YES Hybrid 2020-2021 Snowboard Review
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Instagram| Riding Style | Alternative Freeride |
| Riding Level | Intermediate - Expert |
| Fits Boot size (US) | 8-10, 10-12, > 12 |
| Manufactured in | Dubai by SWS |
| Shape | Tapered Directional |
| Camber Profile | Hybrid Camber |
| Stance | Setback over 20mm |
| Approx. Weight | Feels Normal |
| Split | No |
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| Turn Initiation |
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Where To Buy
No obligation, but these links & ads support the site.
| YES Official Hybrid |
$599.95 | Buy it |
| The House Ronix Point Break Yes CGA Wake | $149.99 | Buy it |
| The House Ronix Supreme Yes CGA Wakeboar | $159.99 | Buy it |
| Backcountry.com Yes. Hybrid Snowboard - 2023 | $549.95 | Buy it |
| Dreamruns yes-hybrid-snowboard | $599.95 | Buy it |
| evo Yes. Hybrid Snowboard 2023 siz | $599.95 | Buy it |
YES Hybrid 2021 - 2020 Review by The Good Ride
Turn Ons/Swipe Right: Fun Turning Experience, Easy to Butter, Great Float and an Excellent Daily Directional Driver
Turn Offs/Swipe Left: Only 5 Inserts/Limited Stance Options and a pretty wide reference stance across the line.
Summary
The Yes Hybrid takes a lot of qualities we like from the PYL, 420 and a hint of the Optimistic making it a great everymans daily directional driver.
Ethics Statement: We don’t get paid by the manufacturer to write these reviews and this is our unfiltered opinion. 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.
Yes Hybrid 2021 Snowboard Review- How it rides and who it is for
How This Review Happened: We liked it so much we asked to keep it (we only do this with our favorites).
Size: 153, 161 and 157
Days: 8+ and many more coming as I own the 153
Conditions: Hard to really good mid-winter groomers and some slackountry time with Drift Boards.
Riders: James (Size 9, 5’10” 185-190lbs), Peter (Size 8, 5’11” 185lbs)
Boots: Adidas Tactical ADV
Insoles: Sandsole Custom Insoles, F.I.T. Gamechangers, F.I.T. Gameghangers LP
Bindings: Union Atlas, Union Strata
Similar Boards (but not the same): Gentemstick Mantaray 156, Korua Dart, Korua Café Racer, Endeavor Scout, Prior Legacy, Jones Hovercraft, Weston Japow, Lib Tech Orca, Never Summer Harpoon, Moss Jellyfish, Niche Pyre, Lib Tech Lost Quiver Killer, Burton Killroy Pow Camber, Yes Y, Yes Pick Your Line
Set-Up: 21.5” Wide. 21 front -3 to +3 back. 22″ Wide 18 Front -3 back
Approximate Weight:
The YES Hybrid has a medium feel to it that doesn’t feel too light or too heavy.
(We don’t put in the exact weight because with wood cores there is no consistency in a boards weight)
Sizing
Here are some ideal US boot sizes for the Yes Hybrid boards. You can of course go bigger or smaller but these work best for not turning the board slower than it should be and not having the dreaded Toe & Heel Drag. We like sizing down and I think most will want to ride this a little shorter and wider than you normally would with a traditional freeride board.
153: 9-10
157: 10-11
161- 10-12
Update Dec 2020: The 153 is for sure for me. The 157 was great but just didn’t turn as easy. It would be great if you prefer to bomb like Peter does but I like to turn more than point it.
Shape/Camber/On Snow Feel/Ability Level
The YES Hybrid is tapered directional with a decent set back on sidecut. It doesn’t have much setback on board for this kind of shape. It doesn’t have much taper and you don’t need a lot of extra back foot weight on groomers.
The YES Hybrid has a decent camber going past the bindings that transitions into a very mellow early rise. It is somewhere in between YES’ Modern Camber and their more mellow Camrock profiles with more rocker. We still think that an intermediate will have no problem riding this. It tracks well and has a very predictable feel underfoot in all conditions.
Flex/Pop/Buttering/Air
There is a very medium flex happening with the YES Hybrid and it butters really easy. YES’s flex rating system runs softer than the rest of the industry. We feel it is more like a 5 out of 10 vs. their 7 out of 10 rating…well Peter says 5.5 just to be Peter. This medium flex happens throughout the board making it easy to butter with the mellow rocker in the tip and tail. It doesn’t lack pop either and it was very easy for us to track into natural features throughout the mountain. It is a very fun board for getting air. You wouldn’t think that rubbery feel would snap this hard but it has above average easily accessible pop.
Speed
We thought the medium flex of the YES Hybrid would make the ride sloppy at high speeds but it did better than we thought. While It’s no Hovercraft, it does feel stable and damp pointing it. The base also has a above average but not exceptional glide.
Uneven Terrain
This rubbery bamboo kind of flex personality makes all day riding pretty fatigue free. The YES Hybrid is a great all day resort rider. It is a little cumbersome to make quick turns through bumps but the 153 (for our specs) would be super fun in a snake track.
Edge Hold
The YES Hybrid borders on being an ice snow specialist and it is right there with almost full mag from brands like Lib Tech and Gnu. It isn’t full on mag but it is close. As we said in the review the Surprice (surprise ice) patch you often can get on a good day is much easier to manage with this disruption in the side cut they call tapered underbite.
Turn Initiation
For us with size 8.5-9 boots the turn initiation was medium and felt very predictable and smooth with a slight acceleration as the edge is set. As your boot size goes up the turn initiation could easily become medium/fast.
Turning Experience/Carving
Now when you commit that sidecut into a hard turn/carve the YES Hybrid really lights up. It is not quite a circle carver like the Y or Optimistic but has a really balanced radius that leans on the turny side of things which I personally like over the Optimistic and Y. Those do one kind of turn exceptionally well but aren’t as well rounded. It makes it fun for just about all radius turns.
Powder
There is a lot of surface area with they Yes Hybrid. The 153 actually has a little more surface area than the 159 Yes Pick Your Line. It makes this a very competent floater. I’ve only tried the 161 in about 2 feet of powder and it sat really well on top of the snow. It wasn’t as amazing as the Pro20 or 420 but it does a great job. So there is a 2.675″ setback from center of board on reference stance and then 3.375″ set all the way back with both stances having a 23″ stance width. We wish there were more inserts (at least 6×2 per binding insead of 5×2) but at least it has a very floaty shape.
Conclusion
So riding the 161 was fun but getting to ride the new 153 shape really matched up well for our specs. The YES Hybrid is a fun alternative freeride kind of daily driver that works for a wide variety of riding styles and ability levels. It’s even ok switch. It was a board that both Peter and I couldn’t stop thinking about after every time we rode it.
YES Hybrid Past Reviews
The YES Hybrid is new for 2020 and as they say, it’s a combo between the Optimistic and 420. It takes the mellower camber profile (Camrock) of the Y and the sidecut (Tapered Underbite) of the PYL to even further the tech diversity of the ride. The result is a somewhat wide, cruisy board with a lot of surface area for an easy float that seems to be best for mid/wide footed riders but could also work for a few sizes down.
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.
How This Review Happened: We borrowed this for an extended demo and then returned it.
Size: 161
Days: 4
Conditions: Pretty good mid-winter groomers, some powder and an early morning slackountry time with Drift Boards.
Riders: James (Size 9, 5’10” 185-195lbs), Grant (Size 11 6’ 160lbs)
Boots: Adidas Tactical ADV
Insoles: Sandsole Custom Insoles, Footprint Insole Technology Gameghangers Low Profile
Bindings: Union Atlas, Union Strata, Union Falcor
Similar (but not the same) Boards, We Like That We Compared This To: Capita Spring Break 161 Tree Hunter, Gentemstick Mantaray Korua Dart, Rome Pow Division MT, Yes Optimistic, YES Y, Yes 420 PH and Yes 420.
Set-Up: 21.5″–22” Wide. 21 front -6 back. Close to Reference and Set all the way back.
Approximate Weight: Feels pretty normal for how wide it is for its size.
Sizing: The 161 felt too big for me with my size 9’s and it was a very slow turner. The 157 is shorter but not much narrower but it could be more fun. For Grant, with his size 11’s, it felt great. It was still somewhat big, wide and cruisy but it was more fun for Grant than it was myself.
Flex/Buttering: Take all YES’s flex ratings with a grain of salt and dial it back a bit. You can butter pretty easy for this flex and it’s got a good flex that is damp but not stiff or dead. It feels a little rubbery like it can flex more than you would think for how stiff it is without breaking.
On Snow Feel/Ability Level/Skidded Turns: The Yes Hybrid has a big wide platform that feels wider than the Yes Y or Yes Optimistic and feels like the 420 was lengthened but given a different top. It is a big cruisy board and if you surf, Grant said it best when he called it a Fun Board. It’s got that big, thick 7’6″ to 8′ super thick/wide kind of feel that makes it super easy to just cruise around the mountain. One footing and flat basing are super easy. So is skidding turns if you get off your game as long as you have bigger feet. For someone with size 9’s, like myself, you will find it’s a little slow but there isn’t an unforgiving super augmented camber profile that would make the edges catch when you get off your game and need to skid out. You can feel some of the 420’s fatter personality in the ride but not as much with the Optimistic or Y. It really has a unique personality in comparison to the rest of the line.
Edge Hold: The tapered underbite offers up a pretty solid grip similar to what you get in the PYL. The Yes hybrid can for sure hold an edge in hard to icy snow and is there with mellower magnetraction that you find from Lib-Tech/Gnu and some other companies.
Turn Initiation: Really slow for me edge to edge with size 9 boots and this would be a nightmare for me if I went down a long bump line or had to get through some tight trees with lots of quick turns. It felt wider than 26.4cm in the waist and I would have guessed in the 27’s or 28’s. For Grant, it felt slow overall but much faster in comparison to me with his size 11’s.
Turning Experience/Carving: When the edge is set and the turn begins there isn’t that acceleration you get into the turn like you do with the Y or Optimistic but it is a slow but fun cruisy turn. You can carve pretty hard but if that’s what you want then go for the Y or Optimistic. Those are a little more rewarding. What was interesting is I didn’t feel the 12mm of taper as much turning and I didn’t feel like I had to put as much back foot weight as I did with boards like the PYL that have less taper (approx 6mm) but the same tapered underbite sidecut. It didn’t have an overall turn like the Optimistic or Y but it did have that not so tapered feel for sure.
Powder: Even though the Optimistic and Y have a little more set back on board the Hybrid felt like it wasn’t even trying in the powder we had. It felt like the whole board like’s to sit on top of the snow more than boards that let the tail sink and nose rise. When comparing the set back on board to the Optimistic it sits more centered even though the setback on sidecut is much more with the Hybrid. There is a 6.75″ difference between nose and tail making it 3.375″ back from the center of the board when set all the way back at almost 23.5″. The Optimistic is a 9.25″ difference between nose and tail and 4.625″ back on board. Even the Y with the same amount of inserts as the Hybrid has a 7.75″ difference between nose and tail, or 3.875″ back from the center of the board. So it just shows setback on board is super different than setback on sidecut when it comes to directional float. The bottom line is this floats well while giving the feel of a little more centered ride in pow than the Y and definitely more than the Optimistic that only have 6.5mm of taper.
Speed: Damp and pretty fast but not the super bomber. The base isn’t super fast but on the better side of the glide spectrum for sure.
Uneven Terrain: The Yes Hybrid was great at powering over chunder on a powder day and I felt like was inside a car with amazing shocks on a bumpy road in the sense that you knew it was bumpy below but you just didn’t feel much of it. So amazing powering over chunder but not easy for smaller footed guys when weaving through bumps.
Overall, the Yes Hybrid, takes a lot of fun aspects from many boards in the line and
YES Hybrid Specs
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