Hello and welcome to my Burton Straight Chuter review.
In this review I will take a look at the Straight Chuter as a Freeride snowboard.
As per tradition here at SnowboardingProfiles.com I will give the Straight Chuter a score out of 100 (based on several factors) and also see how it compares with other Freeride snowboards.
Note: The 2024 model was the last released model of the Straight Chuter.
Overall Rating
Board: Burton Straight Chuter
Price: $839 (USD recommended retail)
Style: Freeride
Flex Rating: Mid-Stiff
Flex Feel: Mid-Stiff (7.5/10)
Rating Score: 85.3/100
Compared to other Men’s Freeride Boards
Out of the 40 Men’s Freeride snowboards that I rated:
Overview of the Straight Chuter’s Specs
Check out the tables for the Straight Chuter’s specs and available sizes.
Specs
Style: | Freeride |
Price: | $839 - BUYING OPTIONS |
Ability Level: |  |
Flex: |  |
Feel: |  |
Smooth/Snappy: |  |
Dampness: |  |
Playful/Aggressive: |  |
Edge-hold: |  |
Camber Profile: | |
Shape: | |
Setback Stance: | Setback 40mm (1.5") |
Base: | Sintered (Burton's "Sintered WFO") |
Weight: | Felt Normal |
Sizing
LENGTH (cm) | Waist Width (mm) | Rec Rider Weight (lb) | Rec Rider Weight (kg) |
|---|---|---|---|
151 | 246 | 120-180 | 54-82 |
155 | 252 | 120-180 | 54-82 |
159 | 255 | 150-200 | 68-91 |
162 | 258 | 180-260+ | 82-118+ |
Who is the Straight Chuter Most Suited To?
The Straight Chuter is best suited to someone who wants to bomb and carve up groomers when there's no powder and then when it's a powder day, leave the groomers are float all day.
Not a freestyle oriented board in the slightest and prefers straighter lines down the mountain compared to tighter turns. But it's not so much so that you have to ride the crap out of it the whole time your on it. But it does prefer to be ridden aggressively.
Not for beginners and even intermediate riders might struggle a bit.
THE Straight Chuter IN MORE DETAIL
O.k. let’s take a more detailed look at what the Straight Chuter is capable of.
Demo Info
Board: Burton Family Tree Straight Chuter 2023, 159cm (255mm waist width)
Date: March 22, 2022
Conditions
Raining. Visibility wasn't unlimited, but wasn't terrible either.
Temperature: Warm. 36°F (2°C) in the morning. Up to 39°F (4°C). No wind chill.
24hr snow: 0.8" (2cm)
48hr snow: 18" (45cm)
7 day snow: 29" (74cm)
On groomer: Soft pack to slushy. Well groomed to start but even at start could feel it a little slushy. Progressively slushier over day.
Off groomer: Plenty of fresh snow around, but it was heavy and sticky and lumpy, so not great.
Set Up
Bindings angles: +12/-9
Stance width: 22″ (560mm)
Stance Setback: 1.5" (40mm)
Width at Inserts: 10.51" (267mm) at front insert and 10.39" (264mm) at back insert.
Tester: Fraser
Rider Height: 6'1"
Rider Weight: 180lbs
Rider Boot Size: US9.5 Adidas Tactical Lexicon ADV
Bindings Used: Burton Malavita: M
Weight: 6lbs 4oz (2840grams)
Weight per cm: 17.86 grams/cm
Average Weight per cm: 18.59 grams/cm*
*based on a sample size of around 200 models that I’ve weighed in 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 & 2023 models. The Straight Chuter was a decent amount lighter than normal on the scales. On snow it felt ever so slightly lighter than normal but pretty much normal.
Powder
Whilst we had some fresh snow around it was far from champagne powder! But it did give some indication. And that plus the specs of boards indicate that the Straight Chuter would be very good in powder.
It has a healthy amount of taper and setback as well as a rockered nose. That plus the tail is shorter than the nose, helping it to sink and raise the nose up.
Carving
Really decent on the carve, which was no surprise. Excelled particularly at longer drawn out carves at speed. Definitely likes to track pretty straight.
Turning
Ease of Turns/Slashing: The torsional stiffness isn't ideal for easy turning, but it certainly wasn't hard - and that short tail helped to whip around slashes.
Maneuverability at slow speeds (nimbleness): Felt pretty normal - not lightning quick but not slow either.
Skidded Turns: Was a little catchier in the nose but not so much the tail. A little surprising given the rocker in the nose.
Speed
Felt super stable at speed. Gave it plenty and it held strong.
Uneven Terrain
Crud: Smashed through crud with ease. Didn't get thrown off line and felt like it would take quite a lot to knock it off course.
Trees/Bumps: Felt pretty normal. Didn't excel, but was fine.
Jumps
Not ideal for landing switch or tail heavy but you can still have some fun on it.
Pop: Felt like a normal amount. Not oodles. You had to put it in to get it out. Not a lot of easy access pop, but decent when you did wind it up a bit.
Approach: Nice and stable and when you did need to make adjustments was maneuverable enough.
Landing: Can land fairly nose heavy and get away with it. Less forgiving if you land tail heavy. Overall pretty solid landing platform.
Side-hits: Was good without being overly exciting for them. The way it was able to smash through crud made it good when there was crud on your path or on your landing.
Small jumps/Big jumps: Capable of all sizes but with the slightly sketchiness of landing tail heavy felt like I preferred smaller jumps on it, when the consequences of getting it wrong are less.
Switch
Not ideal, given how directional it is. Felt a little wrong riding this one the wrong way.
Butters
Not unbutterable but feels weird with the differences between nose and tail. Tail was easy to press. Nose was a bit awkward to press.
Score Breakdown and Final Verdict
Check out the breakdown of the score in the table below.
RATING | SCORE WEIGHTING | |
|---|---|---|
POWDER | 4.5 | 22.5/25 |
SPEED | 4.5 | 18/20 |
CARVING | 4.0 | 12/15 |
TURNS/SLASHING | 3.5 | 7/10 |
CRUD/CHUNDER | 4.0 | 8/10 |
TREES/BUMPS | 3.5 | 7/10 |
JUMPS | 2.0 | 2/5 |
SWITCH | 2.0 | 2/5 |
TOTAL after normalizing | 85.3/100 |
Burton's Family Tree Straight Chuter is very much a one-direction board that likes to bomb and carve up groomers, smash through crud and would be a great tool on a powder day.
It's not ideal for playing around or slashing or riding slow, but it's not unbearable when not being ridden aggressively.
More Info, Current Prices and Where to Buy Online
If you want to learn more about the Straight Chuter, 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 freeride snowboard options, or if you want to compare how the Straight Chuter compares to other freeride snowboards, then check out the next link.
Hey Nate,
Love your site man, I appreciate your extensive knowledge. I recently bought a Straight Chuter as my big mountain, steep and deep board, and I’m curious as to your thoughts on what bindings would pair well with it. Looking for something with good response but also damp. I have a set of Cartel X EST on a Flight Attendant that could do double duty, and I’ve also been considering the Burton X EST (havn’t seen many reviews) and Union Falcors/Atlas. Open to hear your thoughts or if there is anything else I should consider. Should I stay EST or consider something off your freeride bindings list? Appreciate your input.
Hey Jeff
Thanks for your message.
I really like the feel of EST with Burton boards. But you don’t have to necessarily go EST. The Genesis X EST could definitely do double duty. Though, if I was being fussy, I’d preferably go a little stiffer than them for the Straight Chuter. We haven’t tested it – hard to get hold of – but the X EST would likely be a good bet.
The Union Falcor could definitely work or the Atlas Pro – I would go Atlas Pro over the Atlas for the Straight Chuter – or Atlas FC, if you wanted to go even stiffer and could swallow the cost. Between the Falcor and the Atlas Pro/FC, it depends on a. how stiff you want to go but also b. the type of response you think you’d prefer. The Falcor gives a springier, sharper response vs the smoother, consistent response of the Atlas series. For what you’re looking to use it for, I would be leaning Atlas Pro/FC, as I think it would have a feel more suited to the type of riding you would be doing with the Straight Chuter. Note however, that they aren’t super damp. They’re better in that sense than the Flux XV, but not as good as some others.
The likes of the Rome Cleaver, Bataleon Astro, Salomon Quantum and Jones Apollo would all give you better dampening (particularly the Apollo) and would all work well, IMO, for the Straight Chuter and the type of riding you’re looking to do.
Hope this helps with your decision
First of all, thanks for so much substantive content. Not only in this review.
I have a question about this board – does the review apply to the latest version od Straight Chuter? I’m asking because I see the previous Straight Chuter model in the photo. According to your review, it seems to be perfect for me, but apparently the latest version is a bit softer and does not have such good damping (here the flex is 7,5 and on Burton’s webiste there is someting about 6/10). Please let me know which year this review applies to.
Hi Dominik
Thanks for your message. As far as I know the 2024 Straight Chuter didn’t change from the 2023 to 2024 model. Even since the 2021 model I rode, it hasn’t really changed significantly as far as I can tell. Burton have always rated this as more medium flex, and I’ve never understood why. Even the Burton rep introduced this board as “stiff and hard charging – basically a directional Custom X”.
You’ll see here that they had the same flex rating for the 2021 model. And here for the 2023 model.
That said, the Deep Thinker and Free Thinker didn’t look like they’d changed on paper and both of those did get quite a bit softer/more mellow. So the Straight Chuter may have followed that same path, but not than I’m aware of.
Hope this helps
Thank you. I had doubts because in one of the other reviews on YouTube I found information that this board has poor damping and it is not good for crud/chunder. However, I understand that in your opinion, it handles such uneven terrain (crud/chunder) quite well?
And the second question. Of the two boards Straight Chutter 162 cm and Deep Thinker 160 cm, which one do you think is more similar to the old (2013) Flagship 164 cm?
I am 188 cm tall, 86 kg weight, mondo 290 mm (I definitely don’t want wide), 20 years (2/3 weeks per year ;)) of riding.
I love agressive fast riding in crud/chunder, also charging and grooming the slopes and surfing on powder. I don’t like typical long straight lines carving.
Could you suggest which of these two would be a better choice for me? Or if you can think of another board, please suggest. Thank you in advance!
I forgot to add an important thing. It is very important for me that the board can both “destroy” crud/chunder and allow me to “dance” on it.
Hi Dominik
Yeah, for me it handled crud/chunder well. It’s not the dampest board in the world or anything. It’s a little damper than average I found, but nothing super damp. It’s quite light and there’s a limit to how damp light boards can feel. So you feel some chatter in crud/chunder (nothing super bad, but you feel it), but it worked well for me in terms of crashing through it and dancing over it.
I never rode the 2013 model of the Flagship, so I can’t speak directly to that model. The oldest Flagship I’ve ridden is the 2018 model. Which had a few changes vs the 2013 model. But the 2018 model is more similar than the latest model. But I’d say in some ways the Straight Chuter is more similar and in others the Deep Thinker is more similar. Flex-wise, the Straight Chuter is more similar to the old Flagship with the Deep Thinker being a softer flexing board now. But the old Flagship had only very subtle taper (like 1-2mm). The Deep Thinker has more taper than that (7mm) but is closer in that respect to the old Flagship than the Straight Chuter (18mm taper). Performance-wise, for the most part, I would say that the Straight Chuter is more like the old Flagship – but wouldn’t think they would feel super similar or anything.
In my experience I felt the Straight Chuter was a little damper than the Deep Thinker. The Deep Thinker is, however, IMO, better for shorter sharper carving as opposed to long straight lines carving.
Looking more into Burton’s description of the Straight Chuter, as I’ve always been confused by their flex rating it even says “The carbon-reinforced fiberglass core matrix creates a stiff, fine-tuned flex feel that’s loaded with energy” and “This big-gun inspired shape is all about speed and control. Its wide nose and taper keep it maneuverable in powder, while its directional shape and flex share Davis’ ride-hard attitude.” Seems to contradict their “happy medium” flex rating.
But yeah, overall I would say the Straight Chuter over the Deep Thinker for what you’re describing as it’s better at speed, better in powder and is a little damper, IMO.
Thank you very much!
You’re very welcome Dominik. Hope you have a great season!
Btw. My friend, who rides similarly to me, recommended yesterday the Amplid Surfari. I might eventually compare it to Burton DF/SC (but the downside for AF is that it hasn’t your review. Best regards 🙂
Hey Dominik. Thanks for letting me know. Yeah we haven’t tested anything Amplid, unfortunately.
Hi Nate, 2 months ago you helped me with your advice and reviews. I wanted to share my final choice.
Due to the fact that the current Flagship model seemed a little less stiff than mine 2013 (and I don’t like the new design ;)), I finally decided to buy Ride Deep Fake 161W (by the way, I was convinced to choose W with my size and I don’t regret it). I replaced the ION boots with ION Step On and bought Step On X bindings.
To sum up – The DF has wonderfull dumping, is fast, and catches the edge better than my 2013 164 Flagship. Additionally, it helps me nicely with fast changing edges. I love it on crud/chunder. The only downside is that the quality and durability of its topsheet which is very poor and susceptible not only to scratches but also to detachment (like foil or paper).
PS. 1. I was wondering for a long time whether to take the 165W (than 161W), because I also like the feeling of floating on snow, considering my height of 188 cm and 86 kg and 290/295 mondo.
P.S. 2. I regret that your Ride Deep Fake review is not here 🙂 I am interested in your opinion of that board. Best regards
Hi Dominik
Thanks for the update. Great to hear that you are getting on well with your new setup! We haven’t tested the Deep Fake yet, unfortunately. If we can get on it this winter, I will let you know how I get on and will put out a review for it.
Does 4cm make a difference in board length ? Will I feel it during my turns ?
I am 180 lbs. freerider, therefore not sure if 156cm or 160cm ?
Hi Manuel
Please see my response to this when you asked the same question on the Choosing the Best Snowboard Specs Based on Different Types of Snow post. I’m guessing you haven’t seen my response there yet.
Found it, Thank you !
You’re very welcome Manuel.
How compare straight chuter vs. hometown hero ?
Hi Manuel
Thanks for your message. Main differences, IMO are:
– Straight Chuter is stiffer (7.5/10 vs 6.5/10 on the hometown hero)
– Straight Chuter is a board you’ve got to be more aggressive with to get the best out of it. Not at it’s best if you want to ride it more mellow. Hometown hero a better balance between aggressive and less-aggressive riding.
– Straight Chuter better for speed and in powder
– Hometown hero better for slower speed riding (still good at faster speeds, but more in between in terms of slower speed and faster speed performance) and better for jumps, IMO.
– Straight Chuter, as the name suggests, is more of a straight liner
Hope this helps
Hi Nate, great review on the straight chuter. Helps a lot. My daily drivers are a 158 leader board and T7 159 and 162. considering buying a SC in 155 as I want to use it for tree runs and also in spring time slush. Do you think that’s an good idea (also lengthwise)?
Cheers
Mike
Hi Mike
Thanks for your message.
I didn’t find the Straight Chuter super nimble at slower speeds, so not necessarily ideal in trees, unless you like to really tear it up in there. That said, it sounds like you have a quiver on the stiffer side, so you’ll be used to that kind of flex. Sizing down would certainly mellow it out and make it easier to weave through the trees, but still not what I’d personally consider the ideal tree board. But if you’re a physically stronger rider you might be OK with it, particularly if your typical size is between 158 and 162. I think it would handle slush fine.
Hope this helps