Capita Mercury Review

Hello and welcome to my Capita Mercury review.

In this review, I will take a look at the Mercury as an all-mountain snowboard*.

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

*previously I have had the Mercury in the aggressive all-mountain category, but it was always a toss up between the 2. I have decided that it is better suited in the all-mountain category. 

Overall Rating

Board: Capita Mercury 2020

Price: $559 (USD recommended retail)

Style: All-Mountain

Flex Rating: Medium-Stiff (6.5/10)

Flex Feel on Snow: Medium-Stiff (6.5/10)

Rating Score: 89.5/100

Compared to other All-Mountain Boards

Out of the 34 men’s all-mountain snowboards that I rated:

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

Demo Info

Board: Capita Mercury 159 (259mm waist)

Date: March 23, 2018

Conditions: Snowing! At times it was hail like snow. Really cold day with relatively strong winds at times. -12 degrees celcius with the wind. Visibility was pretty bad first thing in the morning but got better, though was never great.

Bindings angles: +15/-15

Stance width: 595mm (23.4″)

Stance Setback: Setback 12.5mm

Width at Inserts: 265mm at front insert 266mm at back insert

Weight: 2700grams (5lb 15oz)

Weight per cm: 16.98 grams/cm

Average Weight per cm: 18.21 grams/cm*

*based on a small sample size of 24 boards that I weighed. Like most Capita boards, the Mercury is really light.

Powder

The Mercury floats well in powder – and it’s no surprise, there’s a decent amount of rocker tip and tail (to go with a healthy dose of camber between and under the feet) which helps with float. It hasn’t got a huge setback (12.5mm back on the effective edge) but enough to help with float and it’s overall a reasonably wide board, which gives a bit of extra float. And the setback on the overall length of the board is more like 30mm.

Carving & Turning

This board is fun to carve on – it’s got a nice flex for carving and there’s plenty of camber in there and it just gives a nice smooth carve with good spring. I felt like I could get quite low into carves – and it was just a fun board to carve on.

Not the most forgiving of skidded turns but you can get away with them to an extent when you get off your game a little bit – but not the easiest board to skid your turns on – hence why I would recommend this for high-end intermediate and up riders.

Speed

It felt nice and damp and smooth at speed and felt really stable when getting up to higher speeds.

Uneven Terrain

The Mercury has a pretty damp feel (even though it’s rather light) and that helps to absorb some chatter – it’s also got the power to charge through the lumpy stuff out there. It’s not super-soft by any means, so it doesn’t hug the curves quite like a softer board when the terrain is undulating, but it has got some flex to it, so with the right technique it was fine in those areas.

Jumps

This is a super fun board for jumps and ollies. It’s got good pop and it’s really solid on landings. It’s great for larger jumps. I prefer something a little softer for smaller jumps, side-hits, 180s that kind of thing but could definitely still rock those, but for big air/straight air, air off rollers, lips etc this thing was gold.

Switch

It’s not the ideal board for riding switch, but it’s not bad either. And for most who only enter switch for short periods it’s fine. It doesn’t feel the same riding switch as your normal direction but it doesn’t feel too weird either.

Probably not something for learning switch on, if you’ve never gotten into it  – as it’s not something to learn riding in general if you’re a beginner – but if you’re switch game is down, it does the job when you need it to.

Jibbing

Too stiff and too much camber for me for jibbing – not my kind of board for jibs, but for a really advanced jibber (which I am not!) it’s something that you could hit a few jibs with. For me this was a jump line board, when in the park.

Pipe

I didn’t get it into a pipe, but it’s got pretty good edge hold and it’s fast and aggressive – so I imagine it would go well in there. Usually I’d prefer a twin for the pipe but otherwise I think it would go pretty well in there.

Changes from the 2019 Model

The 2020 model now has a new Hyperdrive base to replace the Ultradrive base on the 2019 model. Other than that it’s the same board with a new graphic.

Changes from the 2018 Model

For the most part the 2019 model is the same as the 2018 model, except:

• The 30mm X-Arcs from the 2018 model were replaced with 25mm Amplitex Amplifiers for the 2019 model – don’t really understand what that means? Neither!

Changes from the 2017 Model

The 2018 is mostly the same board as the 2017 model. There have been a few tweaks with the most noticeable being the slightly softer flex and the new base.

• New “Ultradrive” Base
• Slightly more flexible (rated 7.5/10 for the 2017 model by Capita)
• Upgraded sidewalls
• Some other subtle things including their “holysheet” fibreglass and use of “magic bean” resin

But overall it’s pretty similar to the 2017 model.

Capita Mercury 2018 Review

Hello and welcome to my Capita Mercury review.

In this review, I will take a look at the Mercury as an aggressive all-mountain snowboard.

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

Overall Rating

Board: Capita Mercury 2018

Price: $519 (USD recommended retail)

Style: Aggressive All-Mountain

Flex Rating: Medium-Stiff (7/10)

Flex Feel on Snow: Medium-Stiff (6.5/10)

Rating Score: 86.0/100

Compared to other Aggressive All-Mountain’s Boards

Out of the 14 men’s aggressive all-mountain snowboards that I rated:

• The average price was $577 (USD)
• The average score was 82.5/100
• The highest score was 92.7/100
• The lowest score was 75.3/100
• The Mercury ranked 4th out of 14

Overview of the Mercury’s Specs

Check out the tables for the Mercury’s specs and available sizes.

Specs

Sizing

Who is the Mercury Most Suited to?

The Mercury is best for a high level intermediate and up rider who likes to ride aggressively but also wants something that can, at least to some extent, be ridden slow and something you can play around on a little bit.

It’s predominantly an aggressive ride, but it’s also something you can slow down – it’s not completely unforgiving at slow speeds, like some aggressive rides can be.

Even so, still certainly not for the beginner and even a lower level intermediate rider would have a bit of trouble with it.

If you like to bomb and carve and tear up the whole mountain in an aggressive style but want to be able to slow down and play around at times, then the Mercury should be high on your list, IMO.

The Mercury in More Detail

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

Demo Info

Board: Capita Mercury 155 (255mm waist)

Date: March 27, 2017

Conditions: 11” (28cm) of fresh snow in the 48 hours prior to demoing it. 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 slow overall – but the Mercury was quicker and smoother on it than my test board was.

Bindings angles: +15/-15

Bindings Used: Flux DS

Stance width: 560mm (22“)

Powder

The Mercury floats well in powder – and it’s no surprise, there’s a decent amount of rocker tip and tail (to go with a healthy dose of camber between and under the feet) which helps with float. It hasn’t got a huge setback (12.5mm back on the effective edge) but enough to help with float and it’s overall a reasonably wide board, which gives a bit of extra float.

I rode the 155 – and though I think the 157 would be the better size for me for this board, I found that it still floated nicely at that size.

Carving & Turning

This board is fun to carve on – it’s got a nice flex for carving and there’s plenty of camber in there and it just gives a nice smooth carve with good spring. I felt like I could get quite low into carves – and it was just a fun board to carve on.

Not the most forgiving of skidded turns but you can get away with them to an extent when you get off your game a little bit – but not the easiest board to skid your turns on – hence why I would recommend this for high-end intermediate and up riders.

Speed

It felt nice and damp and smooth at speed and felt really stable when getting up to higher speeds. Would have been even more so on the 157 for me.

Uneven Terrain

The Mercury has a pretty damp feel (even though it’s rather light) and that helps to absorb some chatter – it’s also got the power to charge through the lumpy stuff out there. It’s not super-soft by any means, so it doesn’t hug the curves quite like a softer board when the terrain is undulating, but it has got some of flex to it, so with the right technique it was fine in those areas.

Jumps

This is a super fun board for jumps and ollies. It’s got good pop and it’s really solid on landings. It’s great for larger jumps. I prefer something a little softer for smaller jumps, side-hits, 180s that kind of thing but could definitely still rock those, but for big air/straight air, air off rollers, lips etc this thing was gold.

Switch

It’s not the ideal board for riding switch, but it’s not bad either. And for most who only enter switch for short periods it’s fine. It doesn’t feel the same riding switch as your normal direction but it doesn’t feel too weird either.

Probably not something for learning switch on, if you’ve never gotten into it  – as it’s not something to learn riding in general if you’re a beginner – but if you’re switch game is down, it does the job when you need it to.

Jibbing

Too stiff and too much camber for me for jibbing – not my kind of board for jibs, but for a really advanced jibber (which I am not!) it’s something that you could hit a few jibs with. For me this was a jump line board, when in the park.

Pipe

I didn’t get it into a pipe, but it’s got pretty good edge hold and it’s fast and aggressive – so I imagine it would go well in there. Usually I’d prefer a twin for the pipe but otherwise I think it would go really well in there.

Changes from the 2017 Model

The 2018 is mostly the same board as the 2017 model. There have been a few tweaks with the most noticeable being the slightly softer flex and the new base.

• New “Ultradrive” Base
• Slightly more flexible (rated 7.5/10 for the 2017 model by Capita)
• Upgraded sidewalls
• Some other subtle things including their “holysheet” fibreglass and use of “magic bean” resin

But overall it’s pretty similar to the 2017 model.

Score Breakdown and Final Verdict

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

Overall the Mercury is a fun, lively, versatile board to ride and is great for anyone who wants to ride aggressive but wants something that’s not no-holds-barre aggressive – i.e. something that you can still slow down and play around with to an extent, but it’s overall personality is aggressive.