Hello and welcome to my Endeavor Scout snowboard review.
In this review, I will take a look at the Scout as a surfy-freeride snowboard.
As per tradition here at SnowboardingProfiles.com I will give the Scout a score out of 100 (based on several factors) and see how it compares with other surfy freeride snowboards.
NOTE: This review has only been updated to the 2022 model
Overall Rating
Board: Endeavor Scout
Price: $399
Style: Surfy Freeride/Powder
Flex Rating: Medium-Soft
Flex Feel on Snow: Medium (5/10)
Rating Score: 87.8/100
Compared to other Men’s Surfy Freeride Boards
* note that the "surfy freeride" category is a new category here at Snowboarding Profiles - and represents freeride boards that are in that softer flex range - 6.5/10 or less. They're not necessarily "surfy" feeling boards as such - but "slightly softer flexing freeride" just didn't have the same ring as a category name!"
Out of the 30 men’s surfy-freeride snowboards that I rated:
Overview of the Scout’s Specs
Check out the tables for the Scout’s specs and available sizes.
Specs
Style: | Surfy Freeride/Powder |
Price: | $399 |
Ability Level: |  |
Flex: |  |
Feel: |  |
Turn Initiation: | Medium-Fast |
Edge-hold: |  |
Camber Profile: | Directional Hybrid Camber Endeavor's "Hover Camber" |
Shape: | |
Setback Stance: | Setback 50mm |
Base: | Sintered Dura Surf 4001 |
Weight: | Heavier than normal |
Sizing
LENGTH (cm) | Waist Width (mm) | Rec Rider Weight (lb) | Rec Rider Weight (kg) |
|---|---|---|---|
148 | 249 | 100-155 | 45-70 |
152 | 256 | 120-170 | 54-77 |
156 | 260 | 140-190 | 64-85 |
160 | 264 | 150-200 | 88-91 |
Who is the Scout Most Suited To?
The Scout is a great option for anyone looking for a powder board for their quiver that isn't too stiff and one that can also carve well on hard groomers, when the powders all tracked.
Could be a daily driver/quiver-of-one type board depending no your style. If you see a lot of powder, prioritize powder and otherwise mostly just carve up the groomers and like something around that mid-flex level, then it could work as your daily driver - but otherwise it's a good little powder-that-can-carve addition to your quiver.
Not for beginners, but something that an intermediate rider would be fine on - so a great option as a freeride board for an intermediate rider.
The Scout in More Detail
O.k. let’s take a more detailed look at what the Scout is capable of.
Demo Info
Board: Endeavor Scout 2020, 156cm (260mm waist width)
Date: March 5, 2019
Conditions: Quite hard/icy in patches on and off groomer. Firm else-where. Some very small pockets of powder, but very minimal.
Overcast conditions with OK but not great visibility.
Cold with a cold, biting wind.
Bindings angles: +15/-15
Stance width: 560mm (22″)
Stance Setback: Setback 50mm
Width at Inserts: 275mm (10.83") at front insert and 268mm (10.55") at back insert
Rider Height: 6'0"
Rider Weight: 185lbs
Rider Boot Size: US10 Vans Aura
Bindings Used: Burton Malavita M
Weight: 3100g
Weight per cm: 19.87 grams/cm
Average Weight per cm: 18.45 grams/cm*
*based on a small sample size of 51 boards that I've weighed in 2019 and 2020 models. The Scout is quite a bit heavier than normal. However, it is quite a wide board for it's length. I imagine the weight per surface area might still be on the heavier side but not as much as the weight per length suggests. Ideally that would be the measure but surface area is a rarely published spec.
Powder
Unfortunately didn't get much in the way of fresh snow to test it in, but felt good in the small amount I got.
And the specs are well suited to powder - good surface area, rockered nose, setback, and some taper.
Would particularly like to get this board in powder in the trees, given how nimble it is too.
Carving & Turning
Carving: Surprised me how good this was for carving - but then again there is a fair bit of camber, so shouldn't have been that much of a surprise.
Maneuverability at slow speeds: Nice and nimble at slow speeds
Skidded Turns: Not what I would call easy to skid turns on but also not super hard, either.
Speed
Decently stable at speed, without being an out and out bomber. Limited to how good at speed it is, being mid-flex, but for it's flex it handled speed well.
Uneven Terrain
Was fine in crud and was really good for bumpy uneven terrain, going over or weaving in between. Was a fun board in the trees - even though it was quite hard in there - would love to get it in the trees on a powder day.
Let’s Break up this text with a Video
Jumps
Pop: Decent pop. Not massively explosive, but decent - and easy enough to access.
Approach: A nice mixture of stable and nimble for approaches.
Landing: Nice and solid on landings - good camber and wide landing platform - and also forgiving enough too.
Side-hits: Enjoyed it more on side hits than I was expecting. Not super explosive, but decent enough pop and was good for setting up for trickier approaches.
Small jumps/Big Jumps: Good for small. Sweet spot is probably medium and can handle large jumps fine too.
Switch
Not the weirdest I've ridden switch that's for sure. Definitely doable, but not ideal, of course.
Spins
Wasn't too difficult to get spins around and overall was OK. Landing/taking off swithc for 1s, 5s etc wasn't ideal, but overall OK.
Jibbing
OK, but not great. Definitely not what it's designed for though.
Butters
Not easy to butter on but not overly hard either. Middle of the road. Pressing felt different off tail vs nose of course too.
Score Breakdown and Final Verdict
Check out the breakdown of the score in the table below.
RATING | SCORE WEIGHTING | |
|---|---|---|
POWDER | 4.5 | 27/30 |
UNEVEN TERRAIN | 4.0 | 16/20 |
TURNING | 4.0 | 16/20 |
CARVING | 4.0 | 8/10 |
SPEED | 3.5 | 7/10 |
JUMPS | 3.0 | 3/5 |
SWITCH | 2.0 | 2/5 |
TOTAL after normalizing | 87.8/100 |
Overall, the Scout is a nice nimble semi-short/wide board that is most suited to powder, but for a powder board it's a great little carver too - so a great option for powder days, when you want to also carve up some groomers too.
Also a nice accessible freeride option for intermediate riders or just anyone wanting a slightly more easy going freeride option to the big burly stiff options.
More Info, Current Prices and Where to Buy Online
If you want to learn more about the Scout, or if you are ready to buy, or if you just want to research prices and availability, check out the links below.
If you want to check out some other surfy freeride snowboard options, or if you want to compare how the Scout compares to other surfy freeride snowboards, then check out the next link.
Hey Nate, me again. Hahah
Just wondering, In your board specs you’ve got this listed as having a 50mm setback but endeavor’s website and other platforms mention it as being a centred ref stance.
Did you measure this or is it a typo?
I just measured my capita merc that I just bought and it seems the reference setback is more than is listed on the site so I guess this could be a thing?
Also, aside from that does this have much more nose than tail past the contact point? Not many companies publish nose and tail length as much as they do width it seems.
How do you think a 160 would go in complimenting a 58w mega merc for a quiver? too similar in specs/width? Sure I know the scout has got taper and is more directional but hmmm I found the 23 model for $330AUD so like $230 US
Thanks for any info
Nelson
Hi Nelson
Great question re the setback. I’ve seen now that they’re showing it as having a centered stance. So they must have moved the insert pack, since I rode it. I haven’t ridden it since the 2020 model and nothing else has changed since then re its specs. But the 2020 model had a 2″ (50mm) setback. But the published setback stance is always setback on effective edge. The Scout does have a longer nose than tail, so there will still be a setback on the overall length of the board, even thought the stance is centered on effective edge. And that’s why your Merc’s setback will seem like more – because that has a subtly longer nose than tail as well. On the Scout the nose is around 2cm longer than the tail. I wish more companies would publish nose/tail lengths as well as their widths as well!
Like you say the Scout does has taper (and it’s fairly aggressive taper) and is more directional – and has an overall quite different feel to the Merc. Not going to ride switch or jumps as well as the Merc but better in powder. Width-wise, the 160 is going to be wider in the nose but similar in the tail versus the 58W Merc. The Scout 160 will be around 279mm at the front insert (321mm at the nose contact point) and 272mm at the back insert (307mm at tail contact point). The Merc 58W is more like 270mm at the front insert (307mm at contact point) and 272mm at the back insert (307mm at contact point). So overall the Scout 160 is a bigger/wider board.
The Scout definitely has a centered reference stance, measured in the correct way (on effective edge).
This makes it pretty unique to have a 12mm taper but no setback.
The Archetype is even more unique as it also has a centered stance but has a massive taper of 30mm!
This seems to be Endeavor’s style. If you want the Scout to have the setback be centered over the waist and camber, set it back about 35mm. This will make it have that “Balanced Freeride Geometry” feel of a Burton, like a Flight Attendant, Skeleton Key, etc.
Have fun messing around!
Thanks Luke. Appreciate the the info/insights.
Hi Nate,
Value your opinion here….
Seems like the Endeavor Scout changed up the carbon (rods) and the core (popular+paulwonia) this year, at least according to the website.
Would this significantly change the ride of the board?
Already have a Superpig for more aggressive charging, and I’m looking for a slower, surfy groomer/pow board to ride when I’m with the family. If not this, what do you recommend?
Thank you.
Hi Kevin
Thanks for your message.
Without riding the 2 models side by side, hard to say for sure how much difference those changes would have made. But from my understanding and experience of similar changes in the past to other boards, they shouldn’t change the personality of the board too much. The changes they’ve made to the carbon sounds like it’s more how it’s integrated with the core and the addition of Paulownia will likely make the board a little lighter. It might change the feel a little bit, depending on how much they put in, but it’s likely that poplar is still the main wood used in the core, with the Paulownia (and birch by the looks of it) being the smaller component. It’s unlikely that any of those changes would have made a massive impact to the overall personality and should still feel like a pretty chill, mellow ride.
Hope this helps
Hi from Ukraine, Nate! Need your advice. I ride Flow Drifter (2018) and I really like it. Now I look for additional, more Pow, but still all-day resort deck, which carve well. I Choose between Endeavor Scout (156) and Skeleton Key (154/158). My riding level -intermediate to advanced., boot size 11 (Burton Imperial), bindings Burton X-Base M, 170lb. Which one would you recommend? Thanks a lot!
Hi Oleksii
Thanks for your message.
Both boards suit what you’re describing, IMO. So, I don’t think there’s a wrong choice between them. The Skeleton Key in 154 is going to be too narrow for your boots, IMO, so I would be choosing between the 156 Scout and the 158 Skeleton Key. It might be the case that the best size is the best choice, in this case. If you could let me know your height as well. Sizing is mostly about weight, boot size, ability level and how you ride, but I do like to take height into account as well. It’s the less important factor, but I like to take every factor into account.
Hope this helps
I’m 5’10”-5’11”. And one more question – if this might be your one and only board which one do you prefer?)
Hi Oleksii
Both the Skeleton Key 158 and Scout 156 work size-wise for your specs, IMO. The Scout is going to be the slightly more nimble board in the 156 versus the 158 Skeleton Key, but the Skeleton Key is going to be more stable at speed, and probably a little better for big carves. Both fairly even in terms of powder.
If it was my one and only board, I’d go Skeleton Key, just because I found it a little better for jumps and I like to jump quite a bit and it’s a little better at speed. The Scout I found to be a little more nimble, so if I was getting it purely as my tree board, I’d probably go Scout. For everything else fairly even.
Thanks a lot for discussion, man! Still hard to choose, it looks like Black Friday will show me the way!)
You’re very welcome Oleksii. Yeah it’s always a hard choice, but like I say I don’t think there’s a wrong choice between them. If you can find a good Black Friday deal, that might make your decision easier, for sure!
Ha Nate, Good review.
I’m looking to get a Scout but unsure on sizes. I’m 5 foot 8, 70kg and get stoked on trees and speed. I’ve been riding a burton fish 156 and enjoying that. Should I be considering a 152 for the Scout or go for the 156?
Many thanks
Loz
Hi Loz
Thanks for your message.
Can you let me know your boot size? Depending on boot size, I would strongly consider the 152 for you.
Given that you like the 156 in the Fish, that’s certainly a possibility. But take into account that whilst the overall length and width of the Fish 156 is the same as the Scout 156, the Scout has a slightly straighter sidecut radius and more effective edge. Even the 152 Scout has more effective edge than the 156 Fish.
Would also depend on whether you would be keeping both or not. If you were planning on using both in your quiver, then I would be leaning more 152, to have that different size in the quiver and you could have the Scout as your predominantly tree board.
But yeah, if you could let me know your boot size, that would help too.