GNU Hyper Snowboard Review

The GNU Hyper is a fun, sharp turning, whipper that likes nothing more than to explore the woods, seek out powder and find whatever it can to get air off. 

It's a surfy feeling ride, as opposed to feeling more locked-in, so if that's the kind of feel you're after, this board is definitely worth looking more into. 

In this review, I will take a look at the Hyper as a mellow freeride snowboard.

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

Overall Rating

Board: GNU Hyper

Price: $629

Style: Mellow Freeride

Flex Rating: Medium-Stiff (7/10)

Flex Feel on Snow: Medium (5.5/10)

Rating Score: 88.8/100

Compared to other Men’s Mellow Freeride Boards

Overview of the Hyper’S Specs

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

Who is the Hyper Most Suited To?

The Hyper's ideal rider is someone who likes a more surfy feel, than a locked in one and wants a board that can turn quickly and easily, particularly when in trees. They need a board to be good in powder and want something that will also be fun to jump with, whether going for the occasional park lap - or finding natural hits or drops to get air off.

Would work as a one-board-quiver for the right rider and also as a compliment to a quiver paired with a more freestyle oriented board and/or a more powder specialized board. 

Not what I'd recommend for a beginner as such, but really isn't a difficult board to ride, so anyone from intermediate, even lower intermediate, shouldn't have any issues riding it. 

TEST/REVIEW DetailS FOR THE Hyper

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

Demo Info

Board: GNU Hyper 2024, 157cm (253mm waist width)

Date: March 14, 2024

Powder

Felt really nice in the powder we had and glad that there was fresh snow around for when I had this board (as well as the Orca which I tested on the same day). It was still fairly shallow powder so not a true indicator of deep powder performance. However, the feel and specs suggest it should hold up decently well in powder. 

It has some rocker in the profile, a longer nose than tail, 6mm of taper and a 1.5" (38mm) stance setback. 

Carving

I found the Hyper to be more of a surfer than carve, but that said, it wasn't bad on a carve. It certainly had it's limits as to how fast a speed you could hold a carve at without it washing out, but for moderate speed carves it was really fun, particularly tighter radius carves. Didn't feel as natural for straighter, long carves.  

This board is like a more directional version of my control board (Lib Tech Terrain Wrecker), in a lot of ways, but I felt it was a little better on a carve than my control board. Being a little more in the back seat probably helped - I do find more directional boards tend to feel better on a carve, all else being equal. 

Turning

Ease of Turning/Slashing: Nice and easy to initiate turns with and it really likes to and is easy (and fun!) to slash turns on it. 

Maneuverability at slow speeds: Nice and quick edge-to-edge at slower speeds, with minimal effort needed. At slow to moderate things I felt I could turn this board all day without fatiguing. 

Catchiness: Minimal to none. 

Speed

It's not a speed demon. It's not something that you can open out and never find it's limit on. It will start becoming unstable at a certain speed. But I did feel it was just that little bit better than the Terrain Wrecker at speed. Again being a bit more backseat might help in that respect. 

Versus the Orca, which I also rode that day, it was close, but I felt the Orca was just that touch bit more stable at speed. Not enough to be hugely significant. If I was to really zoom in on the ratings, I'd say Terrain Wrecker at a 3.2/5, the Hyper a 3.4/5 and the Orca a 3.6/5. But I'm not going there! So 3.5/5 it is. 

Uneven Terrain

Crud/Chunder: It's good without being great. It's not knocked about super easily, but it's also not super stable. It doesn't crash through it, but more kind of floats over it. And it's not that damp, so you do feel some chatter in there. But it's nice and easy to make adjustments where necessary - and it's not a complete rag doll in there or anything. 

Trees/Bumps: This is one of the Hyper's best traits.

Be there powder or be there none, this board will find trees a heck of a lot of fun.

Sorry, never been much of a poet!  But you get my drift. This board is a star when weaving between things. It's effortlessly nimble. 

Jumps

Really fun for jumps, which makes this a really good option for those who want a board that's good in powder, great in trees and that is still fun to hit the jump line with - and/or find natural hits between trees (or elsewhere).

Pop: The pop in this board was really easy to access and had an OK amount of total pop. 

Approach: A nice mix of stability, to a point, and maneuverability.

Landing: Not a super stomper but stable enough and forgiving of errors. I'd say very similar to the Terrain Wrecker but a little less tail heavy friendly, but not a lot in it. More tail heavy friendly than the Orca.

Side-hits: Really fun. That easy pop, easy maneuverability made this board well suited to finding any kind of natural stuff to get air off. 

Small jumps/Big jumps: Small-Medium jumps are its best suit. It can handle bigger but it feels best on small to medium. 

Switch

Transitions were easy and fun. And it didn't feel too bad riding in switch either, despite having a fairly directional feel. Not quite as good as the Terrain Wrecker, for obvious reasons, but really not far off. 

Spins

Setup and landing switch was decent, as mentioned above. And there was never any feeling of likelihood of catching an edge when setting up and landing. And if you under-rotated, I found I could finish the spin on the ground without catching. 

It also didn't have a tendency to over-spin after landing. Maybe just a touch of it, if you're getting hyper rotational, but nothing significant. 

Jibbing

Actually pretty decent. Not what this board is designed for, but felt pretty good. Easy maneuverability, easy pop, catch-minimal - all made it a board that I doesn't cause pause for hesitation when heading to the jib line. 

Butters

Nice and easy to press tail and nose, without over-flexing. There's a difference in feel between the nose and tail, but it's fairly subtle. 

Score Breakdown and Final Verdict

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

The Hyper excels at tight radius carves, quick edge-to-edge slashes/turns at low to moderate speeds and finding natural hits, or small to medium jumps in the park, to get air off. 

It's a versatile board with a surfy feel. It's mostly at home in trees, but is versatile enough to be able to do most things and go most places. But with an overall more freeride, than freestyle, modus operandi (look at me, using flash words!).