GNU Ravish Snowboard Review

Who is the Ravish Most Suited To?

The Ravish is best suited to a rider who wants a capable, yet forgiving, powder board that can take on larger amounts of snow with less effort. 

Not a freestylers board as it wasn't the most nimble or forgiving. It was also somewhat difficult to ride switch due to the more powder specific attributes. Otherwise you can expect a pretty average board overall. 

Certainly not a board for beginners. I would only really recommend this board to intermediate-advanced riders.  

Bindings angles: +15/-12

Stance Setback: Setback 1" (25mm)

Tester: Jade

Rider Height: 5"7" (170cm)

Rider Weight: 130lbs (59kg)

Rider Boot Size: Women's US6.5 Thirty Two Exit

Bindings Used: Burton Lexa, Medium 

Powder

Unfortunately we had no powder to test in on the day but looking at the specs and getting a feel for it, the Ravish should be pretty good in powder. The 2mm of taper, setback stance and directional shape all help the tail naturally sink in powder, while the rocker in-between the bindings gives you a solid amount of float. All up making the Ravish better than average in powder conditions.   

Carving

Overall carving the Ravish was enjoyable it held an edge nicely, always feeling fairly damp and responsive. The magne-traction technology deserves some credit for this as it was quite noticeable when performing any style of carve. 

Turning

Ease of Turns/Slashing:  Found the tail moderately difficult to release at times, probably due to the camber in the nose and tail. It was however capable to overcome, with a bit of extra effort. 

Maneuverability at slow speeds: Not the most nimble at slower speeds. It wasn't very quick from edge-to-edge, which isn't ideal for anyone who is more of a beginner. However it wasn't impossible to maneuver for more experienced riders. 

Skidded Turns:  Could be a bit unpredictable at times, making it not super easy for skidded turns. But with that being said, they weren't terrible either. 

Speed

The Ravish didn't have instant speed but, once you got going, it felt pretty quick and almost too difficult to slow down at times. Otherwise the board felt stable at most speeds but could punish you if you got a bit lazy and let up on the edges. 

Uneven Terrain

Crud/Chunder: Felt inconsistent at times especially when riding through larger amounts of crud. It could get bucked around and wasn't the easiest to maneuver.  

Trees/Bumps: The lack of quickness from edge-to-edge made going through the trees/avoiding bumps or moguls require a good amount of effort and not the most enjoyable. The moderate flex however made going through ditches/hugging bumps easier as the board absorbed them nicely.    

Jumps

Not the most ideal board for side-hits or park board but it did however handle larger jumps pretty nicely.

Pop: Not a ton of pop in the Ravish and what little it did have it took quite a bit of effort to access it.

Approach: Not the most forgiving for approaches because the lack of quickness from edge-to-edge made last second changes or adjustments quite challenging. Really had to calculate them and be sure of your line choice and when you did it felt a lot more stable. 

Landing: Mixed feeling on the landings for small/medium jumps, If the landings had any crud/chunder or hadn't been groomed in awhile the board could be a bit catchy and unforgiving. Larger jumps however felt much better as I never noticed the same catchiness. 

Side-hits: Certainly not my favorite thing to do on the Ravish for a variety of reason's - like lack of pop, making it less playful and the approaches/landings being unpredictable and requiring a lot of work the majority of the time.  

Small jumps/Big jumps: Without a doubt best for bigger medium sized jumps and up.

Switch

Definitely more challenging than average to ride switch due to things like the setback stance making the tail shorter and the directional shape and taper making it feel a bit different once riding switch. A capable experienced rider is certainly capable of riding it switch but not without a solid amount of concentration.

Overall, the GNU Ravish is a softer flexing all-mountain to powder board but it's a little confusing in what type of board it's trying to be. I would expect a board with a softer flex like this to be a more easy going ride - something that those who want something more mellow, but still want good powder performance. 

But when it came to easy turning, it wasn't quite there, negating really the purpose of this board. It's not a hard charger as that softer flex stops it from being that. But it's not a nimble, easy going ride either, so it kind of finds itself without a really defined identity that will fit many riders, IMO.