Jones Ultra Mind Expander Snowboard Review

Who is the Ultra Mind Expander Most Suited To?

The Ultra Mind Expander is a great option for those looking for a really stiff mid-wide, highly directional ride. A good mix of performance for powder, carving and speed. 

Definitely not for a beginner and not recommended for an intermediate rider. It's pretty stiff and you want to be on your game and ready to ride it or it will ride you. 

Bindings angles: +15/-15

Stance width: 560mm (22″)

Stance Setback: Setback 40mm

Width at Inserts: 280mm (11.02") at front insert and 264mm (10.39") at back insert  

Rider Height: 6'0"

Rider Weight: 185lbs

Rider Boot Size: US10 Vans Aura

Bindings Used: Burton Malavita M

Weight: 2860g

Weight per cm: 18.57 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 UME is slightly heavier than the average, but given it's overall surface area, it's relatively light for it's length. However, all that said, it felt quite heavy on snow to me.  

Flex

Really stiff. It's not a slightly stiffer, cambered Mind Expander. It's a considerably stiffer, cambered Mind Expander. 

Powder

Didn't have any powder to test on on the day, but it's specs suggest that it would be a good ride in powder. It's got a long, wide nose, vs a much narrower, shorter tail.

Whilst there's only moderate setback on effective edge on reference stance, the overall setback on the board is considerable. All of that plus a good bit of rocker in the nose and the spoon bevel base (3D Contour Base) makes it well setup for ride the soft and fluffy. 

Carving & Turning

Carving: Feels nice to carve. That's where this board prefers to be, over a regular turn. 

Maneuverability at slow speeds: Not very agile at slower speeds. The board feels much better when you've got some speed up to help throw some momentum into changing edges. At slow speeds it feels like you've got to put a good bit of effort in to transition edges.  

Skidded Turns: Not very friendly for skidded turns. This board wants you on edge. 

Speed

The conditions weren't really conducive (not super flat/smooth) to really open it out (rutty and cruddy - not very well groomed that day). But even in those conditions I felt really stable and confident at speed on this board. I would say it's best feature for sure - just so stable. 

Uneven Terrain

It powers through crud and anything like that (see speed above). 

But for bumps that you want to weave through it's not great. Not nimble enough for my liking for that. 

Let’s Break up this text with a Video

Jumps

Too stiff to be really fun for jumps for me, but there's some pop on offer if you're willing to put the effort in to extract it. 

Pop: Good pop, but you need to put it in to get it out. 

Approach: Really stable for when you need to pick up speed and just bomb it to the lip, but not nimble enough for me for anything beyond a straight hit. 

Landing: Super solid on landings, but not that forgiving if you don't stomp it. 

Side-hits: Not nimble enough for my liking and not easy enough to extract the pop. 

Small jumps/Big jumps: Best for big air when you just want to straight air it and need a solid landing from a large jump. 

Switch

Nah, pretty unnatural for switch. You can do it of course, but not the best.  

Spins

Felt heavy/difficult to get the board around and not great for landing/tacking off switch for 1s, 5s etc. Not something I enjoyed spinning on - but not what this board is designed for either. 

Jibbing

Nah- but again, not what it's designed for.

Butters

There's something there that moves in the tip and tail when you try to press it, but not much. Takes a lot of strength/effort to try to butter this one. 

Overall, the Mind Expander is a best of a board. If you're looking for a board that's great for bombing the mountain on groomer days, but can ride the powder well on pow days, then this is defintitely an option - assuming you like your board nice and stiff. 

Be ready to take charge of this board - nothing casual on this thing - be ready to ride hard the whole time you're on it.