Bataleon Whatever Snowboard Review

Overview of the Whatever's Specs

Who is the Whatever Best Suited To?

The Whatever is a great board for someone looking for an all camber board, but without any catchiness and want something on the softer, more playful side and have a style that's all-mountain, but leaning more towards the freestyle side of things. 

Whilst not quite complete beginner friendly, it's a pretty easy going ride that higher end beginners should be OK with. 

The Whatever in More Detail

Bindings angles: +15/-15

Stance width: 22" (560mm)

Stance Setback: Centered

Width at Inserts: 270mm (10.63") 

Rider Height: 6'0"

Rider Weight: 180lbs 

Rider Boot Size: US9.5 Adidas Tactical ADV

Bindings Used: Burton Malavita M 

Weight: 6lbs 8oz (2940 grams)

Weight per cm: 18.73 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. The Whatever was really close to average on the scales, just above the average but on snow felt nice and light - might have been something to do with the 3BT?

Powder

Nothing to test on, but based on specs and overall feel, I think it would be OK in powder without being amazing. 

The all camber profile, centered stance and almost twin shape don't make for a great board in powder, but the 3BT base should help with float and with the nose being a little longer than the tail, that would help a little too. 

Carving & Turning

Carving: Decent on a carve in good conditions. Felt like it wouldn't hold an edge that well when things got harder/icy though. 

Ease of Turning: Really fun, nice easy board to turn and slash on. Effortless but also not without oomph. 

Maneuverability at slow speeds: Nice and nimble at slow speeds, effortless to change edges. 

Skids: Skidded turns are nice and easy on this board. This, I assume is all down to the 3BT base. With the all camber profile, I imagine it would be more catchy without the 3BT. 

Speed

It's average at high speeds. Can handle and remain stable up to a certain speed, but after that gets a bit wobbly. 

Uneven Terrain

Crud: Gets bucked around a bit in crud, but nice and easy to make corrections and for the most part is pretty good. 

Bumps: Nice and nimble for weaving between bumps and hugs well when going over bumps.  

Jumps

Really fun for jumps, especially smaller jumps and sidehits. 

Pop: Pop was really easy to access but not much extra when winding up. Overall pop decent though and a large majority easy to access. 

Approach: Easy to make speed checks and course corrections for trickier approaches and last second side-hit spottings, and stable to a point, but can get squirrelly for faster approaches. 

Landing: Not a stomper for big landings, but nice and forgiving of bad landings. 

Side-hits: So much fun on side hits. Has great maneuverability and easy access pop - and nice and forgiving for when those landings are rough. 

Small jumps/Big jumps:  Most suited to small to medium jumps. 

Switch

Nice and easy to ride switch. Not perfect but really good. 

Spins

Felt nice and light, good for setting up and landing switch and good, easy access pop made this board feel really good for spins. 

Jibbing

Nice and easy to setup, good easy access pop and felt pretty good on the jib too - felt confident jibbing on the Whatever. 

Butters

Nice and easy to press tip and tail. 

Score Breakdown and Final Verdict

Check out the breakdown of the score in the table below.3

The Whatever is a playful board that's effortless in it's turn, offers a catch-free feel, is snappy and a lot of fun in good conditions, whilst still being able to put in a decent carve. 

It's not amazing at speed, but a good all-round board for a lighter rider or someone looking for something playful and catch-free for all-mountain riding with more focus towards freestyle elements.