Hello and welcome to my Capita The Equalizer review.
In this review, I will take a look at the Equalizer as a freeride snowboard.
As per tradition here at SnowboardingProfiles.com I will give the Equalizer a score out of 100 (based on several factors) and see how it compares with other women's freeride snowboards.
Overall Rating
Board: Capita The Equalizer
Price: $529
Style: Freeride
Flex Rating: Medium (5.5/10)
Flex Feel on Snow: Medium (6/10)
Rating Score: 85.6/100
Compared to other Women’s Freeride Boards
Out of the 22 women’s freeride snowboards that I rated:
Overview of the Equalizer’ Specs
Check out the tables for the Equalizer’ specs and available sizes.
Specs
Style: | Freeride |
Price: | $529 |
Ability Level: |  |
Flex: |  |
Feel: |  |
Edge-hold: |  |
Camber Profile: | Hybrid Camber - Capita's "Alpine V1 Profile" |
Shape: | |
Setback Stance: | Setback 12.5mm (0.5") |
Base: | Sintered (Capita's "Quantum Drive") |
Weight: | Really Light |
Sizing
LENGTH (cm) | Waist Width (mm) | Rec Rider Weight (lb) | Rec Rider Weight (kg) |
|---|---|---|---|
142 | 229 | 90-140 | 41-64 |
146 | 235 | 100-150 | 45-68 |
150 | 241 | 110-170 | 50-77 |
154 | 247 | 120-190 | 55-86 |
Who is the Equalizer Most Suited To?
The Equalizer is a well rounded freeride board. It's bordering on all-mountain (do-it-all) - and you could definitely treat it as such.
If you ride a lot of freestyle and don't have a dedicated park board, then it's probably not for you, but if you like to do a bit of everything, but lean more towards the freeride end of the spectrum, than the freestyle end, then it should be a good match.
Not for beginners, but it's still a pretty easy going ride, so anything from intermediate and up should be good on this board.
The Equalizer in More Detail
O.k. let’s take a more detailed look at what the Equalizer is capable of.
Demo Info
Board: Capita Equalizer 2022, 150cm (241mm waist width)
Date: February 25, 2021
Conditions: Mostly overcast with patches of blue. Quite a cold wind.
Temp was -3°C (27°F) and -10°C (14°F) with wind chill factor.
24 snow: 15cm (6")
7 day snow: 41cm (16")
On groomer: Soft and smooth for the most part! Did get a little cruddy later in the day but for the most part very friendly fun conditions.
Off groomer: Plenty of fresh snow. Was really nice off groomer - soft and whilst not super deep, enough of a layer to be really fun.
Bindings angles: +15/-12
Stance width: 520mm (20.5″)
Stance Setback: Setback 12.5mm (0.5")
Width at Inserts: 250mm (9.84") at front insert and 251mm (9.88") at back insert
Weight: 2510g (5lbs, 8oz)
Weight per cm: 16.73g/cm
Average Weight per cm: 17.12 grams/cm*
*based on a small sample size of around 20 women's boards that I've weighed in 2020, 2021 and 2022 models. The Equalizer is one of the lighter women's boards I've weighed. And on snow Jade found that it felt light too.
Tester: Jade
Rider Height: 5'7" (170cm)
Rider Weight: 145lbs (66kg)
Rider Boot Size: Women's US6.5 Thirty Two Exit
Bindings Used: Burton Lexa, Medium
Damp or Chattery?
It's somewhere in the middle. It's definitely not ultra chattery, but it's also not super damp.
Smooth or Snappy?
It's got a little snap to it. Just on the snappy side of the middle of the scale.
Powder
Really fun riding in powder. Maneuvered easily and no effort keeping the nose above the snow. We weren't in waist deep powder or anything, but felt like it rode powder really well.
It's not like powder specialist or anything and there's no taper and it's not like ultra setback or ultra directional, but there's enough there to make it decent in powder (like a longer nose than tail and a rockered nose) and it certainly felt that way in the shallow-ish powder we had.
Carving & Turning
Carving: Can lay down a good carve. It's not a carving monster, but you could definitely get it carving and felt good.
Turning: It handled regular S turns really well - nice easy turn initiation.
Maneuverability at slow speeds: Nice and easy to maneuver at slow speeds. Not ultra maneuverable, but pretty good nonetheless.
Skidded Turns: Not much consequence for skidding turns. Not a catchy board.
Speed
Handled speed really well. Felt fast and felt stable when opening it out. It's never going to be a bomber to the extent of some stiffer boards, but it's right up there for it's flex.
Uneven Terrain
Crud: It's not a board that smashes through everything in it's path, but it's not one that gets bucked around super easy either. When you do get a bit thrown off, it is pretty easy to correct and adjust.
Bumps: Does a good job of maneuvering between bumps and trees. It's pretty quick edge-to-edge and doesn't take a lot of muscle to initiate turns. It hugs bumps well too, when going over them.
Jumps
For a freeride board (though you could definitely argue it's an all-mountain board too), it's really good for jumps.
Pop: Good pop - not like oodles of it but still good, and it was easy to access. Because of how light it is, you really get value for your pop too.
Approach: A good stable approach for when you need more speed, but also forgiving enough and easy to speed check and adjust your approach when you need to as well. Strikes a great balance between between being stable and maneuverable.
Landing: Not an out and out stomper, but definitely solid enough on landings - and when you get it slightly wrong it's forgiving of errors. So again, strikes a nice balance there too.
Side-hits: Really good on side-hits. That maneuverability, lightness and easy access pop really makes it fun and confidence inspiring when seeking out side-hits.
Small jumps/Big jumps: Medium jumps is the sweet spot, but can take on small and large jumps well too.
Switch
Given it's directional shape, it's not perfectly suited to riding switch, but it's not too bed either. It's pretty easy to control and not catchy or anything, so particularly when you're just learning switch it's decent.
Spins
With that lightness and easy access pop, it's pretty good for getting the air you need and for swinging it around. As it's not ideally suited to switch, setting up and landing 180s isn't perfect, but you can definitely still spin with this board.
Jibbing
It's not something that's designed for jibs, but actually performs pretty decently. Never going to be a jib master, but it's pretty easy on the setup - and that quick easy pop helps too.
Butters
Pretty easy to butter too - another thing that you don't get from a lot of stiffer freeride boards. It's not ultra-buttery or anything, but it's not ultra-hard to butter either.
Score Breakdown and Final Verdict
Check out the breakdown of the score in the table below.
RATING | Contribution to Final Score | |
|---|---|---|
CARVING | 3.5 | 14/20 |
TURNING | 4.0 | 8/10 |
POWDER | 4.0 | 16/20 |
SPEED | 4.0 | 16/20 |
UNEVEN TERRAIN | 4.0 | 12/15 |
JUMPS | 4.0 | 8/10 |
SWITCH | 3.0 | 3/5 |
TOTAL after normalizing | 85.6/100 |
Overall, the Equalizer is a really versatile board, that can do a bit of everything. It's leaning on the freeride side of things though for sure, but if you're predominantly a freerider who likes to still hit the park from time to time, then it can do that for you.
You could definitely call this an all-mountain board - and probably would be most accurate to say it's all-mountain-freeride.
More Info, Current Prices and Where to Buy Online
If you want to learn more about the Equalizer, 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 the Equalizer to other women's freeride snowboards, then check out the next link.
Hi Nate,
Love your reviews! Looking for some input on the following:
Mostly like to ride trees but would want it to hold up in icy conditions for groomer days and steeps. I like to go fast but only if I feel my edge control is secure enough. Riding all mountain/park boards at the moment and they just aren’t holding up with some of the tougher terrain 😅
I would appreciate any and all feedback, tysm!
Currently looking at:
– Capita Equalizer
– Jones Flagship
-Jones Hovercraft
– Burton Family Tree Story Board
Hi Brittany
Thanks for your message. Please see my response to your other message on the Top 5 freeride post.
Hello Nate,
I’m looking for a soft all mountain bored for my girlfriend. We ride the east coast trees and bumps. She is an intermediate rider, 5’6″ 135ish with a 23″ stance. I got her a lady west for Christmas but the stiffness isn’t ideal for the tight trees and bumps out here. I was looking at the yes hello in 149 or 152 but the set back on board is very little. Could you recommend something?
Hi Josh
Thanks for your message.
Depends on how much softer you wanted to go.
The Equalizer could certainly work – it’s not super soft, but it’s certainly softer than the Lady West (6/10 on the Equalizer vs 7/10 on Lady West).
If you wanted to go softer than that, then the K2 Dreamsicle and Salomon Wonder would be worth checking out. Size-wise, based on height/weight specs, I wouldn’t go longer than 149 – between 146 and 149 would be what I’d look at. And given that she’s riding tight trees and bumps, I’d be erring on the smaller side. For the Equalizer, I think 146. For the other 2, 149 Dreamsicle and 148 Wonder. But if you could also let me know her boot size, that would help to confirm sizing.
Hope this helps