Jones Mind Expander Review: Powder Snowboard Review

Who is the Mind Expander Most Suited To?

The Mind Expander is a great option for those looking for a surfy feeling, mid, bordering on mid-soft, board to be predominantly used in powder. 

It's best as a quiver board to bring out on powder days (in or out of the trees), rather than a daily driver, IMO, but if you're after a surfy powder board for your quiver, it's a great option. 

Not for the beginner but great for anyone intermediate and up wanting this type of board.

Bindings angles: +15/-15

Stance width: 560mm (22″) - reference stance is 600mm (23.6") but I rode it a little narrower. 

Stance Setback: Setback 20mm

Width at Inserts: 285mm (11.22") at front insert and 268mm (10.55") at back insert

Rider Height: 6'0"

Rider Weight: 185lbs

Rider Boot Size: US10 Vans Aura

Bindings Used: Burton Malavita M 

Weight: 3000g

Weight per cm: 18.99 grams/cm

Average Weight per cm: 18.45 grams/cm*

*based on a small sample size of 51 boards that I've weighed in 2019 and 2020 models. The Mind Expander is on the heavier side of normal. However, it's quite a wide board for it's length. I imagine the weight/surface area might actually be on the lighter side than normal. Ideally that would be the measure but surface area is a rarely published spec.  

Powder

I didn't have a great amount of powder to test it in, unfortunately, but I had a little, and from what I could tell, it's a super fun ride in powder. Feels fun and surfy even in limited amounts. I'd love to get it in some deep stuff!

And the specs couldn't be more powder oriented, with a lot of rocker, a really long and wide nose and a large amount of taper. That plus the spoon base, make this board really well suited to powder.  

And whilst set back along the effective edge isn't huge, the overall setback on the board - with a considerably longer nose than tail - makes for a heap of overall setback. 

Carving & Turning

Carving: It's an average carver, as was expected. Carving without camber is just never amazing, IMO.

Maneuverability at slow speeds: I found the Mind Expander to be super nimble at slow speeds and with a looser, surfy feel to it. ​​​

Skidded Turns: Really easy to skid turns on. Not catchy in the slightest. 

Speed

Gets pretty wobbly when you really open it out - and that big old nose really flaps about too. But that wouldn't be an issue in powder - and it can handle a bit of speed on the groomers - just not an out and out bomber. 

Really good glide - which is the case on a lot of Jones boards. Not sure if it's the quality of the base or the spoon base tech - but I'd say it's probably a combination of both.

Uneven Terrain

For bumps it's great. Going over or through. It's super nimble - and overall great in the trees -and would be particularly good in trees on a good powder day. 

Was decent in crud too. 

Let’s Break up this text with a Video

Jumps

Not an amazing jumper. Feels like it's made to float over top of powder and I'd say when getting air in powder it would be a good board to have - with that nose staying afloat on landings, but for general jumps/ollies on groomers, it's not that great.

Pop: What's there is really easy to access, but there's not that much there - a lack of camber the most likely explanation for that. 

Approach: Nimble but not all that stable

Landing: A little wobbly on landings 

Side-hits: Nice and nimble for tricky approaches, but not hugely exciting with that limited pop and slightly wobbly landings. 

Small jumps/Big Jumps: More suited to small jumps than anything else - but powder jumps probably more suited again. 

Switch

It's pretty weird to ride switch. You can do it with any board, but this one is one of the harder, weirder boards to ride switch. 

Spins

Surprisingly easy/fast to get the spin around, given that big nose and it being a slightly heavier board. But that's about all that was surprising about spinning this board. As expected it wasn't the best for taking off and landing switch and that lack of pop didn't make it a very exciting spinner. 

Jibbing

I like a nice loose board for jibs, but this felt almost too loose/wobbly for it. Certainly not made for jibs though, so wasn't expecting much. 

Butters

Really quite easy to press. The tail and nose feel quite different to each to press on though, so it's not ideal. 

Overall, the Mind Expander is a fun surfy ride, that's quite powder specialized. Would make a great addition to a quiver, if you're looking for a surfy, quick edge-to-edge ride for powder days, whether you're riding in trees or out of them.