waist of 28cm and 28.7/28.9 over the inserts got a little fatiguing to turn in uneven snow, but if I was a 10 or 10.5, I think it would have been much easier to manage. I didn’t have enough leverage near the edges in uneven snow, and it got hard. This little 150 did well for my weight though.

Here are some ideal US boot sizes for these boards.
150: 10-11 and 9-9.5 if you are ok with it being a little slow when it gets uneven.

Shape

You have a good bit of taper and the Soul Tree DX is pretty tapered and directional but it doesn’t feel like the 20mm of taper it has. You also don’t feel as set back on board as you are.

Camber/On Snow Feel/Ability Level

The Soul Tree DX has a pretty aggressive lift on the sides near the nose and a semi-aggressive lift near the tail. The lift bleeds into the effective edge, which made me concerned this would feel edgeless and washy like many boards similar to this tech. It didn’t feel that way even in hard snow, which perplexed me why this doesn’t vs  other boards with lifted sides/nose/tails. There isn’t that lifted tech washyness hard snow, and the edge gets to the snow pretty quick. It was pretty easy to get used to.

It doesn’t feel locked in/catchy but doesn’t feel loose and auto spinny either. It’s got an almost stable feel to it that’s more on the stable side of semi-stable.

Edge Hold

The Soul Tree DX has a pretty solid grip for a board without any real disruption in the sidecut and lifted sides. I had a day with some pretty hard snow patches, and it held well/much better than expected. It’s not the best for ice, but I’d trust it in snowment.

Flex Personality

There is a pretty medium-stiff but lively and energetic, easy-to-ollie flex. The lifted sides in the nose can make butters wash out if you aren’t perfectly centered, but the tail is better.

Uneven Snow

I was really impressed with how well the Soul Tree DX handled chatter and hard-uneven snow. In soft uneven snow the short wide nature came out a little and it can feel a little bucky but it’s really good for a short/wide.

Speed

With the Soul Tree DX, I could go straight pretty easily, and it rode much longer than its length in good conditions.

Base Glide

The Soul Tree DX base was upper tier but not in that super-gliding range like some boards can offer. If you wax it often it will glide well and you can keep it looking good with clear p-tex and a p-tex gun. If you use a lighter you will get black flakes.

Turning Experience/Carving

As expected, the Soul Tree DX initiated a turn pretty slow, but once on edge, I felt it accelerate and make a faster turn. It was hard to describe in the video, but I did feel a delay before the edges engaged and turned, but when they did, there was a fun, snappy turn to it. I think it’s the combo of the excessive width and the lifted sides. I think what the shaper, Corran, said makes sense. It’s like a turbo kicking in.

The spring out of the turn is lively and snappy. It didn’t seem to care how you set it up and seems close to being stance-angle agnostic. You could weight your turns any way you would like. I thought I would have to center weight harder carves, but I could front and back foot weight my turns as well.

Powder

I was really impressed with the Soul Tree DX’s float. It didn’t feel like it was even trying in the 4-8” of wet, thick pow I got it into. I’d love to stress test it in super deep, lighter pow, but that was all Mother Nature had for us during the time I tested it.

With a 20.5” Stance width you can get 5.875” back from center of board which is a lot compared to many short/wides. It still felt pretty centered but when you went for a slashy turn it’s surfy nature came out and it was super satisfying. The lifted sides made the turning experience really fun in pow too.

Final Thoughts

Overall, I was pretty surprised at how normal the Soul Tree DX felt for having such a unique shape, super wide width, and all that lift in the nose/tail that bleeds into the effective edge. It still felt like a snowboard that didn’t need a manual to ride it. The Soul Tree DX is a great choice if you want a unique, poppy, chatter-absorbing short-wide.