Hello and welcome to my Nidecker Gamma review.
In this review, I will take a look at the Gamma as an all-mountain-freestyle snowboard.
As per tradition here at SnowboardingProfiles.com I will give the Gamma a score out of 100 (based on several factors) and see how it compares with other all-mountain-freestyle snowboards.
Note: This review is currently not updated. There were enough changes for the 2025 model that I feel it needs a retest, which I will for the 2026 model during the 24/25 winter, or sooner if possible.
Overall Rating
Board: Nidecker Gamma
Price: $499
Style: All-Mountain-Freestyle
Flex Rating: Mid-Soft
Flex Feel on Snow: Medium (6/10)
Rating Score: 84.8/100
Compared to other Men’s All-Mountain-Freestyle Boards
Of the 29 current model all-mountain freestyle snowboards that we tested:
❄️ The Gamma ranked 14th out of 29
Overview of the Gamma's Specs
Check out the tables for the Gamma's specs and available sizes.
Specs
STYLE:
ALL-MOUNTAIN-FREESTYLE
PRICE:
$499 - BUYING OPTIONS
Ability Level:
flex:
feel:
DAMPNESS:
SMOOTH /SNAPPY:
Playful /aggressive:
Edge-hold:
camber profile:
HYBRID CAMBER
HYBRID Camber - Nidecker's "Surfy Camrock".
SHAPE:
setback stance:
Centered
BASE:
SINTERED | Nidecker's "N-7000"
weight:
Felt normal
Camber Height:
9mm!
Sizing
LENGTH (cm) | Waist Width (mm) | Rec Rider Weight (lb) | Rec Rider Weight (kg) |
|---|---|---|---|
157 | 256 | 132-176 | 60-80 |
Who is the Gamma Best Suited To?
The Gamma is best suited to anyone looking to tear up the whole resort, most ideally suited to someone who wants to get freestyle over the whole mountain, but at times also wants to ride with a bit of speed under them or lay down some moderately high speed carves.
Could definitely be a one-board-quiver for the right rider, assuming you don't see a lot of deep powder. Would handle shallower, occasional powder fine, but probably going to be a back-leg-burner in the deeper stuff.
Not for beginners, but not a board that's super challenging to ride or anything, so intermediate and up.
The Gamma in More Detail
O.k. let’s take a more detailed look at what the Gamma is capable of.
Demo Info
Board: Nidecker Gamma 2024, 157 (256mm waist width)
Date: February 10, 2023
Conditions
Cloudy. Low cloud. Vis pretty bad at times. Like 40% in the worst spots and up to 75% in best.
Temprature 32°F (0°C). With wind chill was 21°F (-6°C) but wind eased by afternoon and was more like 30°F (-1°C) with wind.
24hr snow: 0" (0cm)
48hr snow: 2" (2cm)
7 day snow: 20" (50cm)
On groomer: Medium firm to start with but then got somewhat slushy as day went on. There were some harder patches too.
Off groomer: A little crunchy in places but overall doable.
Set up
Bindings angles: +15/-15
Stance width: 21.3" (540mm)
Stance Setback: Centered
Width at Inserts: 266.5mm (10.5")
Rider Height: 6'0"
Rider Weight: 180lbs
Rider Boot Size: US10 DC Judge
Bindings Used: Burton Malavita M
Weight: 6lbs 10oz (3000 grams)
Weight per cm: 19.11 grams/cm
Average Weight per cm: 18.71 grams/cm*
*based on a sample size of around 250 models that I’ve weighed in 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 & 2024 models. The Gamma was marginally over average weight on scales, felt normal on snow.
Powder
We had no powder on the day to test in, but based on feel and specs, I would say it would be average in powder. It has a little bit of rocker in the profile which will help with float, but there's not much else to help it with powder float.
Carving & Turning
Carving: I found the Gamma to be a really decent carver. Nothing super epic but can dig in the edge and hold it pretty well, even at moderately high speeds.
Ease of Turning/Slashing: It's pretty easy to initiate turns on and you can release the tail and slash pretty easily as well.
Maneuverability at slow speeds: I found I could get it going pretty quickly edge-to-edge at slow speeds. It wasn't effortless, but didn't take too much effort to get it flicking between edges.
Catchiness: Not completely catch-free, but also not something I would call catchy. Normal/average in this respect.
Speed
It's not an out and out bomber, but it's pretty stable at moderately fast speeds.
Uneven Terrain
Crud/Chunder: Takes a bit to get thrown off your line in crud, but it's not a crud/chunder crusher. Decently easy to correct when you are knocked around a bit on it.
Trees/Bumps: Nice and quick for weaving, especially once you put in some energy.
Jumps
Really liked this board for jumps. It had a good balance of all the factors that lead to a good jumping board.
Pop: Pop was decently easy to access. Not effortless but didn't have to put too much weight into it to access it. Then there was a little more you could get out of it, when winding it up. Not epic total pop, but decent enough.
Approach: Strikes a great balance between stability and the ability to speed check/adjust your line when necessary.
Landing: A good amount of give on landings, making it not too unforgiving of errors, and could handle a tail heavy landing well. Wasn't quite as much of a stomper as the Gamma APX, which I also rode the same day, but still good stable landings.
Side-hits: I preferred this to the APX version on side hits. Not quite as good in terms of effortless agility as my control board (Lib Tech Terrain Wrecker) but when you attacked them a little more aggressively, with a little more purpose, it was really fun. Pop was pretty easy to access too, which I like to have for side hits.
Small jumps/Big jumps: Medium jumps were the sweet spot but would definitely be able to handle bigger jumps, and all good for small jumps too.
Switch
Felt great to ride switch, which was no surprise. Transitions to switch felt good too. Maybe not as effortless in transitions as some, but so long as you were focused enough, it was great with transitions, setting up and landing switch for spins and for riding switch in general.
Spins
Decently easy to access pop, wasn't difficult to get spins around and felt fine setting up and landing switch. So all round, felt good to spin on.
Jibbing
Not the ideal jibbing board, IMO, mostly because I prefer something softer and even easier to maneuver, not that it was hard to maneuver, but for a strong jibber, shouldn't be an issue to jib with.
Butters
You had to put a bit of weight in to press tip and tail - not effortless - but you didn't have to throw everything into it to get it pressing and lock in presses, or anything.
Score Breakdown and Final Verdict
Check out the breakdown of the score in the table below.
RATING | Contribution to Final Score | |
|---|---|---|
JUMPS | 4.0 | 16/20 |
CARVING | 3.5 | 7/10 |
TURNS/SLASHING | 4.0 | 8/10 |
SWITCH | 5.0 | 10/10 |
SPEED | 3.5 | 7/10 |
SPINS | 4.0 | 8/10 |
BUTTERS | 3.5 | 7/10 |
JIBBING | 3.0 | 3/5 |
CRUD/CHUNDER | 3.5 | 3.5/5 |
TREES/BUMPS | 3.5 | 3.5/5 |
POWDER | 2.5 | 2.5/5 |
TOTAL after normalizing | 84.8/100 |
Nidecker's Gamma is a new board for 2024 (which had an early release in the late 22/23 season). I found it super fun and versatile, able to handle a range of conditions well and strikes a great balance for being something you can get a little aggressive on when you want to and a little playful when you want to.
No real weaknesses apart from deeper powder and, at least for me, not the ideal jibber.
More Info, Current Prices and Where to Buy Online
If you want to learn more about the Gamma, 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 Gamma compares to other all-mountain-freestyle snowboards, then check out the next link.
Hey Nate was there much of a difference trees/bumps vs the gamma apx?
Hi Tim
Not a huge difference. I slightly preferred this, just because you didn’t have to put as much into it. With both, I found you could get them edge-to-edge pretty quickly, but neither was effortless. So they go well, IMO, in trees, but you’ve got to put the energy in. Slightly less energy needed for this one vs the APX model.