The following are my top 15 snowboards for beginners for men.
This has now been updated for the 2017/18 season and expanded to 15, which was much needed.
If you’d like to know more about the changes I made to my beginner snowboard scoring system there’s an explanation at the end of the post.
Right, let’s get straight into the top 15.
NOTE: This list is for the 2017-18 season. For the Top 15 Beginner Snowboards for the latest season, check out the following:
>>The Top 15 Snowboards for Beginners (Latest Season)
Men’s Beginner Board #15
Board: Rossignol Templar
Price: $399
Beginner Board Rating Score: 90.5/100
Ability Level: Beginner to Intermediate
Style of Board: All-Mountain
Flex: Medium-Soft bordering on medium (4.5/10)
- HARD/ICY SNOW OPTION
Whilst Rossignol rate this as a 6/10 on their flex scale, it’s closer to more like a 4.5/10 or 5/10 in reality – so it’s still easy going enough in terms of flex for a beginner.
But if you’re a light rider or consider yourself non-athletic, then you’ll probably want something slightly softer. Otherwise, it’s a great board for a beginner.
And it’s even better for a beginner that’s going to be encountering hard and icy snow regularly – the edge-hold in this type of snow is really good on the Templar (as it is with a lot of Rossi boards).
Also being an all-mountain board, it’s very versatile, so if you’re not sure of the style that you are heading in, it can take you in any direction.
Learn More About the Templar in the Video Below
Score Breakdown
| FACTOR | RATING (OUT OF 5) | CONTRIBUTION TO FINAL SCORE |
| Flex: | 4.0 | 16/20 |
| Stability: | 5.0 | 20/20 |
| Turning Ease: | 4.5 | 22.5/25 |
| Price: | 4.5 | 9/10 |
| Versatility: | 5.0 | 15/15 |
| Shape & Stance: | 4.0 | 4/5 |
| Base: | 4.0 | 4/5 |
| TOTAL | 90.5/100 |
Men’s Beginner Board #14
Board: Capita Outerspace Living
Price: $399
Beginner Board Rating Score: 90.5/100
Ability Level: Beginner to Expert
Style of Board: All-Mountain-Freestyle
Flex: Medium (5/10)
The Outerspace Living is first and foremost and all-mountain-freestyle snowboard – and a very good one at that.
But it’s so reasonably priced and so nice and easy to ride, that it also makes a good beginner board – in some instances.
I say some instances because it’s a medium flex board, which is usually stiffer than what I recommend for beginners. However, for anyone who is on the heavy side, this is a great option that you can ride and still be able to ride a shorter length. The reason for this is that if you are over the weight recommendations for a board, the flex of the board will feel softer for you.
Also, if you are very athletic, then a medium flex is ok to learn on.
So, if you are looking for a great board to learn on, want to keep the length down (to make it easier to learn) but are finding yourself over the weight recommendations of a lot of boards, then this is a great option because it will feel like medium-soft and everything else about this board is great for a beginner.
Learn More About the Outerspace Living in the Video Below
Score Breakdown
| FACTOR | RATING (OUT OF 5) | CONTRIBUTION TO FINAL SCORE |
| Flex: | 3.5 | 14/20 |
| Stability: | 5.0 | 20/20 |
| Turning Ease: | 4.5 | 22.5/25 |
| Price: | 4.5 | 9/10 |
| Versatility: | 5.0 | 15/15 |
| Shape & Stance: | 5.0 | 5/5 |
| Base: | 5.0 | 5/5 |
| TOTAL | 90.5/100 |
Men’s Beginner Board #13
Board: Capita Horrorscope
Price: $369
Beginner Board Rating Score: 91.5/100
Ability Level: Beginner-to-expert
Style of Board: Jib/Park
Flex: Medium-Soft
- FAST PROGRESSION
Whilst being first and foremost designed as a park/jib/street board, the Horrorscope is also great as a beginner board.
If you think park riding is ultimately what you want to get into, including jibs, then this board would be a great investment – will be great to progress with as a beginner deck but then will serve you as a park board for years.
Even if you ride other styles too, you’ll always have a great park/jib board in your arsenal.
Learn more about the Horrorscope in the video below
Score Breakdown for the Horrorscope
| FACTOR | RATING (OUT OF 5) | CONTRIBUTION TO FINAL SCORE |
| Flex: | 5.0 | 20/20 |
| Stability: | 5.0 | 20/20 |
| Turning Ease: | 5.0 | 25/25 |
| Price: | 4.5 | 9/10 |
| Versatility: | 2.5 | 7.5/15 |
| Shape & Stance: | 5.0 | 5/5 |
| Base: | 5.0 | 5/5 |
| TOTAL | 91.5/100 |
Men’s Beginner Board #12
Board: Burton Process Flying V
Price: $499
Beginner Board Rating Score: 91.5/100
Ability Level: Beginner to Advanced
Style of Board: All-Mountain
Flex: Medium-Soft
The Process Flying V is a super versatile snowboard – so no matter what direction you end up in, this board can take you there – and take you there to a reasonably advanced level too.
But, most importantly for the beginner, this board is also great for learning on – it’s forgiving, easy to turn and really hard to catch an edge on.
It’s more of an investment than a lot would make as a beginner but worth it, if you’ve got the cash.
Learn More About the Process Flying V in the Video Below
Score Breakdown
| FACTOR | RATING (OUT OF 5) | CONTRIBUTION TO FINAL SCORE |
| Flex: | 4.5 | 18/20 |
| Stability: | 4.5 | 18/20 |
| Turning Ease: | 5.0 | 25/25 |
| Price: | 3.5 | 7/10 |
| Versatility: | 5.0 | 15/15 |
| Shape & Stance: | 4.5 | 4.5/5 |
| Base: | 4.0 | 4/5 |
| TOTAL | 91.5/100 |
Men’s Beginner Board #11
Board: YES Typo
Price: $449
Beginner Board Rating Score: 92.5/100
Ability Level: Beginner to Expert
Style of Board: All-Mountain
Flex: Medium-Soft (4/10)
- HARD/ICY SNOW OPTION
Like the Process Flying V, the YES Typo is an extremely versatile board that can handle any kind of terrain and any style – and it’s also a board that you could have forever and keep getting better on.
But unlike the Process Flying V, the Typo has amazing edge-hold in hard/icy conditions, making the terrain versatility of this board even better.
It’s also a bit more stable overall than the Flying V and a little cheaper.
Learn More About the Typo in the Video Below
Score Breakdown
| FACTOR | RATING (OUT OF 5) | CONTRIBUTION TO FINAL SCORE |
| Flex: | 5.0 | 20/20 |
| Stability: | 5.0 | 20/20 |
| Turning Ease: | 4.5 | 22.5/25 |
| Price: | 4.0 | 8/10 |
| Versatility: | 4.5 | 13.5/15 |
| Shape & Stance: | 4.5 | 4.5/5 |
| Base: | 4.0 | 4/5 |
| TOTAL | 92.5/100 |
Men’s Beginner Board #10
Board: Never Summer Snowtrooper
Price: $519
Beginner Board Rating Score: 92.5/100
Ability Level: Beginner to Expert
Style of Board: All-Mountain
Flex: Medium-Soft (4/10)
If you’re willing to invest more than your average beginner board (this is the priciest on this list) to get quality that will last and performance that will keep you going well into your snowboarding progression, then the Snowtrooper should be high on your list.
It’s also extremely versatile and a really easy going to ride that will have you linking turns with ease and building your confidence every time you ride it.
Score Breakdown
| FACTOR | RATING (OUT OF 5) | CONTRIBUTION TO FINAL SCORE |
| Flex: | 5.0 | 20/20 |
| Stability: | 4.5 | 18/20 |
| Turning Ease: | 5.0 | 25/25 |
| Price: | 3.0 | 6/10 |
| Versatility: | 5.0 | 15/15 |
| Shape & Stance: | 4.5 | 4.5/5 |
| Base: | 4.0 | 4/5 |
| TOTAL | 92.5/100 |
Men’s Beginner Board #9
Board: YES Libre
Price: $369
Beginner Board Rating Score: 93/100
Ability Level: Beginner to Advanced
Style of Board: All-Mountain
Flex: Medium-Soft
- HARD/ICY SNOW OPTION
The Libre is new to the YES line for 2018 and is the lowest priced of all the 3 YES boards in this list.
It’s a very versatile, very stable and very predictable ride, that will help you to boost your confidence, even in harder conditions.
Learn More About the Libre in the Video Below
YES LIBRE 2018 from YES. Snowboard TV on Vimeo.
Score Breakdown
| FACTOR | RATING (OUT OF 5) | CONTRIBUTION TO FINAL SCORE |
| Flex: | 5.0 | 20/20 |
| Stability: | 5.0 | 20/20 |
| Turning Ease: | 4.5 | 22.5/25 |
| Price: | 4.5 | 9/10 |
| Versatility: | 4.0 | 12/15 |
| Shape & Stance: | 4.5 | 4.5/5 |
| Base: | 5.0 | 5/5 |
| TOTAL | 93/100 |
Men’s Beginner Board #8
Board: Ride Agenda
Price: $359
Beginner Board Rating Score: 93/100
Ability Level: Beginner-to-intermediate
Style of Board: Freestyle
Flex: Medium-Soft (3/10)
- FAST PROGRESSION
This board is ideal for the novice rider.
The only thing that really stopped this board from getting a perfect score was the versatility. It’s very much a freestyle snowboard – so if you were to go into something other than that once you progressed past the beginner phase, you would need to upgrade.
Otherwise it has n easy going flat to rocker profile with a flat section under the feet for stability and rocker sections towards the tip and tail for easier turn initiation plus a nice easy medium-soft flex rating of 3 out of 10.
Overall Ride’s Agenda will be near perfect to start learning the snowboard trade on.
Ride Agenda Score Breakdown
| FACTOR | RATING (OUT OF 5) | CONTRIBUTION TO FINAL SCORE |
| Flex: | 5.0 | 20/20 |
| Stability: | 5.0 | 20/20 |
| Turning Ease: | 5.0 | 25/25 |
| Price: | 4.5 | 9/10 |
| Versatility: | 3.0 | 9/15 |
| Shape & Stance: | 5.0 | 5/5 |
| Base: | 5.0 | 5/5 |
| TOTAL | 93/100 |
Men’s Beginner Board #7
Board: YES Basic
Price: $399
Rating Score (as a beginner board): 93.5/100
Style of Board: All-Mountain-Freestyle
Ability Level: Beginner-to-Advanced
Flex: Medium-Soft (4/10 with 1 being the softest and 10 the stiffest)
- HARD/ICY SNOW OPTION
The YES Basic is a great little all-mountain-freestyle board that is also well suited to beginners.
It has a nice forgiving medium-soft flex, is easy to turn on but still feels very stable underfoot.
It’s a great option for those that often ride in harder or icy conditions, is very versatile and is a board that can take you beyond the beginner stage and even beyond the intermediate stage.
Check out the video for more on the YES Basic
The Basic’s Score Breakdown
| FACTOR | RATING (OUT OF 5) | CONTRIBUTION TO FINAL SCORE |
| Flex: | 5.0 | 20/20 |
| Stability: | 5.0 | 20/20 |
| Turning Ease: | 4.5 | 22.5/25 |
| Price: | 4.5 | 9/10 |
| Versatility: | 4.0 | 12/15 |
| Shape & Stance: | 5.0 | 5/5 |
| Base: | 5.0 | 5/5 |
| TOTAL | 93.5/100 |
Men’s Beginner Board #6
Board: Rossignol District
Price: $299
Beginner Board Rating Score: 94/100
Ability Level: Beginner-to-Beginner
Style of Board: Freestyle
Flex: Medium-Soft (4/10)
- FAST PROGRESSION
This is truly only a beginner board and you will want to upgrade once you hit the intermediate phase – and it’s a freestyle board, so it’s not a great option for other styles of riding outside of the beginner phase.
But this is the fastest way to progress in my opinion – get a board that is super good to progress on – then sell it and upgrade to continue your progression.
And the Rossignol District gets a perfect score otherwise. So it’s one, if not the easiest board to learn on and one of the lowest priced boards out there as well. Last year, when I didn’t include versatility in the scoring system, this board had a perfect 100/100.
The Districts Score Breakdown
| FACTOR | RATING (OUT OF 5) | CONTRIBUTION TO FINAL SCORE |
| Flex: | 5.0 | 20/20 |
| Stability: | 5.0 | 20/20 |
| Turning Ease: | 5.0 | 25/25 |
| Price: | 5.0 | 10/10 |
| Versatility: | 3.0 | 9/15 |
| Shape & Stance: | 5.0 | 5/5 |
| Base: | 5.0 | 5/5 |
| TOTAL | 94/100 |
Men’s Beginner Board #5
Board: Burton Instigator
Price: $399
Beginner Board Rating Score: 94.5/100
Ability Level: Beginner to Intermediate
Style of Board: All-Mountain
Flex: Medium-Soft
- FAST PROGRESSION
The Instigator is new from Burton for 2018 but is essentially an evolution of the Burton Clash which drops out of their line-up this year.
This is a great board to get your snowboard learning underway and whilst you’ll probably want to upgrade once you’ve surpassed the intermediate phase, it can take you into any type of riding you would want to go.
And all for a really reasonable price.
Learn More About the Instigator in the Video Below
Score Breakdown
| FACTOR | RATING (OUT OF 5) | CONTRIBUTION TO FINAL SCORE |
| Flex: | 5.0 | 20/20 |
| Stability: | 5.0 | 20/20 |
| Turning Ease: | 5.0 | 25/25 |
| Price: | 4.5 | 9/10 |
| Versatility: | 4.0 | 12/15 |
| Shape & Stance: | 3.5 | 3.5/5 |
| Base: | 5.0 | 5/5 |
| TOTAL | 94.5/100 |
Men’s Beginner Board #4
Board: Rossignol Circuit
Price: $299
Beginner Board Rating Score: 96/100
Ability Level: Beginner to Intermediate
Style of Board: All-Mountain
Flex: Medium-Soft (4/10)
- FAST PROGRESSION
This freestyle oriented all-mountain board is a great starter board. It’s nice and forgiving, with easy turn initiations but also with a stable feel.
Whilst, it would need to be upgraded once you graduated from an intermediate level – it’s versatile enough to take you in the direction you wanted to go, up until that time.
This is also the equal cheapest priced board on this list.
Learn More About the Circuit in the Video Below
Score Breakdown
| FACTOR | RATING (OUT OF 5) | CONTRIBUTION TO FINAL SCORE |
| Flex: | 5.0 | 20/20 |
| Stability: | 5.0 | 20/20 |
| Turning Ease: | 5.0 | 25/25 |
| Price: | 5.0 | 10/10 |
| Versatility: | 4.0 | 12/15 |
| Shape & Stance: | 4.0 | 4/5 |
| Base: | 5.0 | 5/5 |
| TOTAL | 96/100 |
Men’s Beginner Board #3
Board: Rome Mechanic
Price: $349
Beginner Board Rating Score: 96/100
Ability Level: Beginner to Intermediate
Style of Board: All-Mountain
Flex: Medium-Soft (3/10)
- FAST PROGRESSION
This is an all-mountain board with a freestyle flavor, like the Circuit above. Also like he Circuit, the Mechanic is the kind of board that’s versatile enough to take you in any direction you naturally head in.
But it’s also something that you’ll want to upgrade from once you progress through that intermediate phase.
Learn More About the Mechanic in the Video Below
Score Breakdown
| FACTOR | RATING (OUT OF 5) | CONTRIBUTION TO FINAL SCORE |
| Flex: | 5.0 | 20/20 |
| Stability: | 5.0 | 20/20 |
| Turning Ease: | 5.0 | 25/25 |
| Price: | 5.0 | 10/10 |
| Versatility: | 4.0 | 12/15 |
| Shape & Stance: | 4.0 | 4/5 |
| Base: | 5.0 | 5/5 |
| TOTAL | 96/100 |
Men’s Beginner Board #2
Board: K2 Standard
Price: $329
Beginner Board Rating Score: 96/100
Ability Level: Beginner to Intermediate
Style of Board: All-Mountain
Flex: Medium-Soft
- FAST PROGRESSION
This is a great option to start your snowboarding journey out on.
Like most here, it’s an up to intermediate level ride but it’s definitely a do-it-all kind of board – so you won’t have to worry about the direction you go in.
More importantly, it’s a board designed to be very easy to ride and to build confidence on.
Learn More About the Standard in the Video Below
Score Breakdown
| FACTOR | RATING (OUT OF 5) | CONTRIBUTION TO FINAL SCORE |
| Flex: | 5.0 | 20/20 |
| Stability: | 5.0 | 20/20 |
| Turning Ease: | 5.0 | 25/25 |
| Price: | 5.0 | 10/10 |
| Versatility: | 4.0 | 12/15 |
| Shape & Stance: | 4.0 | 4/5 |
| Base: | 5.0 | 5/5 |
| TOTAL | 96/100 |
Men’s Beginner Board #1
Board: Salomon Sight
Price: $349
Beginner Board Rating Score: 96.5/100
Ability Level: Beginner-to-Intermediate
Style of Board: All-Mountain
Flex: Medium-Soft (3/10)
- FAST PROGRESSION
The Salomon Sight is one of the easiest boards out there to progress on – it’s nice and forgiving, catch-free, easy to initiate turns on and nice and stable underfoot.
It’s also a very versatile board being an all-mountain board – so no matter which style of riding you get into as you progress you’ll have a board that can take you there.
The only thing that drags down the versatility score (and overall score) and stops it from being a completely perfect score, is that that you’ll probably want to upgrade once you progress beyond an intermediate level. But it will be one of those boards that you can use to progress to beyond that intermediate level faster than almost every other board.
On top of all of that, it’s a really reasonably priced board – helping to make it Snowboarding Profiles’ all-round #1 beginner snowboard.
Check out the video for more on the Sight
The Sight’s Score Breakdown
| FACTOR | RATING (OUT OF 5) | CONTRIBUTION TO FINAL SCORE |
| Flex: | 5.0 | 20/20 |
| Stability: | 5.0 | 20/20 |
| Turning Ease: | 5.0 | 25/25 |
| Price: | 5.0 | 10/10 |
| Versatility: | 4.0 | 12/15 |
| Shape & Stance: | 4.5 | 4.5/5 |
| Base: | 5.0 | 5/5 |
| TOTAL | 96.5/100 |
So there you have it – that’s my top 15 snowboards for beginners for the 2017/18 season. Hopefully this has helped you in choosing your beginner snowboard.
Changes to this year’s Top Men’s Beginner List
If you had seen my top 5 beginner snowboards list for the 2016-17 season (which you can still find here) you’ll realize that the 2017-18 list has a very different feel about it.
Of all the 2018 top 5/10 lists, the beginner list has been changed the most and I am very confident that this is a very strong list of beginner snowboard options and 99% of people should be able to find something suitable from this list. Last season’s list still provided some great options (all of which are in this list) but there weren’t enough of them.
Expanded List
The biggest and most important change in this list is the expansion to 15 boards.
I was always going to expand this list to 10 this year, but as I went through the boards, I realized that there are so many good beginner options and to show a good range of quality choices to choose from there really needed to be at least 15.
Change in Emphasis
I also tweaked the scoring system this season so that there was less emphasis on shape and stance and more emphasis on versatility.
Versatility
The addition of versatility as a factor was to reflect the reality that most people buying their first snowboard want a board that can stay with them for at least a couple of years and that doesn’t restrict the type of snowboard that they can get into when at a more intermediate or advanced level.
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