Capita DOA Snowboard Review

Hello and welcome to my Capita DOA review.

In this review I will take a look at the DOA (Defenders of Awesome) and rate it as an all-mountain-freestyle snowboard.

As per tradition here at SnowboardingProfiles.com I will give the DOA a score out of 100 (based on several factors) and see how it compares with other all-mountain-freestyle snowboards.

Overall Rating

Board: Capita DOA (Defenders of Awesome)

Price: $499 (USD recommended retail)

Style: All-Mountain-Freestyle (semi-aggressive)

Flex Rating: Medium (5.5/10)

Flex Feel: Medium (6/10)

Rating Score: 83.3/100

Compared to other Men’s All-Mountain-Freestyle Boards

Out of all the 28 men’s all-mountain-freestyle snowboards that I rated:

O.k. let’s take a more detailed look at what the DOA is capable of.

Demo Info

Board: Capita DOA 2019, 156cm (252mm waist width)

Date: March 20^th, 2018

Conditions: Slushy. Poor visibility to begin especially the higher up the mountain. Relatively clear towards the bottom and got clearer as I rode.

Bindings angles: +15/-15

Stance width: 565mm (22.2″)

Stance Setback: Centered

Width at Inserts: 260mm

Weight: 2720grams (6lb)

Weight per cm: 17.44 grams/cm

Average Weight per cm: 18.21 grams/cm*

*based on a small sample size of 24 boards that I weighed. Compared to the other Capita boards I weighed the DOA was the heaviest – but compared to most boards it’s light. Just that the other Capita boards are super light!

Powder

Didn’t have any powder to speak of when I rode the 2019 model, but not much has changed and based on the 2017 & 2018 models (when I did get on some powder). Based on the 2018 model – it can handle powder but it’s the boards biggest weakness. It was still fun but you did have to work at keeping the nose up.

It’s a centered stance, true twin deck with a mostly camber profile, so naturally it doesn’t have amazing float but that’s not what it’s designed for, really.

Carving/Turning

A fun board to carve with. It’s got a mostly stable feel but it’s bordering on a locked-in feel.  Don’t know what the edge hold would be like in hard and icy conditions – but super fun in good conditions for sure.

And this was with a 156 and I would normally go for a 158 for this type of board. So I think it would hold that carve even better in a slightly longer deck. Although for this board, I do like the 156, so it’s something that I would likely size down for if I bought one.

For regular turns you could get a little punished if your technique was off a little. But it wasn’t completely unforgiving of errors. You can get away with skidding turns to an extent, but only to an extent. It’s fun in trees but you’ve got to put in a bit more effort than you would with something like the Outerspace Living which is a bit lighter and the turn radius is more favorable for shorter sharper turns. The DOA more wants to go in a straighter line.

Speed

Super fast in terms of glide, particularly noticed it with the 2018 model on wet snow. It just felt like it glided a lot smoother than most boards – part of that is that is likely that it was well waxed – but certainly the board is quick too because I’ve had waxed up decks that weren’t this good on flats and weren’t this fast – especially not centered twins.

Nice and stable at speeds too. Never felt out of control even when I was hitting some serious pace. Not a specialist bomber, so not the best board at speed I’ve ridden, but one of, if not the best centered twin at speed.

Uneven Terrain

It feels pretty good over messy resort snow and handles undulations pretty well too. Not the best I’ve ridden in uneven snow, but a little better than average.

Jumps

Had a lot of fun over jumps on this board. It’s got that nice flex for if you want to do larger jumps but is still great on the small and mediums too. And a great deck for side hits.

The landing feels stable and the approach is good too. Even though it’s pretty aggressive and you can really lock it in when you want too, it’s also quite easy to maneuver for the approach onto jumps both in the park and onto natural hits and onto jibs.

It’s got heaps of pop too – got some really decent air from ollies, especially over lips. In fact I was getting more air ollying over some lips than I was on the smaller jumps in the park with other boards.

Switch

Really nice to ride switch – because it’s quite aggressive and super-fast, that can make it harder to control when riding switch but otherwise it’s great – and transitioning felt really good too – I only caught an edge in transition once – and that wasn’t the boards fault I have to admit!

Jibbing

Not a jib destroyer. But not really made for it either. That said I hit a couple and it wasn’t garbage either. Was great for approaching and popping onto jibs.

Pipe

I didn’t ride it on the pipe but based on other reviews and based on its specs I’d say it would go reasonably well in the pipe. It’s got a stiff enough flex for it, it’s centered and a true twin shape and enough camber.

Changes from the 2021 Model

The 2022 mdel gets a new core. The Dual Blaster Ashpop from the 2021 model only got one year and now it’s changed to the “Dual Blaster V2 Core”. That appears to be the only change. Plus it has 2 new sizes (the 162 and 163W). Now has a whopping 14 sizes!

Changes from the 2020 Model

The 2021 gets a new core – the “Dual Blaster Ashpop Core, versus the “FSC® Certified Dual Core” on the 2020 model.

There are also 3 new sizes – 153W, 157W & 159W and 1 size is gone – the 158W.

Changes from the 2019 Model

The 2020 DOA got a new base – the Quantum Drive Base, but otherwise is pretty much identical to the 2019 model – apart from the graphic.

Changes from the 2018 & 2017 Model

As far as I can tell, the DOA is essentially the same board for the 2019 model as it was for the 2018 model, apart from the new graphic.

The 2018 model got a new base & new sidewalls vs the 2017 model.

Capita DOA: 2018 Review

Hello and welcome to my Capita DOA review.

In this review I will take a look at the DOA (Defenders of Awesome) 2017-18 model and rate it as an aggressive-all-mountain-freestyle snowboard.

As per tradition here at SnowboardingProfiles.com I will give the DOA a score out of 100 (based on several factors) and see how it compares with other aggressive-all-mountain-freestyle snowboards.

Overall Rating

Board: Capita DOA (Defenders of Awesome)

Price: $419 (USD recommended retail)

Style: All-Mountain-Freestyle (aggressive)

Flex: Medium (5.5/10)

Rating Score: 90.9/100

Compared to other Men’s All-Mountain-Freestyle Boards

Out of all the men’s aggressive-all-mountain-freestyle snowboards that I rated:

• I looked at 16 different aggressive-all-mountain freestyle boards
• The average score was 84.4/100
• The highest score was 90.9/100 (see below)
• The lowest score was 75.6/100
• The average price was $530
• The DOA ranked 1^st out of 16!

Overview of the DOA’s Specs

Check out the tables for the DOA’s specs and available sizes in the charts below.

Specs

Sizing

Who is the DOA Most Suited to?

The DOA is the perfect board for anyone who likes to charge hard down the mountain but also wants to do some freestyle riding – both natural hits and in the park (particularly for jumps and not so much jibbing).

It carves well and is super-fast so you can really charge with this board – it’s pretty aggressive. But it’s also killer on jumps, for spins, has heaps of pop for ollies and owns side hits and lips.

If you like to charge the whole mountain hitting everything you can find on the way, then the DOA is definitely suited to you.

It’s also really reasonably priced (more than $100 cheaper than the average board in this category) so it’s also a great choice for the budget conscious.

Not for the beginner though – a. it would be too aggressive and b. you wouldn’t get everything out of this board that deserves to be gotten out of it.

The DOA in More Detail

O.k. let’s take a more detailed look at what the DOA is capable of.

Demo Info

Board: Capita DOA 2018, 156cm (252mm waist width)

Date: March 27^th, 2017

Conditions: Had 11″ (28cm) of fresh snow in the previous 48 hours. So plenty of fresh snow. Groomers a little choppy but not bad. Rain/snow throughout the day. Mostly snow but quite wet snow. Snow was very slow on my own board that day – almost unride-able but it was much better on the DOA.

Bindings angles: +15/-15

Powder

Had plenty of it to test the board out on. It could handle it but this is probably the boards biggest (and only in my opinion) weakness. It was still fun but you did have to work at keeping the nose up.

It’s a centered stance, true twin deck with a mostly camber profile, so naturally it doesn’t have amazing float but that’s not what it’s designed for, really.

Carving/Turning

Held really nicely on carves. Felt really good leaning into carves at speed. I had some great snow conditions. Don’t know what the edge hold would be like in hard and icy conditions but super fun in these conditions for sure.

And this was with a 156 and I would normally go for a 158 for this type of board. So I think it would hold that carve even better in a slightly longer deck.

For regular turns you could get a little punished if your technique was off a little. But it wasn’t completely unforgiving of errors. You can get away with skidding turns to an extent. It’s fun in trees but you’ve got to put in a bit more effort than you would with something like the Outerspace Living which is a bit lighter and the turn radius is more favorable for shorter sharper turns. The DOA more wants to go in a straighter line.

Speed

Super fast – part of that is that it was well waxed. The Capita rep told me that he pays special attention to waxing his demos and keeps them nice and fast – but certainly the board is quick too because I’ve had waxed up decks that weren’t this good on flats and weren’t this fast.

But really stable at speeds too. Never felt out of control even though I was racking up some serious pace. And not that slippery feel either – I’ve ridden some boards with super-fast bases that felt loose and kind of slippery (though some of that was the camber profile too). But this felt fast but super stable too.

Uneven Terrain

I felt the DOA handled the bumpy stuff pretty well. It’s a mid flexing board so it’s got some suspension over the bumps if you need it and the camber profile is ok for it too.

Jumps

Had a lot of fun over jumps on this board. It’s got that nice flex for if you want to do larger jumps but is still great on the small and mediums too. And a killer deck for side hits.

The landing feels stable and the approach is good too. Even though it’s pretty aggressive and you can really lock it in when you want too, it’s also quite easy to maneuver for the approach onto jumps both in the park and onto natural hits and onto jibs.

It’s got heaps of pop too – got some really decent air from ollies, especially over lips. In fact I was getting more air ollying over some lips than I was on the smaller jumps in the park with other boards.

Switch

Really nice to ride switch – because it’s quite aggressive and super-fast, that can make it harder to control when riding switch but otherwise it’s great – and transitioning felt really good too – I only caught an edge in transition once – and that wasn’t the boards fault I have to admit!

Jibbing

Not a jib destroyer. But not really made for it either. That said I hit a couple and it wasn’t garbage either. Was great for approaching and popping onto jibs.

Pipe

I didn’t ride it on the pipe but based on other reviews and based on its specs I’d say it would go well in the pipe. It’s got a stiff enough flex for it, it’s centered and a true twin shape and its got decent edge-hold. The only thing that would make it better is if it was a bit better in harder snow conditions.

Score Breakdown and Final Verdict

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

This board was sick! Had HEAPS of fun on it. If you’re looking for an all-mountain-freestyle deck that you can get pretty aggressive on, then the DOA is for you.

And surprisingly it’s really reasonably priced – I’d pay $100 more than the price of this board.

Capita DOA 2017 Model

Board: Capita DOA 2017, 156cm, 252mm wide (at the waist)

Date: March 25^th, 2016

Conditions: Groomed with some fresh on top in the morning and more slushy later on.

Bindings angles: +18/-6