Hello and welcome to my Arbor Westmark Rocker review.
In this review, I will take a look at the Westmark Rocker as a freestyle snowboard.
As per tradition here at SnowboardingProfiles.com I will give the Westmark Rocker a score out of 100 (based on several factors) and see how it compares with other freestyle snowboards.
Overall Rating
Board: Arbor Westmark Rocker 2020
Price: $469
Style: Freestyle
Flex Rating: Medium (6/10)
Flex Feel on Snow: Medium-Soft (4/10)
Rating Score: 82.4/100
Compared to other Men’s Freestyle Boards
Out of the 37 men’s freestyle snowboards that I rated:
Overview of the Westmark Rocker’s Specs
Check out the tables for the Westmark Rocker’s specs and available sizes.
Specs
Style: | Freestyle |
Price: | $469 |
Ability Level: |  |
Flex: |  |
Feel: |  |
Turn Initiation: | Fast |
Edge-hold: |  |
Camber Profile: | ContinuousRocker Arbor's "System Rocker" |
Shape: | |
Setback Stance: | Centered |
Base: | Sintered |
Weight: | Normal |
Sizing
LENGTH (cm) | Waist Width (mm) | Rec Rider Weight (lb) | Rec Rider Weight (kg) |
|---|---|---|---|
149 | 247.5 | 104-184 | 47-83 |
152 | 249 | 110-190 | 50-86 |
155 | 250.5 | 116-196 | 53-89 |
158 | 252 | 122-202 | 55-92 |
154MW | 258.5 | 114-194 | 52-88 |
157MW | 260 | 120-200+ | 54-91+ |
161W | 267 | 136-215 | 62-98 |
* note that there was also a 160MW for the 2020 model that isn't returning for the 2021 model.
Who is the Westmark Rocker Most Suited To?
The Westmark Rocker is great for anyone looking for a board on the looser, more playful side for riding freestyle, predominantly in the park, but using the mountain as a park too. And even more ideal if you like that but want a twin that's a fun surfy ride in powder.
Not ideal for a complete beginner, but for a high-end beginner it's very doable.
The Westmark Rocker in More Detail
O.k. let’s take a more detailed look at what the Westmark Rocker is capable of.
Demo Info
Board: Arbor Westmark Rocker 2020, 155cm (250.5mm waist width)
Date: February 28, 2019
Conditions: Fresh pow - 10cm (4") overnight.
Some harder spots on groomer but mostly soft-packed. Off groomer nice fresh powder with some dust on crust spots.
Overcast skies, but high cloud with good visibility.
Bindings angles: +15/-15
Stance width: 560mm (22″)
Stance Setback: Centered
Width at Inserts: 264.5mm (10.41")
Rider Height: 6'0"
Rider Weight: 185lbs
Rider Boot Size: US10 Vans Aura
Bindings Used: Burton Malavita M
Weight: 2800g (6lbs, 3oz)
Weight per cm: 18.06g/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. So the Westmark Rocker is a little lighter than normal, but very close to that average.
Powder
A fun ride in powder. Not going to excel in deep powder, but really nice for a twin and really fun surfy feel in moderate powder. Great powder option for those that want to ride both directions in powder.
Carving & Turning
Carving: It's not a hard carver by any means. It's a looser more surfy feel and doesn't really engage in deep, long, aggressive carves
Turning: Good for doing regular S turns on, at slower speeds.
Maneuverability at Slow Speeds: Really maneuverable at slow speeds. It gets off it's game a bit at speed, but really quick edge-to-edge at slow speeds.
Skidded Turns: Easy to skid turns on. Not catchy at all
Speed
Getting up to moderate to fast speeds the Westmark Rocker starts to get quite wobbly. It's not a bomber, IMO.
Uneven Terrain
Absorbs the bumps really well and nice and nimble for weaving in between. Good in crud too.
With it's nimbleness as well, this board is really fun in trees, particularly when there's a moderate amount of fresh snow.
Let’s Break up this text with a Video
This video is for the 2019 model, but both the 2020 and 2021 models are very similar.
Jumps
Overall a fun board to hit jumps and side hits with.
Pop: Good pop without being epic. Pop was really easy to access though - not much effort needed to extract it.
Approach: Not particularly stable on approach to larger jumps, but nice and nimble to approaches to harder to hit side-hits.
Landing: Nice and forgiving on smaller jumps, but not as suitable for larger jumps.
Side-hits: Really fun - nice and nimble for trickier approaches and decent pop and that pop was super easy to access.
Small jumps/Big Jumps: Really fun for smaller jumps. Not as suitable for larger jumps. OK for medium jumps.
Switch
Really good for riding switch, which was no surprise. Because it's generally an easy board to ride, it's also good for those just learning how to ride switch.
Spins
Fun board to spin. The spin gets around super-easy, lands and takes off in switch really well and has that easy to access pop. Not really for bigger, more extreme tricks, but highly suited for 1s and 3s off small to medium jumps.
Jibbing
A nice board to jib on. It's nimble, forgiving an felt nice underfoot on jibs. I felt confident jibbing with it, and I'm not the strongest jibber.
Butters
Nice and buttery. Press off the nose and tail really easily.
Score Breakdown and Final Verdict
Check out the breakdown of the score in the table below.
RATING | SCORE WEIGHTING | |
|---|---|---|
JUMPS | 3.5 | 14/20 |
JIBBING | 4.0 | 16/20 |
SWITCH | 4.5 | 13.5/15 |
BUTTERING | 4.5 | 9/10 |
SPINS | 4.0 | 8/10 |
UNEVEN TERRAIN | 4.0 | 4/5 |
POWDER | 3.0 | 3/5 |
CARVING/TURNS | 2.5 | 2.5/5 |
SPEED | 2.5 | 2.5/5 |
PIPE | 2.5 | 2.5/5 |
TOTAL after normalizing | 82.4/100 |
The Westmark Rocker isn't a bomber by any means, but for playful freestyle riding - small jumps, side-hits, jibs and butters - it's a really fun board. And if you want to surf some shallow to moderate powder in between park laps, it's got a fun surfy feeling for that too.
More Info, Current Prices and Where to Buy Online
If you want to learn more about the Westmark Rocker, 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 freestyle snowboard options, or if you want to compare how the Westmark Rocker compares to other freestyle snowboards, then check out the next link.
Hi Nate!
Thanks so much for the write ups I thoroughly enjoy reading them!
So I’m looking at getting the Westmark Rocker and had a couple questions if you don’t mind!
I’m ~5’11” and weigh 197. During non covid times I typically hover around 187-190 haha. I also wear size 10 Nike Vapens as my boots.
1. Do you think Union Forces or Union Stratas would be good for this set up?
2. Do you think I could get away with a 155 or would a 158 suit me better in the long run?
I consider myself intermediate and really want a board that will let me progress in treating the mountain like a park. I’ve never ridden a rocker before but hear this board is fun as hell.
Let me know if you need any additional info and thank you so much!
Hi Chris
Thanks for your message.
In terms of bindings, I would go with the Stratas. Both the Force and Strata would match fine with the Westmark Rocker, but the Strata will give you better board feel and just all round better, IMO, for an all-mountain-freestyle style.
Size-wise, I think you could getaway with the 155 IF you’re going to be riding quite a playful style. Like if you’re not really looking to carve hard and bomb the slopes, in between treating the mountain like a park, if that makes sense. Like the 155 won’t feel very stable at speed for you. It’ll be fine up to certain speeds, but when you really try to open it out it will likely get the speed wobbles. If you want it to be able to handle a little more speed (not a bomber in any size, just not that kind of board, but will give you more stability going longer), then the 158 would be the better call.
Hope this helps
Hi nate, im considering the westmark rocker as a playful all mountain board for the alps. The alps can get kind of icy though. Did you feel like it would slip easily on harder spots or was the edge hold good for a rocker board?
Hi Adrian
Thanks for your message.
I find the edgehold in hard/icy conditions on Arbor Rocker boards to be pretty good. Apart from something like a Lib Tech/GNU Banana (which is predominantly rocker) Arbor’s are the next best thing in hard/icy snow for predominantly rocker boards, that I’ve ridden.
Hope this helps
Hi Nate- now I just need to settle on a size. Size 11 boot, 32 TM 2. 192lbs, 5’10”. Intermediate/advanced. All mountain. East coast so no powder. Could I get away with the 158 with the 25.2 waist width? -13 & 13 binding angels. I really prefer effective edged over width and these Westmarks seem to have longer ee for their lengths. Thanks
Hi John
In terms of length, I think the 158 would be a good size for you, for this board.
In terms of width, usually I would say that the 158 would be too narrow for 11s. But the Westmark Rocker does have a relatively big difference between the waist width and the width at inserts (about 14mm difference – the average is around a 10mm difference). So on the 158, the width at inserts is likely to be roughly 266-267mm (I measured the 155). Whilst that’s still on the narrow side for 11s, I think it’s doable with those binding angles. Also in your favor is that the TM-2 is one of the lower profile boots I’ve measured in the 32 range, so that helps a little too. The TM-2s I measured were 10s, and they measured 30.6cm on the outersole, which is just 2.6cm longer than the mondo-print of the boot. 11s are likely to be roughly 31.6cm on the outer sole.
So straight across (i.e. if you had a zero degree binding angle) you would have roughly a 2.5cm (1″) overhang on heel and toe edge. With the angles that would reduce a bit from there. That’s kind of the limit in terms of what I’m comfortable with in terms of overhang, but I would be comfortable with that personally.
The only other to consider is how aggressively you like to carve. Like if you get really deep on your carves, like euro carving, then you might want to go wide (157W). If you’re only moderately aggressive on them or will only be moderate on this board, then I think you should be fine on the 158.
Hope this helps
Thank you sir, that is very helpful.
You’re very welcome John
Thanks!
You’re very welcome John.
Hi Nate- great site and great reviews. Question about accessing the pop on a rocker board like this. I rode the gnu RC in c2x last year and noticed I didn’t get as much pop when traversing doing front 1 s hard way, toe edge to toe edge. As compared to flat, camber and cam rock boards I’ve had in the past. Bear in mind this is using equal weight on both feet to get the pop for the spin. This sounds like a really fun board and I’ve enjoyed the rocker in the c2x but I just wonder how the Westmark would pop when using equal weight on both feet to get the pop. Thanks in advance. John
Hi John
I found the pop on the Westmark Rocker was easy to extract, using both feet evenly, but the total amount of pop wasn’t huge. Less than the Westmark Camber for sure and less than the Rider’s Choice C2X. The Rider’s Choice does have that camber there – just that there’s the rocker between the feet. The Westmark Rocker is all rocker, so you do miss some of that camber spring. Still a fun board to jump with, especially for smaller jumps, side hits etc, but if you’re looking for something quite poppy, it’s not hugely poppy, IMO.
Hope this helps