Hello and welcome to my Burton Feelgood snowboard review.
In this review, I will take a look at the Feelgood (camber) as an all-mountain snowboard.
As per tradition here at SnowboardingProfiles.com I will give the Feelgood a score out of 100 (based on several factors) and see how it compares with other all-mountain snowboards.
Overall Rating
For this season, I found someone to test women's gear, so this review is based on my tester's (Ash's) experience with the board, as well as my own experience with the closest men's equivalent (Burton Custom) of this board.
Board: Burton Feelgood
Price: $579
Style: All-Mountain
Flex Rating: Medium-Stiff
Flex Feel on Snow: Medium-Stiff (7/10)
Rating Score: 88.3/100
Compared to other Women’s All-Mountain Boards
Out of the 20 women’s all-mountain snowboards that I rated:
Overview of the Feelgood's Specs
Check out the tables for the Feelgood’s specs and available sizes.
Specs
Style: | All-Mountain |
Price: | $579 |
Ability Level: |  |
Flex: |  |
Feel: |  |
Turn Initiation: | Medium |
Edge-hold: |  |
Camber Profile: | |
Shape: | |
Setback Stance: | Setback 20mm (0.75") |
Base: | Setback 12.5mm (0.5") |
Weight: | Lighter side of normal |
Sizing
LENGTH (cm) | Waist Width (mm) | Rec Rider Weight (lb) | Rec Rider Weight (kg) |
|---|---|---|---|
142 | 238 | 100-150 | 45-68 |
146 | 240 | 120-180 | 54-82 |
149 | 242 | 120-180 | 54-82 |
152 | 244 | 150-200 | 68-91 |
Who is the Feelgood Most Suited To?
The Feelgood is great for anyone who likes to bomb the mountain and carve up the groomers. And for those who like their jumps big.
I don't have an aggressive all-mountain category for women, but if I did this would be in there. A more aggressive ride that favors speed and carving over everything else.
Certainly not for a beginner, and even a lower-end intermediate rider may struggle a little. For high-end intermediate to expert riders.
Not great for powder, buttering, jibbing - that kind of thing, more for those who like to really bomb.
The Feelgood in More Detail
O.k. let’s take a more detailed look at what the Twin is capable of.
Demo Info
Board: Burton Feelgood 2020, 149cm (242mm waist width)
Date: April 14, 2019
Conditions: Great vis first thing but started closing in and then snowing 10:30. Then on and off throughout the day. But vis was never terrible – in patches good and in patches OK.
Groomers were quite smooth and fast, especially compared to the day before, which was nice.
Nothing crazy in terms of fresh snow, but 1cm (0.5") overnight and few more than that in the days leading up - some fresh patches still to be found.
Relatively cold with a little wind, but not much - wind not as strong and not quite as cold as the day before. -4 with wind. Still pretty cold for April 14th!
Bindings angles: +15/-12
Stance width: 530mm (20.9″)
Stance Setback: Setback 12.5mm (0.5")
Rider Height: 5"6" (168cm)
Rider Weight: 130lbs (59kg)
Rider Boot Size: Women's US8.5 Ride Hera
Bindings Used: NOW Vetta, Small
Flex
Both in hand and whilst riding Ashly felt that the Feelgood was one of the stiffer boards she's ridden.
Powder
Not waist deep or anything on the day but there was some shallow fresh powder. The Feelgood handled that fine, and in shallow powder is all good.
But if it got quite deep, it would likely be a different story. It does have a little more nose than tail, and a small setback, which help a little. But with that traditional camber shape, it's going to be an effort to keep that nose afloat in deep pow.
Carving & Turning
Ashly said that the Feelgood felt smooth and controlled for S turns and was great on a carve.
Carving: The Feelgood is a beast to carve on. You can get really low into your carves and hold them endlessly.
Maneuverability at slow speeds: Difficult to ride slow and not very nimble when riding slow.
Overall edge-to-edge speeds: When riding faster the Feelgood became much more responsive - and felt much more at home.
Smooth or snappy: Definitely more smooth than snappy.
Speed
Ashly said that the Feelgood felt smooth and stable at speed - more so than anything else she's ridden. It has good acceleration and has good glide on flats too. But mostly the way that this board remained stable and smooth at speed is what was most impressive.
Uneven Terrain
The Feelgood is the type of board that smashes through crud, rather than trying to hug it. And it absorbs chatter well - still feeling smooth even on rough snow.
Not ideal for weaving through bumpy terrain, giving it's not very nimble at slow speeds. Better in crud than with undulating terrain.
Let’s Break up this text with a Video
Jumps
Overall a great jumper with a ton of pop - it's pop that you've got to load up to extract, but when you do it's there in spades.
Pop: Heaps - but not that easy to extract - if you're a stronger rider and willing to really load it up, it will reward you, but just don't expect an effortless pop.
Approach: Really stable and smooth on the approach. Not as nimble for trickier side-hits but otherwise great on approach.
Landing: Super solid. Maybe not forgiving enough for a beginner on jumps - but for anyone with a bit of experience you can really stomp your landings with this thing.
Side-hits: Would be better for side-hits if it was more nimble and had pop that was more easily extracted. But for easy approach side-hits, and popping off rollers/lips it's great.
Small jumps: Good for small jumps, but even better for large jumps.
Big jumps: This is a large jump board for sure. If you like your jumps large or extra large, this is the board you want under your feet. Super solid for approach and landings and great pop.
Switch
It's not perfect riding switch but definitely doable - and above average for sure.
Spins
Taking off and landing switch is fine, if not perfect. Good pop (even if you have to extract it). Quite a bit of effort to get the spin around. No problem if you're going big, but if you're looking to get a spin going from minimal air - then it's more tricky - quite stiff torsionally as well as longitudinally.
Jibbing
Doable, but not easy. If you're an experienced jibber, you'll be fine, but otherwise not ideal for jibbing.
Butters
Not easy to press this board. There's not much flex in the tip and tail for buttering.
Score Breakdown and Final Verdict
Check out the breakdown of the score in the table below.
RATING | SCORE WEIGHTING | |
|---|---|---|
POWDER | 2.5 | 7.5/15 |
CARVING/TURNS | 4.5 | 13.5/15 |
SPEED | 4.5 | 13.5/15 |
UNEVEN TERRAIN | 3.5 | 10.5/15 |
SWITCH | 3.5 | 7/10 |
JUMPS | 4.0 | 8/10 |
SPINS | 3.0 | 3/5 |
BUTTERS | 2.0 | 2/5 |
JIBBING | 2.5 | 2.5/5 |
PIPE | 4.0 | 4/5 |
TOTAL after normalizing | 88.3/100 |
Overall, the Feelgood is a bomber and a carving machine, which is awesome for larger jumps and has great pop when you load it up.
It's definitely more aggressive than playful and excels when you ride it hard.
More Info, Current Prices and Where to Buy Online
If you want to learn more about the Feelgood, 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 women's all-mountain snowboard options, or if you want to compare how the Feelgood compares to other all-mountain snowboards, then check out the next link.
Hi Nate,
First, thanks for this awesome website, lots of nice and useful information. It’s summer here and I’m shopping for a new board for next season. I demoed a Burton feelgood last season
and loved the speed and carving. I found them at 50 pour cent off and I am wondering if I should get a 146 or 149. I ride groomers, carving and go fast, like to ride glades and don’t go in the park. I want to keep learning to ride switch and oldie higher, would love to be able to do a ollie and doing a 180 while riding on piste, between carve. I ride a Burton malolo 149 (year 2007, the light blue one) for powder (nice to carve too!) and got a ride OMG 147 (year 2014) to learn to ride switch. Sometime I felt that I wished the ride had some setback or maybe longer ?. What size should I get ? 146 or 149 ? Thanks !
I am also thinking of getting a hel yes eventually when they become on sale. Again, the question will be 146 or 149 ? Thanks for your help and input !
Height : 5’4
Weight : approx. 127 lbs
Boot: Burton supreme size 8
Binding : Burton escapade reflex , size medium
Type of riding : ride fast, groomers, carve, trees, ollie while riding
What I want to learn or keep learning : ollie higher, ride switch, butter, spin, grabs but whîle on groomers, so side hits or off an ollie, I don’t go in the park.
Thank you!
Hi Catherine
Thanks for your message (also got your message on the Top 6 All-Mountain post, but I’ll answer here).
Definitely an argument could be made for both 146 and 149 and even 142, if you were going to use it a lot for riding park. Some pros and cons that can hopefully make your decision easier – and also give you my opinion on what I think is best.
– The 146 is going to be better in trees and for ollies and 180s
– The 149 will be better for powder, big carves and stability at speed
Since you have your Malolo for powder, it’s really between getting something that will be better for trees, ollies and 180s vs carving/stability at speed.
I would be leaning towards the 146 for you for a couple of reason. Firstly, you already have the 149 in the Malolo, and in terms of carving I would imagine that the 146 Feelgood is similar to the 149 Malolo. The reason is that if the Malolo has a long nose on it, then the effective edge as a ratio compared to overall length will likely be shorter. I couldn’t find specs on the Malolo after a quick search, but I would imagine with the long nose, that the effective edge on the 146 Feelgood would be similar to that on the 149 Malolo. And overall I think it would be a more balanced quiver if you had 146 for the Feelgood, to better compliment your 149 Malolo.
Also, I do think the 146 is the better size for your specs generally. If you were going to be just bombing and carving, then going up to 149 might be the way to go, but given you want to ride trees, do ollies etc, I would go 146.
Overall, I would say the trade off of loosing a little stability at speed and for your bigger carves is going to be less significant going 146 vs 149 than how it would affect your tree riding and ollies/spins if you went 149 over 146.
Same would go for the Hel Yes.
Hope this helps with your decision
Hi Nate,
Thanks a lot for your complete answer and for taking the time to help me out. (I am sorry I posted at both pages; I didn’t know if they all got looked at; sorry again for the double posts).
For curiousity, here are the Malolo’s specs (149) :
http://www.snowdb.com/catalog/burton/2008/malolo#text
According to these measurements, the EE is 1125 mm (sidecut 7.3), so closer to the Feelgood 149 (1135 mm, 7.3 sidecut). My OMG is 1107 (sidecut 7.1) so about the same as the Feelgood 146 (1105 mm, sidecut 7.1). I am also guessing that the Feelgood is stiffer than my OMG, so be more fun to carve on and I’ll appreciate the Setback for sure 🙂
If I read your comments right, I’ll notice more of a difference if I try to ollie the 146 (easier) over the 149 (harder), be more ninble in the trees with the 146 then if I carve both boards (similar, but more stability on the 149).
I just want to make sure that the 146 can handle bombing and carving also 🙂
Thanks a lot for your help 🙂
Hi Catherine
Thanks for those specs. Very helpful to look at there and interesting that the EE figures are such. But yeah, the 146 Feelgood is still going to be a better carver/bomber than the OMG, for a few reasons. Firstly, it’s stiffer, like you say. Secondly, the Feelgood is all camber and camber is better for carving (IMO) and has a more aggressive feel – it’s also better for speed, IMO, so given that it has more camber vs the OMG, even in the same size, EE and sidecut, it’s going to carve better and be more stable at speed, because of the flex and camber profile.
So, I still think 146 is the way to go for what you’re describing. And yeah, I think you’ll notice the gain in maneuverability and ease for ollies on the 146 more than you’ll notice the loss of stability when bombing. The 149 will certainly be able to bomb harder, but I think overall, you’ll notice the loss there, if that makes sense. And that the 146 will still be able to handle carving and bombing well with your specs, but strikes a better balance between bombing and trees/ollies, than the 149 will, IMO.
Hi Nate
I really like your website, and you help me understand the weight is a more important factor than height, I was wrong for the whole learning time! I am glad I am here!
I am running a Burton feather 144, 2017 model and Lip-Stick 145, 2016 model, do you think they are too long for me? I am 5’5″-5’6″, 110-115 lbs, can do skidded turns, but not perfect carving (trying to learn). I read your review about Burton Feelgood, I am thinking to update to that board or maybe other similar board, so I should be looking at the range of 140-142 in length, is that correct?
Hi Lynn
Thanks for your message.
For this board, you might want to go for 142. It’s a stiffer, more aggressive board and as an intermediate rider (if I have that right?) it wouldn’t be a bad decision to take off a couple of cms. But in general, as a more advanced rider, around 144, 145 would certainly be fine. As a beginner, I would have recommended more like 140-142. As an intermediate rider more like 142-144. For this board, I’d say go 142.
Hope this helps with your decision
Hi Nate thank you for your suggestion. I look back for my Feather and Lipstick. One thing I’m confused is that the feather shows effective edge 1115mm, while the 145cm lipstick is only with 1030mm. What effective edge mm should I look for? The two boards I own are roughly same lengths lipstick is even 1cm longer but much shorter in the effective edge. Which factor is more important when choose my next board, the length or effective edge? Thanks
Hi Lynn
Both are important, depending on what you’re looking for. That is a big difference between those 2. The Lipstick looks like it’s got a longer nose and tail – and the nose and tail are quite pointy. Which means that there is a lot of length outside the contact points – and with that pointier shape, the length is a little exaggerated vs what it’s likely to feel like. The Feather is on the other end of the spectrum. There is less length in the nose and tail outside the contact points and that nose is more rounded. Opposite to the Lipstick it’s going to feel longer than what the overall length suggests. Having more nose/tail, but particularly more nose (assuming you’re not riding switch in powder) really helps with float in powder – without adding to the feel of the length of the board on groomers.
1115mm is quite a lot of effective edge for a 144 vs the average. Whereas 1030 for a 145 is less than what you would typically see. So in this case that difference is exaggerated. The Feelgood is in between both of them and more in the middle when it comes to effective edge vs overall length. The 142 for the Feelgood would be a good bet for you, IMO, both in terms of overall length and effective edge – taking into account other factors, like flex, camber profiles etc.
Hope this helps