Arbor Relapse Snowboard Review

Overview of the Relapse’s Specs

* there is no longer a 150 size available, as of the 2025 model

Who is the Relapse Best Suited To?

The Relapse is most suited to anyone looking for a dedicated freestyle/park deck and who the limited sizing can work for.

It's a really well priced board but still a really good freestyle ride - so it's ideal for those looking for a freestyle deck, but have a smaller budget. A big reason why it's cheaper is the extruded base on it - so if you can live with an extruded base (which if it's going to be your dedicated park board, you probably can), then it's a really good value buy, IMO. 

Not for a beginner, but could work for a beginner park rider who otherwise has good general riding/good technique down. Otherwise intermediate and up. 

The Relapse in More Detail

Bindings angles: +15/-15

Stance width: 560mm (22″)

Stance Setback: Centered

Width at Inserts: 264mm (10.39") 

Rider Height: 6'0"

Rider Weight: 175lbs

Rider Boot Size: US9.5 Adidas Tactical ADV

Bindings Used: Burton Malavita M 

Control Board for Control Laps: Lib Tech Terrain Wrecker

Weight: 2920grams (6lb 7oz)

Weight per cm: 19.08 grams/cm

Average Weight per cm: 18.43 grams/cm*

*based on a sample size of around 100 models that I’ve weighed in 2019, 2020, 2021 *& 2022 models. So quite heavy on the scales - and nearly 3kg is heavy for a 153, but on snow it felt a really normal weight and even bordering on being lighter than normal.  

Damp or Chattery?

Didn't think this would be that damp - and it's not super damp for sure. But a little damper than my control board (Terrain Wrecker) - I'd say right in the middle of the scale between ultra damp and ultra chattery. 

Smooth or Snappy?

Really snappy. Quite high up the snappy end of the scale. 

Powder

OK, you can ride any board in powder, no doubt. But this is one board that you could just tell would be quite sinky in deeper powder. It's a twin, it's camber dominant, there's not setback. The nose and tail are exactly the same. Didn't have any powder on the day, but the feel and the specs, suggest that it wouldn't be ideal - a back leg burner. 

Carving & Turning

Carving: Really good for slower speed carves. Not as good for really bombing and carving, but for slower speed carves was really fun.

Turning: Really effortless and really fun board to turn on. Particularly good for short/sharp turns. Part of that is the size that I was riding, but even in a bigger size would be more adept at smaller/tighter turns than big arcing ones. 

Maneuverability at Slow Speeds: Super nimble - again part of that is probably size, but this is the kind of board I wouldn't ride that much longer. I'd probably ride the 155, which would still be super nimble. I'd even consider the 153, if it was going to be my dedicated park board. 

Skidded Turns: It's like beginner level forgiving of skidded turns, but it's quite friendly in that sense. More so than I thought it would be. 

Speed

Gets quite squirrelly when really opening out but ok up to a certain speed.

Uneven Terrain

Crud: Gets bucked around quite a bit in crud - not surprisingly given it's flex and snap, but it is really easy to adjust and recover as you get bucked around. 

Bumps: Super nimble for weaving between bumps. Effortless and hugged them nicely when going over top. 

Let's Break this Text up with a video

This video is for the 2021 model. If I can find a 2022 video, will replace it with that. 

Jumps

Really fun - easy pop and perfect for side hits. Best for smaller jumps. 

Pop: Really good pop and super easy to access.

Approach: Gets squirrelly on faster approaches but nice and nimble for adjustments and trickier approaches - and certainly stable enough for medium jumps.

Landing: Nice and solid for small to medium jumps and nice and forgiving of errors. 

Side-hits:  Pretty much ideal - and super fun! Nimble for tricker and last second approaches, easy to access pop, forgiving landings. Setting up and landing switch great too. 

Small jumps/Big Jumps: Best for small to medium. Approach and landing is a little more wobbly on bigger jumps. 

Switch

Pretty much the same in both directions. Really easy and natural riding switch. 

Spins

Great for spins. Easy pop, great for setting up and landing switch, easy to get the spin around. For anything that's not a massive trick, it felt pretty much ideal to me. 

Jibbing

Nice and easy for the setup, good pop, easy to pop off. All round really good on boxes/rails etc. 

Butters

It's not something that just melts under your feet when you press onto the tip or tail, but it's pretty easy to butter all round. And some like there to be a bit of resistance there. 

Score Breakdown and Final Verdict

The Relapse is a nice snappy, energetic ride that is like a hyperactive child, that seems hell bent on wanting to find the next side hit and is beckoned to the park like a heat seeking missile, whether you want to hit the jump line of the jib line. 

And whilst it's strengths for sure lie in the park and riding freestyle in general you can definitely enjoy this board on groomer laps too - just don't expect it to bomb you down the hill at 50mph and not complain about it. 

This actually went down in price for the 2024 model, so with the average price of freestyle boards going up and this going down, it's become even better value-for-money.