The GNU Barrett is first and foremost a board that likes to ride fast, carve hard and seek powder. But it also has a more mellow side that it naturally morphs into when you need it.
In this review, I will take a look at the Barrett as a freeride snowboard.
As per tradition here at SnowboardingProfiles.com I will give the Barrett a score out of 100 (based on several factors) and see how it compares with other women's freeride snowboards.
Overall Rating
Board: GNU Barrett 2026
Price: $599
Style: Freeride
Flex Rating: Medium
Flex Feel on Snow: Medium bordering on mid-stiff (6.5/10)
Rating Score: 87.2/100
Compared to other Women's Freeride Boards
Of the 16 current model women's freeride snowboards that we tested:
โ๏ธ The Barrett ranked 3rd out of 27
Overview of the Barrett'S Specs
Check out the tables for the Barrett's specs and available sizes.
STYLE:
FREERIDE
PRICE:
$599 - BUYING OPTIONS
Ability Level:
flex:
feel:
DAMPNESS:
SMOOTH /SNAPPY:
Playful /aggressive:
Edge-hold:
camber profile:
HYBRID ROCKER
hybrid rocker - GNU's "C3 Camber"
SHAPE:
Tapered Directional (3-4mm of taper)
setback stance:
Setback 1.5" (38mm)
BASE:
Sintered - GNU's "Sintered Knife Cut Base"
weight:
Felt a little HEAVIer than normal
Camber Height:
5mm
Sizing
LENGTH (cm) | Waist Width (mm) | Rec Rider Weight (lb)* | Rec Rider Weight (kg)* |
|---|---|---|---|
146 | 241 | 70+ | 32+ |
149 | 243 | 80+ | 36+ |
152 | 245 | 90+ | 41+ |
155 | 248 | 100+ | 45+ |
* weight recommendations are as per GNU's website. GNU's weight recommendations are quite unhelpful, in our opinion.
Who is the Barrett Most Suited To?
The Barrett is best suited to riders who are looking for a board that is predominantly oriented towards riding fast, carving and surfing pow, but also want something that they can ride a little more casually for when they're feeling tired, chill or riding with slower riders.
Could be a really good one-board quiver for the right rider but also makes a really good quiver compliment, particularly with a softer, more playful and/or more freestyle oriented board and could even compliment a more specialized powder board, where you would take this one out on icy days, regular days and even shallow pow days, and the more specialized pow board when things got deep.
Definitely not for beginners, IMO. Too much board for that - even lower end intermediate riders might find this board too much - but good solid intermediates and up for who the style suits should get on real well with this one.
Barrett DetailS
O.k. let's take a more detailed look at what the Barrett is capable of.
Demo Info
Tester: Meira
Board: GNU Barrett 2026, 149cm (243mm waist width)
Date: March 2, 2025
Carving
I found the Barrett to be a really solid carving board. It held an edge very well through carves even when getting nice and low. Nice smooth carving feel overall.
Turning
Ease of Turning/Slashing: While some boards are good carvers, they're often that way at the expense of having to deal with more difficult turn initiation or more something that takes quite a lot of work and/or feels catchy to slash the tail out on.
Now, while the Barrett isn't like the most effortless for this going around for this or anything, it's still really decent and strikes a really nice balance between easy-enough turn initiation and slashing and the ability to lay down really good carves at good speeds.
Maneuverability at slow speeds: It's not something I would say achieves quick maneuverability effortlessly, but it's not a huge amount of effort and with a bit of energy I found it could get edge-to-edge nice and quickly.
Catchiness: I wouldn't say it was catch-free, but there is very little in the way of catchiness, in my experience.
Speed
The Barrett felt fast and stable at those faster speeds too. It's not a top tier straight line bomber, but for how well it balances slow and high speed performance, it's really very good at bombing it.
Uneven Terrain
Crud/Chunder: It smashed through cruddy snow with minimal fuss.
Trees/Bumps: Felt really good. Not effortless weaving between obstacles, but with not too much effort, it can weave pretty tight lines. Held an edge really well in the icy stuff too.
Powder
We didn't have any powder to test in on the day, but the Barrett should float well in it. Not like a fully pow-specialized board or anything, but should be real decent.
Jumps
Pop: The Barrett's pop wasn't super easy to access, but also not super hard. When you load it up and really try to get as much out as you can there is more that it gives for sure. Not epic total pop though, but decent.
Approach: Good mix of being stable for faster approaches and having the forgiveness and maneuverability to make adjustments when necessary.
Landing: Stomps landings when you get them right but not super forgiving of bad landings. Particularly for smaller jumps. The extra stiffness in the tail means it doesn't feel like it gives enough for smaller landings, but comes in handy to steady the ship when coming down from higher heights. After landing maneuvers take some effort but fine otherwise.
Switch
For a freeride board its not bad at all riding in switch. Transitions aren't super smooth or anything, but they're nothing too difficult or catchy either.
Spins
Again for how directional it is, it does a pretty good job of taking off and landing switch. The pop could be easier to access to make getting air from slower/smaller take-offs easier but otherwise pretty good for this type of board.
Butters
The board has a stiffer overall feeling in the tip and tail vs the average board, particularly in the tail. So I found it quite a bit of effort to push into presses and butters to get it to a point it would lock in and hold. And the tail and nose felt quite different to press. So, not ideal.
Score Breakdown and Final Verdict
Check out the breakdown of the score in the table below.
| Factor | Rating (/5) | Weighted |
|---|---|---|
| Powder | 4 | 20/25 |
| Speed | 4 | 16/20 |
| Carving | 4 | 12/15 |
| Turns | 4 | 8/10 |
| Crud | 4 | 8/10 |
| Trees | 4 | 8/10 |
| Jumps | 3.5 | 3.5/5 |
| Switch | 3 | 3/5 |
| TOTAL (after normalizing): | 87.2/100 |
The Barrett has that uncanny knack to really change personalities depending on how you rider it and where you take it. It seems to be able to adapt to many different scenarios with ease. So, no doubt it could be a one-board quiver for sure.
But if you have an eclectic style and like to include playful freestyle in your riding and/or you like to get in deep powder, e.g. in the backcountry, then this would make a great daily driver compliment to a quiver with a freestyle and/or powder specialized/split board.
More Info, Current Prices and Where to Buy Online
To learn more about the Barrett, or if you're ready to buy, or if you just want to research prices and availability, check out the links below.
To check out some other women's freeride snowboard options, or to see how the Barrett compares to others, check out our top rated women's freeride snowboards by clicking the button below.
This board is the best thing that’s happened to me. I went from being tossed around PNW chunder; super snow on cat tracks; and cautious in the trees. This board charges! I can hold high speeds with confidence! It chops through crud and tracked out runs, and rides like a DREAM in powder and trees. I took this catboarding at Baldface and had the best time ever. I convinced several other women to demo this board at BF, and they all are now considering adding it to their collection. If you are an intermediate rider and want to take your skills to the next level, this board and some stiff boots will rocket you into space ๐ค Plus, Christy is the sweetest human ever and how could you not support a female pro board! 20/10 recommend.
Hey Gabrielle
Thanks for sharing your insights and your passion for this board!
Hi Nate,
I have trouble deciding which splitboard will be my next ride,
I’ve started backcountry 6 years ago with a 147 Burton family three anti social, that I found heavy and a little soft in terms of response now…I have to say that I’m way more confident, solid and aggressive then I was… I’m looking for a durable, light splitboard with a surfy feel in powder and stable, aggressive board for carving and holding different terrain (I Know I’m asking a lot ๐ !!) I’ve tried demo’s (in resort) : the Gnu lady’s choice (and really dig the magna traction), also tried the orca 153 (and really enjoy the stiff quick response, even I thought it was big and heavy for my size, I’m 5,3″, 145lbs (I use to be a trapeze artist, so “less” but “still” more athletique kinda shape !).
I’m considering the Barret split, The lib tech orca split or BRD split, the Kemper fantom split, Jones Solution women split, the never summer lady FR split, and arbor Satori split…
Would you have any recommendations, comments concerning those or a better fit in mind?
Thank you so much !
Hi Heloise
Thanks for your message.
I have no experience with Kemper boards, so I can’t comment on the Fantom. Have also never ridden the Satori Camber, but could guess at it based on other Arbor boards. I’m not sure there’s a good size for it for you though, with the 151 being really quite wide. But would need your boot size to confirm.
For the others in terms of sizing, if you could let me know your boot size too, that would be great.
I would put your “standard all-mountain size” at around 148. For these types of boards you can go a little longer, but I wouldn’t go to 151 unless it was in a good width for your foot size.
Given that you’ve tried the Ladies Choice and Orca and liked them, I would be leaning towards the Barret, BRD or Orca. But Solution and Lady FR could work too. The Satori Camber looks like it wouldn’t be much, if any stiffer than your Anti-Social, but the rest there would give you a bit more stiffness and enable you to ride more aggressively.
But yeah if you could let me know your boot size and then can look at sizing more closely – and depending on sizes for each, there might be some that stand out as having better sizing, which can sometimes be a good tie breaker.
Hope this helps