Hello and welcome to my Jones Flagship review.
In this review, I will take a look at the Flagship as a Freeride snowboard.
As per tradition here at SnowboardingProfiles.com I will give the Flagship a score out of 100 (based on several factors) and see how it compares with other freeride snowboards.
Overall Rating
Board: Jones Flagship 2019
Price: $599 (USD recommended retail)
Style: Freeride
Flex Rating: Stiff (8/10)
Flex Feel on Snow: Stiff (8/10)
Rating Score: 88.6/100
Compared to other Men’s Freeride Boards
Out of the 32 Men’s Freeride snowboards that I rated:
Overview of the Flagship’s Specs
Check out the tables for the Flagship’s specs and available sizes.
Specs
Style: | Freeride |
Price: | $599 |
Ability Level: |  |
Flex: |  |
Feel: |  |
Turn Initiation: | Medium-Fast |
Edge-hold: |  |
Camber Profile: | |
Shape: | |
Setback Stance: | 30mm (1.25") |
Base: | Sintered 9900 |
Weight: | Normal |
Sizing
Length (cm) | 154 | 158 | 161 | 164 | 166 | 172 |
Waist Width (mm) | 246 | 249 | 252 | 254 | 258 | 263 |
Rec Rider Weight (lb) | 120-170 | 130-180 | 140-190 | 160-210 | 160-210 | 170-220 |
Rec Rider Weight (kg) | 54-77 | 59-82 | 64-86 | 73-95 | 73-95 | 77-100 |
Length (cm) | 159W | 162W | 165W | 169W |
Waist Width (mm) | 263 | 263 | 266 | 270 |
Rec Rider Weight (lb) | 140-190 | 160-210 | 160-210 | 170-220 |
Rec Rider Weight (kg) | 64-86 | 73-95 | 73-95 | 77-100 |
Who is the Flagship Most Suited To?
The Flagship is for anyone who likes to bomb the mountain, be it on the groomers, in the trees or in the backcountry. This thing is built for speed and floats really well in powder. And if you’re on the groomers it loves to carve.
So, if you like to charge and like to do it in or out of the resort, then the Flagship is a great option.
Definitely not for the park. Definitely not for freestyle and definitely not for beginners. This is an advanced and up board for those that like it steep and deep.
The Flagship in More Detail
O.k. let’s take a more detailed look at what the Flagship is capable of.
Demo Info
Board: Jones Flagship 2019, 158 (249mm waist width)
Date: March 14, 2018
Conditions: Raining at bottom snowing from half way up to top . Good snow up top. Visibility actually OK. A good 4-5cm fresh up top. Some powder to play in.
Bindings angles: +18/-6
Stance width: 580mm (22.8″) – the reference stance is actually 600mm (23.6″) but I rode it 20mm narrower and with 20mm more setback (moved front binding 2cm (one hole) closer to center of board)
Stance Setback: 50mm (2.0″) – reference setback is 30mm (1.2″)
Width at Inserts: 263mm (10.4″) at the back insert and 260mm (10.2″) at the front insert (AT REFERENCE STANCE)
Weight: 2860grams (6lb 5oz)
Weight per cm: 18.10grams/cm
Average Weight per cm: 18.21grams/cm*
*based on a small sample size of 24 boards that I weighed. So pretty close to the average of the boards I weighed.
Powder
Even before I made it to any powder (there was moderate powder on the day but nothing huge – but I did ride the 2018 model in deeper powder) I could tell that this board was a powder machine – just the way you could see the nose lift off the ground when riding on hard pack. And it didn’t disappoint in the fluffy stuff. It’s an effortless board when it comes to powder – it just sails over the top of it – and nothing seems to bury the nose.
And it’s really not surprising that it’s great in pow. It has a 30mm setback. But remember that the setback is measured along the effective edge – it’s even more so on the Flagship’s overall length – and that’s due to it’s long nose (292mm) and short tail (187mm). That, plus a small amount of taper (wider nose than tail) and Jones’ scoop tech, make this a great pow floater.
Carving & Turning
This board was nice to carve on. A really nice carving sensation with decent spring out of a turn. It wants to go fast and straight most of the time – nice for wide arcing carves.
Edge-to-edge it was quick but not lightning fast. Certainly a quicker turner as you ride faster. Not as agile at slower speeds.
It was surprisingly good at skidding turns – didn’t feel catchy at all and you could definitely get away with skidded turns to an extent.
Speed
The Flagship was super fast and it felt unbelievably stable at speed. I felt like I could just really open it out and it felt damp and, did I mention, stable as hell!
Let’s Break up this text with a Video
Uneven Terrain
It’s not amazing in messy Saturday afternoon resort snow but it’s better than it used to be. Better when hitting it at speed and just chopping through it. Not as good at negotiating it when riding slower though.
Jumps
Personally, it’s too stiff for me to really like it for jumps – but it does stomp a landing – so it’s good in that sense – it’s super stable on landings – so landing jumps in the backcountry no problem – just not something I really liked for park jumps, spins or finding tricky approaches to little side-hits.
But that’s not what it’s made for either.
Decent pop but you’ve got to really load it up to extract it – as expected with a board this stiff.
Switch
Overall, not something that I enjoyed riding switch – would be particularly difficult if you were just starting to learn to ride switch. But not undoable for a seasoned switch rider. Especially weird riding switch in deeper snow.
Jibbing
Didn’t go there. Not at all what this board is made for.
Changes from the 2018 Model
Most things about the 2019 model are the same as the 2018 model. The only real change was that they have made the core lighter. How much lighter I’m not sure, but it’s certainly not a heavy board – just on the lighter side of normal.
Changes from the 2017 Model
The 2017 model was quite different from the 2016 model (introduced spoon tech, was made in a different factory and was just a more forgiving and damper ride overall). But the 2018 model is very similar to the 2017 model.
Probably the only change as far as I can tell is that they’ve tweaked the core between the feet – with the intention of increasing torsional response (as they have done for the whole Jones line).
Score Breakdown and Final Verdict
Check out the breakdown of the score in the table below.
FACTOR | rating (OUT OF 5) | contribution to final score |
|---|---|---|
Carving | 4.0 | 24/30 |
Powder | 5.0 | 20/20 |
Speed | 5.0 | 20/20 |
Uneven Terrain | 3.0 | 9/15 |
Jumps | 3.0 | 6/10 |
Switch | 2.5 | 2.5/5 |
TOTAL after normalizing | 88.6/100 |
Overall, the Flagship is a speed machine that loves the steep and deep. It carves nicely and is an improvement in uneven terrain.
A great freeride option that can actually skid turns ok – so could be an option for high level intermediate riders as well as advanced and expert riders – so long as your style suited the board and you can (physically and technically) handle the 8/10 flex.
More Info, Current Prices and Where to Buy Online
If you’re interested in learning more about the Flagship, are ready to buy or want to research prices and availability, check out the links below.
>>Jones Flagship at backcountry.com
>>Jones Flagship at PRFO (Canada)
If you want to see how the Flagship compared to other freeride boards or want to check out some other options, check out the next link.
Hello and welcome to my Jones Flagship review.
O.k. let’s take a more detailed look at what the Flagship is capable of.
I rode the 162W which was a little wide for me. The 161 would be the best size for me for this board. But having the 162W made it even better for floating in pow than it would have been on the 161. But this board is made for pow and even on the narrower, slightly shorter version, it would have floated great.
Hi Mate
Could u recomend what size i should buy.? About 80kg and boot size 8,5.
Hi Jakub.
Thanks for your message. Can you also let me know your height. Whilst weight and boot size are the most important sizing factors, I also take height into account.
Hey man, hoping to get your thoughts. I’m looking at a Flagship. Here’s my story. I’m advanced/expert level rider but haven’t bought a board in a few years. I grew up in Utah and my main thing is bombing the hill as fast as possible, sending it off natural hits. Pretty much never ride park. Most recently, the Salomon Powder Snake has been my go-to board when there’s fresh snow, and a K2 parkstar for the other days. Never summer SL was a favorite back in the day too. Here’s the catch. I’m 6’3” with very long legs so I like a really wide stance. But I only weigh 165-170 pounds. In the past, high-end boards long enough to work with my stance and give me some float were often too stiff for me because of my light weight and tossed me around too much and made it hard in the rough. Boards like the Powder Snake, lower end but still sintered, are usually softer and work well. Anyway, I’ve moved to Oregon and I’m looking for a board to use exclusively in the side and backcountry. There will be some powder, but it’ll usually be heavy, sometimes slushy or mashed potatoes, maybe even hard. My question is, would a Flagship 166 end up being too stiff for me on that sort of terrain. I don’t expect to ride it on rough terrain often, but steep and fast. Everything else about the board seems perfect. I want something that does well in the occasional powder but especially handles steep fast lines and holds an edge on hard snow when called for. But I don’t want to get worked over by a board that is too stiff. Anything other boards you’d recommend? I also wear a size 12 boot but I’ve always felt fine with a waist of at least 25 my wide stance helps reduce toe drag.
Thanks for any advice.
Hi Brigham
Thanks for your message. Please see my reply to your other comment for more details.
Specifically for the Flagship, I feel like this is going to be a little too stiff, to be ideal for what you’re describing. It’s not the stiffest I’ve ridden but it’s on the stiffer side for sure. I would say 8/10 stiffness. Some of the boards I mentioned in my other comment are probably better for what you’re describing, in terms of being softer flexing.
Another option I didn’t mention in that post was the YES Hybrid. It’s a shorter/wider version of the YES PYL, and is softer flexing too. YES rate it 7/10 flex, but I felt it more like 6/10 flex. The longest size is 161, which might be smaller than what you’re used to. But it’s also relatively wide. Even though you were saying that you don’t have issues on regular width boards, even with 12s because of your wide stance, that extra width would allow you to go a little shorter. However, that’s only if you wanted to go that way. If you want to stick to narrower and longer, check out some of the options on the other reply. Note that I was considering wider options in that post, but if you’re confident with narrower boards, then you could look at different sizings of those.
The PYL is another option (possibly 165, or 162), though it’s possibly a little stiffer than ideal for what you want. I’d say 7.5/10 or maybe even closer to 7/10. A little softer than the Flagship anyway.
Hope this helps
Thanks so much. Sorry for doubling up, I accidentally closed my window and couldn’t figure out where I made that other comment.
All good – and you’re very welcome
Hi, quick question: I’m thinking about buying the Jones Flagship 161, seems to be a great board. I wear shoes US 10. Do you think the regular 161 is ok or do I need a wide board? Thanks!
Hi Michael
Thanks for your message.
With US10s you shouldn’t have any issues with the 161. I rode the 158 with US10s and had no issues on that (all be it with +15/-15 binding angles and low profile boots).
The 158 measured 263mm at the rear insert and 260mm at the front insert, which in my experience is always enough. The 161 is likely to be more like 265mm at the rear insert and 262mm at the front insert – so a bit more leeway. Note that this is for the 2019 model and the same measurements differ for the 2020 model which had a couple of changes (one of them being more taper).
The only thing would be if you had longer profile boots, rode with a very straight angle on your back foot, and liked to get really low on your carves (like Eurocarves), then you would have less width to work with, but even then you might be OK. The other thing to note is that the reference stance on the Flagship is quite wide (600mm). With a narrower stance you would be setting up on a narrower part of the board, so that would take off a couple of mm.
But yeah, in most scenarios, you should be good on the 161.
Hope this gives you more to go off
Hi!
Thank you for rating and review!
Really useful information.
But why this board doesn’t cover Icy Snow option?
As I know it has Magne-Traction grip, is should deal with Icy Snow.
Hi Artem
Thanks for your message.
The Flagship is pretty good in icy snow. The rating there isn’t to say that it can’t deal with icy snow, it’s meant as an indicator as to how well it will deal with hard/icy conditions. I’ve found others that deal with it better, so the Flagship doesn’t get full marks for this. But it is still really good there, and that Traction Tech certainly helps. It’s also good to note that the Traction Tech is relatively subtle on the 2019 Flagship (what Jones describes as Traction Tech 2.0). The 2020 model is going to have more Traction Tech (Traction 3.0) – and that is partly (IMO) because that model has a lot more taper, so that extra traction tech helps to compensate for a potentially more washy tail.
It might help to think of this as more like it getting a score of 4/5 for hard/icy conditions, and not that it can’t ride in icy conditions.
Hope this explains it
Thank you for expanded explanation!
Is it possible to perform butter tricks on such stiff board?
Hi Artem
You can if you’re really adept at butter tricks, but certainly not easy to do on this board. Not made for that in my opinion, and even if you’re an expert at butter tricks, it will be doable but not easy – and not as fun as a lot of other boards. Typically boards of this flex won’t be good for buttering.
Hey Nate,
So I’ve been demoing the flagship some more and I think it’s a great board however it’s not as damp as I would like. I can feel every vibration when hitting speed especially on the morning groomed slopes. Amazing in soft snow and powder but I would be kidding myself that I see this all the time…
Is there a board that is similar to the flagship but is more damp at high speeds and doesn’t feel like I’m going to snap my knees?
I tried my buddies GNU Mullair and that is very stable at high speeds but I think I prefer having camber between the bindings than rocker.
Thanks for your help Nate.
Hi Luke
Thanks for your message.
Note that I found the Flagship to be very stable at speed, so this might not help that much if you found it not to be. I don’t find it great in uneven terrain, but at speed I found I could really bomb on it. But you could check out something like the YES Pick Your Line or Burton Flight Attendant, both of which I found were better in uneven terrain (and are both camber between/under the bindings, like the Flagship.
Hope this helps
Thanks Nate for your wisdom. I’m extremely grateful for your help so far.
I think I might pull the trigger on the GNU mullair as I played with It again and actually had lots of fun while also giving me the extra confidence since I wasn’t feeling the micro vibrations underfoot.
I get the feeling the yes PYL might be similar in terms of dampness as I was under the impression the flagship was slightly more stable than the PYL at speeds.
I also tried the burton Custom x and boy does that thing rip. Incredibly stable but I know it’s not a freeride board. I just wish there was a board that had the flagship characteristics but the dampness of the custom x / mullair.
I was also looking at the funslinger as my play around board but luckily I also had a demo on this and I didn’t really enjoy it.
I had an old school Yes the greats which I had to give up since it was on its final legs. So I think I’m leaning more towards this bit I’ve seen they have had a bit of a revamp with the sizing etc. This will be my all mountain freestyle. I’m between the 156/159.
I’m 210lbs with 9.5uk Adidas adv tacticals.
I will most likely be getting the mullair at 161W since this was the one I had demoed but unfortunately the only one they had. I could really get some deep carves without the thought of wiping out.
If I get the 161W mullair for my freeride/back country
156 yes greats for my all mountain freestyle? Or 159 based on my weight?
156 funslinger I thought I was going to break 🙂
Hi Luke
I would say that the Flight Attendant is the closest thing to the Custom X in a freeride form. But if you’re digging the Mullair, then that’s a safe bet. That rocker between the feet on the C3 camber is so subtle, it’s practically all-camber, I’ve found. Size-wise, I think 161 is good for length. It’s whether it would be worth going 161 (which you’d probably fit on with UK9.5 Tactical ADVs) or 161W but like you say, you’re really have no concerns about boot drag and going 161W gives you more leeway on those deeper carves. Also, it’s not massively wide for a wide board either, which works for you, IMO.
For the Greats:
The Funslinger is a softer board, and narrower – so going 156 on the Greats, would be a sturdier feeling experience for sure, IMO. Also the Greats 156 has a bit more in terms of effective edge vs the Funslinger 156. Still in the 156, the Greats would feel quite soft flexing for you, IMO. It would certainly be a more playful Greats, than if you were to go 159.
The 159 would be a little wider even than the 161W, I would predict. Based on measuring different sizes of the 2 boards, I would say that the Mullair 161W, would be roughly 270mm at the inserts, whereas the 159 Greats would be roughly 276mm at the inserts. The 156 Greats is 273mm at the inserts (reference stance) from my measurements (measuring on the base, metal edge to metal edge).
So, I think 156 would be doable for you for the new Greats, but just know that it would be a softer more playful version than what the 159 would feel like. But it should feel, IMO, more sturdy than the Funslinger in the 156. The 159 would still be one you could play around with, it’s still not as much board as the Mullair.
Hope this helps with your decision
Hey Nick!
Just got this board in 162w length on a crazy discount.
However I am 87kg and started doubting if it will be too short for mny 87 – 90 kg. What is your weight?
Hi Vlad
Thanks for your message.
I was roughly 84kg when i rode this board. The width was too wide for me on the 162W but th length was doable. I’ve since ridden the 2019 model in the 158 and I liked that size. Though I’d say the 161 would be the best fit for me (for what I would be using this board for).
I think 162 should be fine for your weight. It would be more about your boot size, whether they’re suitable for the width. If you could let me know your boot size and also your height too, that would help to make a more informed recommendation
Hi,
It’s 12 US feet (30 cm) and 192 cm
Hi Vlad
Thanks for the extra info.
The width should definitely be good for you, wide is the way to go for your boot size.
In terms of the length, overall, I think it’s good. You could have also ridden the 165W with your specs (particularly if you’re an advanced rider and mostly ride fast and spend a fair bit of time in powder), but the 162W will work with your specs too, IMO.
Hi Nate,
Just bought this board in 162W. I’m looking to pair some bindings with it but I’m hearing the APOLLO high back is quite high and quite stiff. Thoughts on a good bonding to pair? I’m off to Japan in a few weeks and super excited. Thanks Justin
Hi Justin
Thanks for your message.
I haven’t tried any of the Jones bindings yet, so I’m not sure first hand about the stiffness/height of the high back on the Apollos.
If you were wanting something not too stiff, but stiff enough for the Flagship (I wouldn’t go too soft, as per my previous reply), then something on this list would be a good bet for you:
>>Top 5 All-Mountain-Freeride Bindings
Hope you have an awesome trip to Japan!