Hello and welcome to my Niche Aether snowboard review.
In this review, I will take a look at the Aether as an all-mountain-freestyle snowboard.
As per tradition here at SnowboardingProfiles.com I will give the Aether a score out of 100 (based on several factors) and see how it compares with other all-mountain-freestyle snowboards.
Overall Rating
Board: Niche Aether 2019
Price: $529 (USD recommended retail)
Style: All-Mountain-Freestyle
Flex Rating: Medium (6/10)
Flex Feel on Snow: Medium (6/10)
Rating Score: 80.9/100
Compared to other Men’s All-Mtn-Freestyle Boards
Out of the 27 men’s all-mtn-freestyle snowboards that I rated:
Overview of the Aether’s Specs
Check out the tables for the Aether's specs and available sizes.
Specs
Style: | All-Mountain-Freestyle |
Price: | $529 |
Ability Level: |  |
Flex: |  |
Feel: |  |
Turn Initiation: | Medium |
Edge-hold: |  |
Camber Profile: | |
Shape: | |
Setback Stance: | Centered |
Base: | Sintered |
Weight: | Normal, maybe on the heavier side of normal |
Sizing
Length (cm) | 153 | 156 | 159 |
Waist Width (mm) | 254 | 258 | 262 |
Rec Rider Weight (lb) | not available | n/a | n/a |
Rec Rider Weight (kg) | n/a | n/a | n/a |
Who is the Aether Most Suited To?
The Aether is best for anyone who wants to explore everything the mountain has to offer, including the park, but to do it with a freestyle flavor.
It's got great edge-hold in hard/icy conditions, so if you get those a lot, then this might be a great option for you.
Not for beginners, but good for intermediate riders and up, for those who suit the style this board is meant for.
The Aether in More Detail
O.k. let’s take a more detailed look at what the Aether is capable of.
Demo Info
Board: Niche Aether 2019, 156cm (258mm waist width)
Date: March 3, 2018
Conditions: The snow had a great medium feel to it. Relatively firm but certainly not hard and not overly soft. Off groomer was nice too and there were a few pockets of untracked powder from snow from a couple of days previous. Sunny and perfect visibility. Temperature was -7 with wind.
Bindings angles: +15/-15
Width at Inserts: 260mm (10.2“)
Powder
Not the kind of board I would get specifically for powder days, but when there’s a few pockets to surf over, it’s OK.
However, I did find it a little grabby in the softer patches, and just a little grabby generally. Maybe it was a combination of the heavy magne-traction and a poorly waxed base? Unfortunately I tested this at a demo day, so I didn’t have the opportunity to wax it up and re-test it.
Either way, I’m looking forward to getting my hands on this board again for the 2020 model and re-testing it as I suspect that there was something a-miss.
Carving and Turning
Again, I suspect this board carves better than how it felt it. But on the day it did feel grabby (see above under powder section).
Turn initiations felt labored and it felt pretty slow edge-to-edge and was just a bit of an effort to initiate turns on. Once you got up a decent amount of speed and really laid into it and put some effort into it, it felt good once on an edge, but it wasn’t fun getting there. But again, I suspect there was something a-miss. I would blame it on the conditions but the conditions were good and every other board I rode that day didn’t feel like this.
Speed
The Aether felt good at speed – and in a lot of ways, that grabby heavy feeling wasn’t as bad when you really let it go at speed.
Let’s Break up this text with a Video
Uneven Terrain
There was pretty of messy chopped up resort snow to deal with, as it was a Saturday. Apart from that grabby feeling I got from the board, I think this would be pretty good with uneven terrain.
Jumps
Could definitely feel a decent amount of pop with this board and landings were stable. But the approach sometimes felt sketchy due to the heavy grabby feeling (at risk of sounding like a broken record) I got from it – again it ruined what I think would otherwise be a good or even great board to jump with.
Switch
Felt pretty much the same in both directions.
Jibbing
Felt OK once on the box/rail, but the approach wasn’t what I was hoping for.
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 |
|---|---|---|
Switch | 4.5 | 18/20 |
Jumps | 3.5 | 14/20 |
Jibbing | 3.0 | 6/10 |
Carving/Turning | 3.0 | 6/10 |
Powder | 2.5 | 5/10 |
Speed | 3.5 | 7/10 |
Uneven Terrain | 3.5 | 7/10 |
Pipe | 4.5 | 9/10 |
TOTAL after normalizing | 80.9/100 |
I really wanted to like this board and based on other Niche boards that I've ridden, I though I would. And based on those other boards, I think there was something a bit off about the demo I was testing, so I look forward to re-testing it this coming season.
Despite that grabby, heavy feel largely ruining the experience, you could feel the potential of what this board is capable of.
More Info, Current Prices and Where to Buy Online
If you want to learn more about the Aether, or if you are ready to buy, or if you just want to research prices and availability, check out the links below.
If you want to check out some other all-mountain-freestyle snowboard options, or if you want to compare how the Aether compares to other all-mountain-freestyle snowboards, then check out the next link.
Leave a Reply