Burton Power Wagon Snowboard Review

Board: Burton Power Wagon 2024

Price: $579 (USD recommended retail)

Style: Freeride

Flex Rating: 6-9 (Medium to Aggressive)

Flex Feel: Stiff (8/10)

Rating Score: 84.8/100

Compared to other Men’s Freeride Boards

Out of the 40 Men’s Freeride snowboards that I rated:

Overview of the Power Wagon’s Specs

Check out the tables for the Power Wagon’s specs and available sizes.

Specs

Who is the Power Wagon Most Suited To?

The Power Wagon is best suited to those who prefer to predominantly ride with speed under their feet and only really ride slow when they have to - and someone who wants their board to perform well in powder, but that can still lay down a carve on the groomer when there's no powder or after it's been tracked. 

For those who pretty much just want to bomb, carve and seek powder all day, this board could be a daily driver, one-board-quiver but if you like to ride slower, more playful at times, like to butter, jib, ollie, etc, then this would be more suitable as your freeride/powder board, as part of your quiver. 

Also best suited to those who are stronger/fitter than average and overall bigger bodied. Smaller or less strong/fit people are less likely to enjoy this board, IMO. 

Not for beginners. This board needs good technique and is unforgiving of errors or laziness. 

THE Power Wagon IN MORE DETAIL

Bindings angles: +15/-15

Stance width: 22″ (560mm)

Stance Setback: Setback 1" (25mm)

Width at Front Insert: 10.7" (272mm)

Width at Back Insert: 10.7" (273mm)

Rider Height: 6'0"

Rider Weight: 180lbs

Rider Boot Size: US9.5 Adidas Response ADV

Bindings Used: Burton Malavita, M

Weight: 6lbs 6oz (2880grams) 

Weight per cm: 18.00 grams/cm

Average Weight per cm: 18.71 grams/cm*

*based on a sample size of around 250 models that I’ve weighed in 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 & 2024 models. The Power Wagon was lighter than average on scales but felt a little heavier than normal on snow. This can be the case with stiffer/damper boards. 

Powder

None to really test in on the day. But the specs and feel of the board, as well as experience with other similar Burton boards suggest it should be really good in powder. 

With a nose considerably longer and a little wider (5mm taper) than the tail, in addition to its directional flex, directional shape and directional camber profile (that has plenty of rocker before the nose), the specs suggest it should be good in powder. 

Carving

I wouldn't put it in the top tier of carving boards that we've tested, but it was still really good on a carve and could handle carves at pretty high speed. 

Turning

Ease of Turns/Slashing: Took some effort to initiate turns. You couldn't get too casual with slashing it either. For how stiff it felt, it wasn't terrible, but certainly not effortless - a good technique and throwing good weight into turns will make this board respond, but if you want to be casual/lazy with it, it won't treat you as well. 

Maneuverability at slow speeds (nimbleness): It's not a tank or anything at slow speeds. But it's also not what I would call snappy edge-to-edge either. Again, it took effort when riding slow and felt better once it had some speed under it. 

Catchiness: I wouldn't call it super-catchy or anything, but you couldn't get too lazy with skidded turns. There would be consequence to using poor or lazy technique on this board. 

Speed

Overall decently fast and really nice and stable at speed. Didn't feel much chatter at all and could push it hard without it feeling squirrelly. 

Uneven Terrain

Crud: Wasn't what I would call the ultimate crud crusher, but it handles it pretty well and because the board felt pretty damp, that helped to get through without feeling too much chatter. 

Trees/Bumps: You've got to throw your weight into when wanting to weave quickly between trees and bumps, but it can do, when you put the effort in. But not effortless. Would be better in trees when there was powder in there. 

Jumps

Not its forte, nor is it made to be, but I test every board on jumps and side-hits. A lot of people like their freeride board to be able to handle drops and side-hits etc. 

Pop: Some decent pop when you wind it up, but you've got to really throw your weight and effort into it in order to extract that pop. If you're very fit/strong you might be OK with it, but for those of us with average athleticism it's one that feels like you have to do too much to get it popping. 

Approach: It's nice and stable on faster approaches, but it's not easy to make corrections and sudden or quick speed checks make it feel catchy. 

Landing: Definitely solid on landing. But not very forgiving if you get it wrong - particularly if you land too tail-heavy.

Side-hits: Wasn't my favorite board for side-hits - not easy to approach the trickier side-hits or the ones that you spot last-second and pop takes too much effort to extract for my liking. 

Small jumps/Big jumps: Tough to say. Good approach for larger jumps with it's stability and good for landing larger jumps when you get it right. That stable platform and extra stiffness good for larger jumps - but also because I felt there was a small margin of error vs some other boards in terms of getting the landing perfect, there was also that potential to get the landing wrong and with larger jumps there's a bigger consequence for that. So, I would say medium jumps with a good open approach and a good landing that doesn't make you speed check too soon after, is when it's at its best. 

Switch

Naturally felt a little strange riding this switch, given how directional it is. However, it was certainly still doable. Transitions in and out of switch were OK, but did at times feel like it could be a bit catchy. 

Butters

Took considerably effort to press this to a point where it would lock in. Like really quite a lot of effort required to press the tail and nose of this board. Nose felt quite similar to tail in terms of flex, but maybe a touch softer. But also with the nose being so long, it felt awkward. But definitely not what this board was designed for!

Burton's Powder Wagon is a burly board that's pretty stiff and likes to ride with speed under it, more than it likes to ride slow. It's well setup for riding powder and would make a really good freeride/powder board in a quiver or could even be a one-quiver board for those who pretty much just like to bomb/carve the groomers when there's no powder and just seek powder when it's around. 

Takes quite a bit of effort to turn at slower speeds, to ollie (and access it's pop in general) and to butter. Not great in powderless trees, but if there was powder in there, it would be OK.