Hello and welcome to this GNU Pro Choice review.
In this review, I will take a look at the Pro Choice as a freestyle snowboard.
As per tradition here at SnowboardingProfiles.com I will give the Pro Choice a score out of 100 (based on several factors) and see how it compares with other women's freestyle snowboards.
Overall Rating
Board: GNU Pro Choice
Price: $629
Style: Freestyle
Flex Rating: Medium-Firm
Flex Feel on Snow: Medium (5/10)
Rating Score: 86.4/100
Compared to other Women’s Freestyle Boards
Out of the 21 women’s freestyle snowboards that I rated:
Overview of the Pro Choice’s Specs
Check out the tables for the Pro Choice’s specs and available sizes.
Specs
Style: | Freestyle |
Price: | $629 - BUYING OPTIONS |
Ability Level: | |
Flex: | |
Feel: | |
Smooth/Snappy: | |
Dampness: | |
Playful/Aggressive: | |
Edge-hold: | |
Camber Profile: | Hybrid Rocker but mostly camber. GNU's "C3" camber. |
Shape: | True Twin - Asymmetrical |
Setback Stance: | Centered |
Base: | Sintered (Sintered Knife Cut) |
Weight: | Normal |
Sizing
LENGTH (cm) | Waist Width (mm) | Rec Rider Weight (lb) | Rec Rider Weight (kg) |
---|---|---|---|
145.5 | 240 | 70-160 | 32-73 |
148.5 | 242 | 80-170 | 36-77 |
151.5 | 244 | 90-180 | 41-82 |
Who is the Pro Choice Best Suited To?
The Pro Choice is a great choice either as a dedicated freestyle board, particularly if you like to go big for freestyle (think Jamie Anderson!) or an all-mountain-freestyle board.
It's a board that's a little more aggressive - without being super aggressive or anything - it's still got some playfulness to it.
Also a great option for anyone who needs a board that performs well in icy conditions.
Not for beginners, but should be fine for intermediate riders with good technique and great for advanced and expert freestyler's as well.
The Pro Choice in More Detail
O.k. let’s take a more detailed look at what the Pro Choice is capable of.
Demo Info
Board: GNU Pro Choice 2022, 148.5cm (242mm waist width)
Date: April 9, 2021
Conditions: Snowing! Visibility around 70%
Temperatute -4°C (25°F) - so quite cold for April!. -9°C (16°F) with wind chill.
15kph (10mph) winds.
24 hour snow: 15cm (6") (and more snow while we were testing)
7 day snow: 20cm (8")
On Groomer: Was a little crunchy and even icy in patches to start, which was really surprising given the snow. But it was good in other patches. Then as the day wore on, the snow got softer and softer.
Off Groomer: Pretty good but a little crunchy with some icy patches on steeper slopes to start. As the snow kept falling it got better and better though, until it felt like a proper pow day by the end.
Bindings angles: +15/-12
Stance width: 530mm (20.9″)
Stance Setback: Centered
Width at Inserts: 250mm (9.84")
Weight: 2640g (5lbs, 13oz)
Weight per cm: 17.78g/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 Pro Choice is a little heavier than normal but pretty close to normal. Jade found it to feel normal on snow.
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
Powder
We only had a small amount of powder to play in - and the Pro Choice felt good in what we had, but not enough to feel how it would go in deep powder.
However, the specs are very revealing when it comes to deep powder performance and the Pro Choice wouldn't be great. Very little rocker in the profile and that rocker is between the feet, plus it's a twin - so no taper, no big nose or anything like that. Not made to excel in powder.
Carving & Turning
Carving: Great carver, particularly for a freestyle board. That camber dominant profile, definitely helped and it's not super soft or anything either.
Turning: Good spring out of turns and just felt like a nice balance between being easy to initiate turns on, but also gave back, when you pushed it, as well.
Maneuverability at Slow Speeds: More maneuverable than expected. Could get those shorter/sharper turns going well.
Skidded Turns: Not super punishing of skidded turns, but not super forgiving of them either.
Speed
This board can handle a good amount of speed and remain stable. Never going to be an out and out bomber, but that's not what it's made to be - but certainly enough speed for approaches to large jumps.
Uneven Terrain
Crud: It can get a little bucked around in crud, but it's not something that gets thrown off super easy. When you do get thrown off a little, it's pretty easy to correct on.
Bumps: Nimble enough to weave well in between bumps and forgiving enough to hug the bumps going over (when not wanting to launch off them!).
Let's Break this Text up with a video
Jumps
Great pop and just the perfect balance of everything, making it essentially the perfect jumping board.
Pop: Plenty of pop and that pop is easy to access. A lot of pop with little effort, but then still gives back a little more when you wind it up.
Approach: Nice and stable for faster approaches, but something that you can speed check and maneuver on easily for when you need to adjust or for those trickier side hit approaches.
Landing: Again strikes that perfect balance. It's solid enough that you can really stomp your landing on it. But it still has forgiveness when you get it wrong - so you can adjust a bad landing or hit the knuckle or an uneven landing off a side hit or the likes.
Side-hits: Good, easy pop, easy to maneuver on the approach and does well on uneven landings.
Small jumps/Big Jumps: Everything! But seriously, medium to large is probably it's forte, but small jumps are just as good, really.
Switch
As good as it gets. This thing is so good for riding switch.
Spins
Has it all really - nice easy pop for take offs, lands and sets up switch beautifully and pretty easy to get the spin around in the air.
Jibbing
A little stiff to be ideal for jibbing. But the setup and dismount are all good with the Pro Choice, so you can definitely jib with it, particularly if you're a seasoned jibber or if you're not a seasoned jibber, but not doing anything too complex.
Butters
Butters better than the average board, but just a little less buttery than the Pro Choice's sister board, the Ladies Choice.
Score Breakdown and Final Verdict
Check out the breakdown of the score in the table below.
RATING | Contribution to Final Score | |
---|---|---|
JUMPS | 5.0 | 20/20 |
JIBBING | 3.0 | 12/20 |
SPINS | 4.5 | 13.5/15 |
SWITCH | 5.0 | 10/10 |
BUTTERING | 3.5 | 7/10 |
UNEVEN TERRAIN | 3.5 | 3.5/5 |
POWDER | 2.5 | 2.5/5 |
SPEED | 3.5 | 3.5/5 |
CARVING | 3.5 | 3.5/5 |
TURNS/SLASHING | 4.0 | 4/5 |
TOTAL after normalizing | 86.4/100 |
The Pro Choice is a great semi-aggressive freestyle to all-mountain-freestyle deck that can handle the rest of the mountain almost as well as it does the park.
For the serious park rider or the intermediate all-mountain freestyle rider.
Not great for deep powder, but can handle icy conditions very well and shallow powder, soft-pack and hard-pack are all no problem for this board.
It's not easy on the wallet, but it has the performance to justify the price tag.
More Info, Current Prices and Where to Buy Online
If you want to learn more about the Pro Choice, 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 freestyle snowboard options, or if you want to compare the Pro Choice to other women's freestyle snowboards, then check out the next link.
polly says
ps. if I lived out west I’d definately be a free rider, but here in ontario with less terrain for free riding I am probably looking for an all mountain or free style board – probably directional but ok with directional twin (which is my current feelgood set up). my level is 6, but stronger in carving turning and weaker in park/jibby stuff. My goal is to learn to hit a box and get good at switch, thank you!!
Nate says
Hi Polly
Thanks for your message.
The Ryme is a true twin, so might not be what you want. The Dynamiss would be doable, it’s more directional but not super directional. A little harder to learn switch/park/buttering but doable.
Some other options include the Jones Dream Weaver (more directional and less park/switch suitable, like the Dynamiss, but if that’s alright, this would be a good bet, IMO). Or the Jones Twin Sister or Yes Hel Yes would work well too – particuarly the Hel Yes, which is really good in icy conditions. Or if you wanted to go even softer/more playful, then the YES Hello, but you’d sacrifice a bit in terms of speed/carving. These are all featured in our top women’s all-mountain snowboard picks list here.
You could definitely add a step in setup to any of these boards. If you’d like my opinion on which step on boots/bindings, let me know.
Hope this helps
Polly says
Hi Nate, compliments to you for such a brilliant site. I am having such a hard time deciding on a board. I’ve been on a 20+year old Feelgood (149) and my bindings are about done I’m going to call it and replace both. Looking at the Libtech dynamiss or Ryme only as I’ve heard about the magne traction, but I’m pretty sold on ice with the feelgood. I want to try something with a bit more flex as I’m keen on learning to butter and riding switch although won’t spend alot of time in the park (or doing jumps). Something that will help with short radius turns (I like trees and often board into them sadly) but flex that doesn’t compromise ability to carve nicely. I am stumped by the different mixes of camber/rocker but being in ontario, its hard pack and icy so interested in good edge hold. I do want step in bindings though as I board with skiers and … well you know that look when they’re waiting for you to strap in.