If you are looking for a new snowboard but you are on a low budget then you might want to check out my list of good cheap snowboards below (this list has been updated for the 2017-18 season).
Below I have chosen what I think are the best snowboards you can buy at a price that won’t break the bank.
Because everyone needs a different type of snowboard I will be providing the following:
- Best cheap beginner snowboard
- Best cheap freestyle snowboard
- Best cheap all-mountain-freestyle snowboard
- Best cheap aggressive all-mountain-freestyle snowboard
- Best cheap all-mountain snowboard
- Best cheap aggressive all-mountain snowboard
- Best cheap freeride snowboard
How Each Board was Chosen
The snowboard chosen isn’t necessarily the cheapest but the best value for money but has to be at least a good bit cheaper than the average price of boards in the category.
Under each category I will show:
- the average cost of boards in that category
- the cheapest board I found in that category; and
- the reasons why I chose the board I chose
All prices shown in USD.
Note that this post is for the 2017-18 season. For the latest season’s Top 7 Good Cheap Snowboards list, check out the link below.
The Top 7 Best Good Cheap Snowboards (Latest Season)
The Best Cheap Freestyle Snowboard
Board: Slash Happy Place
Price: $399
SnowboardingProfiles.com Rating Score: 86.8/100
| Number of freestyle/jib snowboards looked at: | 42 |
| Cheapest Board I Looked at: | $299 |
| Average price of freestyle snowboards: | $439 |
| Average Rating Score: | 79.6/100 |
Why this board was chosen
The Slash Happy Place is a great freestyle board even without taking price into account. It rates way above the average score in this category but costs a good $39 less than the average price.
Yes there are cheaper freestyle snowboards – but in terms of value for money you can’t go past the Happy Place.
The average score for the 15 boards that cost $399 or less was 77.3. The Happy Place scored way above that – the next closest in score for boards under $399 was the Rossignol TrickStick (83.5 points), which is also a great cheap option. A great jib specialist option is the K2 WWW ($379, scored 80.2).
The Best Cheap All-Mountain-Freestyle Snowboard
Board: Capita Outerspace Living
Price: $399
SnowboardingProfiles.com Rating Score: 89.9/100
| No. of all-mountain-freestyle snowboards looked at: | 24 |
| Cheapest Board I Looked at: | $399 |
| Average price of freestyle-all-mountain snowboards: | $507 |
| Average Rating Score: | 81.3/100 |
- See Full Review
Why this board was chosen
This was a bit of a no brainer. It’s my 3rd overall pick for all-mountain-freestyle snowboards (not taking price into account), yet it’s also more than $100 cheaper than the average snowboard in this category.
So with a score well above the average and a price well below the average, and ranking above a number of boards that cost a good bit more than it, the Outerspace Living is the obvious choice here. It’s also the cheapest equal in all of the boards that I looked at in this category this year.
This board was the one that surprised me the most out of all the boards I demoed this year.
Another great option is the YES Basic – same price ($399) and scored 82.0/100. Still above the average score and more than $100 cheaper than the average price.
The Best Cheap Aggressive All-Mountain-Freestyle Snowboard
Board: Capita Defenders of Awesome (DOA)
Price: $419
SnowboardingProfiles.com Rating Score: 90.9/100
| No. of all-mountain-freestyle snowboards looked at: | 16 |
| Cheapest Board I Looked at: | $419 |
| Average price of freestyle-all-mountain snowboards: | $530 |
| Average Rating Score: | 84.4/100 |
- See Full Review
Why this board was chosen
Another Capita selection – and another no-brainer. The DOA is more than $100 cheaper than the average priced board in this category – and was my #1 ranked Aggressive All-Mountain-Freestyle snowboard. So, of course, way above the average score.
The Lib Tech Hot Knife, YES Ghost and Ride Helix all deserve mention here too. All $31 less than the average price, but all above the average score.
The Best Cheap All-Mountain Snowboard
Board: YES Libre
Price: $369
SnowboardingProfiles.com Rating Score: 81.7/100
| No. of all-mountain snowboards looked at: | 27 |
| Cheapest Board I Looked at: | $299 |
| Average price of all-mountain snowboards: | $490 |
| Average Rating Score: | 80.9/100 |
Why this board was chosen
Now the most popular snowboard category – and the best value snowboard in this cateogory (in this humble author’s opinion) is the YES Libre.
This board is a huge $121 less than the average price – but it still scores more than the average score. If your budget is tight but you still want a quality all-mountain snowboard, this is the go-to, IMO.
Honorable mention to the Slash Brainstorm ($449 and 89.0/100), YES Typo ($449 and 87.2/100) and the Ride Wild Life ($429 and 82.9/100).
The Best Cheap Aggressive All-Mountain Snowboard
Board: Jones Explorer
Price: $449
SnowboardingProfiles.com Rating Score: 84.3/100
| No. of all-mountain snowboards looked at: | 14 |
| Cheapest Board I Looked at: | $449 |
| Average price of all-mountain snowboards: | $577 |
| Average Rating Score: | 82.5/100 |
Why this board was chosen
At a price over $100 cheaper than the average but with a score above the average, the Jones Explorer is the top choice for this category and the standout when it came to this category. It’s the cheapest I looked at in this category and was also 5th best.
There wasn’t much else in an category with a high average price – though the Ride Berzerker is another good cheaper option ($499 and 81.5/100).
The Best Cheap Freeride Snowboard
Board: Salomon Super8
Price: $449
SnowboardingProfiles.com Rating Score: 81.5/100
| No. of freeride snowboards looked at: | 20 |
| Cheapest Board I Looked at: | $379 |
| Average price of freeride snowboards: | $599 |
| Average Rating Score: | 82.1/100 |
Why this board was chosen
This board only scored around the average for freeride snowboards but it’s significantly cheaper than the average price – $150 less to be precise. If you’re on a budget that’s some serious coin to be saving. Especially for a board that is still of good quality that can do for you what you need it to.
In a pricey category such as this, the Super 8 was the standout. The Rossignol Krypto also deserves mention ($499 and 81.5/100).
The Best Cheap Beginner Snowboard
Board: Rossignol Circuit
Price: $299
SnowboardingProfiles.com Rating Score: 96/100
| No. of beginner snowboards looked at: | 47 |
| Cheapest Board I Looked at: | $299 |
| Average price of beginner snowboards: | $437 |
| Average Rating Score: | 85.7/100 |
Why this board was chosen
This was the cheapest equal board that I looked at – and it was the highest that I rated as of those costing this price.
Price is taken into account for the scores for beginner boards – so this is somewhat skewed in this case – but I still don’t think you’ll find a better beginner board for a better price without going into the budget brands and then you’ll be sacrificing on quality.
>>Check out more great Beginner Snowboard Options
Over to you
Thanks for reading and I hope this has helped you to find the right cheap snowboard for you.
Check out the links under each category for more on that snowboard.
Note that this post is for the 2017-18 season. For the latest season’s Top 7 Good Cheap Snowboards list, check out the link below.
The Top 7 Best Good Cheap Snowboards (Latest Season)
Recent Comments