Jones Flagship Review

The Jones Flagship absolutely slays the whole mountain. OK, it's not something I'd spend much time in the park on, particularly not the jib line. But everywhere else, it excels. 

Just a quality all-round board that always finds a way of evolving itself to stay not just relevant but at the top of the game.

In this review, I will be reviewing 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 2025

Price: $699

Style: Freeride

Flex Rating: Stiff (8/10)

Flex Feel on Snow: Mid-Stiff (7.5/10)

Rating Score: 91.3/100

Compared to other Men’s Freeride Boards

Overview of the Flagship’S Specs

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

Who is the Flagship Most Suited To?

The Flagship is best suited to anyone who wants a powder board that can carve the groomers with the best of them, stay stable at speed and remain chatter-minimal, even in super rough conditions. 

Can work as a really good one-board quiver for advanced riders who stay out of the park for the most part. 

And a great quiver compliment in a two board or multi-board quiver. It would pair well in a two-board quiver with a freestyle/park or all-mountain-freestyle board. In a multi-board quiver, it would be the go-to powder, carving speed board and could join an icy snow specialist (it's good in icy conditions, but some are better), a park board, an all-mountain-freestyle board and a tree specialist. 

Definitely not for beginners. This is an advanced and up board, IMO. Intermediate riders who are particularly strong/fit might be OK with it, but for the rest of us, you'd want to be at least advanced, IMO.  

Flagship DetailS

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

Demo Info

Board: Jones Flagship 2025, 158cm (249mm waist width)

Date: February 15, 2024

Powder

There was the odd spot with left-over powder stashes, but was typically pretty short lived (and teasing!) and not deep enough to really test it's powder prowess. But based on past experience with this board in earlier models and its specs, it's one of the better boards that aren't powder specialists out there for the deep stuff. 

It's directional shape, directional camber, taper (12mm), setback (20mm), in addition to 3D shaping (Jones' 3D Contour 3.0), which focuses more uplift into the nose than the tail, all help this board to float. 

Carving

But despite how good it is for powder, it's not so overcommitted to powder performance that it sacrifices carving. For boards this good in powder, I typically expect some washiness on a carve. But I knew better with previous Flagships - and this one didn't disappoint either. 

I found it could hold on to high speed carves with ease and really allowed me to get high angle carves in without feeling like I was going to wash out at any point. 

Turning

Ease of Turning/Slashing: There's a little bit of catch in the tail, particularly when riding slower - and because of its flex, it does take some physical effort to get it turning or slashing, but it's certainly nothing that's overwhelmingly difficult or fatiguing to turn or anything. 

Maneuverability at slow speeds: Again, takes some effort to get it switching edges at slower speeds and while it's not the quickest edge-to-edge, it's not bad at all when you do put that energy into it.

Catchiness: There's a little bit of catch in the tail, which is more prominent at slower speeds. 

Speed

The Flagship felt nice and stable at speed, which was no surprise. It also has a really fast base - and the glide was excellent, which was much appreciated on the uphills/flats. 

Uneven Terrain

Crud/Chunder: So darn good. Nice and damp feeling and really stable.

Hardly felt any chatter going through a large patch of icy chunder. You know the type that if you've got a bit of headache or any kind of aches or pains that are sensitive that you just dread as you hit it. Really impressed with how it just wasn't that big a thing on the Flagship. And honestly, I could ride this board in a 161, which would've been even better (though I am quite partial to the 158). 

Trees/Bumps: When putting the effort in I found it was quite quick edge-to-edge, and would be great in deep powder trees and that dampness really helped on the day I rode it - it was quite rough in there outside of the rare powder patches. 

Jumps

Not too bad all round. Decent pop in tail and nice and stable. 

Pop: Took a bit of effort to extract pop but not the hardest to access. Good total pop without being epic.

Approach: Nice and stable for higher speed approaches. While not ideal for quick adjustments or speed checks, it was decent enough. 

Landing: Not ideal on a tail heavy landing. But so long as you got it right, it felt good on landings. But could be punishing of bad landings. 

Side-hits: Not ideal by any means, but decent enough. 

Small jumps/Big jumps: Big jumps are it's best jumping quality, except when you get it wrong, particularly landing tail heavy - then there's more consequences to the error. But if you get it right, it's good for big jumps, because of it's stability. But fine for smaller jumps too - and more room for error. 

Switch

It feels OK, but certainly notice that it was designed to be ridden predominantly in one direction. Transitions were ok, but did have to concentrate so as not to catch an edge.  

Spins

It was OK, but again, certainly not ideal. Landing and taking off switch was doable, but with that catch in the tail and the small tail/big nose, it wasn't easy. 

And if you didn't get your rotation fully around, it could be unforgiving. Definitely no issues with overspin though. 

Jibbing

No thanks. OK, I did take it on one, but it was pretty gingerly. Not something I'd be taking down the jib-line on the regular personally. 

Butters

As expected, there was quite a bit of resistance to tail and nose presses. A bit more stiffness in the tail - and the tail being much smaller than the nose, made them press very differently. 

But it wasn't so stiff that you couldn't press it - it just took a good bit of lean to get it flexing but I didn't feel like I had to put absolutely everything into it. 

Score Breakdown and Final Verdict

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

The Flagship is, IMO, an absolute beast when it comes to combining powder, speed and carving in one package, while at the same time not being ultra un-forgiving or super laborious/cumbersome at slow speeds. 

I feel like it's hit that perfect balance of having just enough oomph and burliness to it to really thrive when you push it to the limits, but just hits the right amount, so that you can still ride it slow without feeling like you're trying to turn an ocean-liner and it's not going to be super fatiguing by the end of a long day, even if you're not elite in terms of your athleticism.