Burton Deep Thinker Review: Freeride Snowboard Reviews

Who is the Deep Thinker Most Suited To?

The Deep Thinker is best suited to advanced level riders who want a strong carving freeride deck. Something that works great for bombing the groomers and laying down carves, but that also floats well when things get deep.

Not for the beginner and even intermediate riders might struggle a little with this one.  

O.k. let’s take a more detailed look at what the Deep Thinker is capable of.

Demo Info

Board: Burton Deep Thinker 2021, 160cm (255mm waist width)

Date: March 7, 2020

Conditions: Cloudy but still around 90-95% visibility.

Groomers had a decent layer of soft with mostly a medium firmness under that layer, with some harder spots in patches. 

Off groomer soft with some overnight fresh. Not waist deep or anything, but a nice amount. 

Wind around 10-15kph (6-9mph). Temperature was -8°C (17.6°F) and with wind chill -11°C (12.2°F).  

Bindings angles: +15/-15

Stance width: 560mm (22″)

Stance Setback: Setback 25mm

Width at Inserts: 265mm (10.4") at front insert and 267mm (10.5") at back insert  

Rider Height: 6'0"

Rider Weight: 175lbs

Rider Boot Size: US10 Salomon Lo-Fi

Bindings Used: Burton Malavita M 

Flex

I couldn't decide if it felt like an 8/10 or a 7.5/10. So somewhere around there. If I was to buy this board I would most likely go with the 157, in which case it would feel a little softer, so then 7.5/10, or possibly between 7/10 and 7.5/10 would be more accurate. 

Damp or Chattery?

Quite damp. A good bit up the damp side of the scale. 

Smooth or Snappy?

Feels like more of a smooth ride as opposed to a snappy one. 

Powder

Felt really good in the shallow powder I had and I would say it would still go really well in deep powder too.

It has some rocker in the nose, has 7mm of taper, 25mm setback on effective edge and a longer nose vs tail. Probably not a super surfy powder feel, but definitely has the specs and feel to be really good in powder. 

Carving & Turning

Carving: This is the board's strongest suit, and it's really strong here. Can lay down some big carves on this board. 

Turning: You've got to be a bit of energy into turning it, but nothing that's too taxing to turn. Not a super easy turning board, but also not super hard either. 

Maneuverability at slow speeds: Not super maneuverable at slower speeds, but better than I was expecting. 

Skidded Turns: You can to an extent, but certainly not easy to skid turns on. 

Speed

Nice and stable at speed. Feels damp and stable. Might have even scored it a little higher for speed, but I did let go a little on me, when hitting a hard patch at speed. But certainly on good to firm snow, you can really bomb with it. 

Uneven Terrain

Decent enough weaving through bumps. Not effortless, you've got to put some energy into it, particularly if it's a really tight spot where you have to take it slow, with short sharp turns, but not terrible in that situation either. 

Good in crud. It absorbs chatter pretty well.