YES Emoticon Snowboard Review

The Emoticon is great for anyone looking for a playful, buttery, easy going, easy to ride, super nimble at slow speeds, all-mountain-freestyle board.  

It's also great for beginners, and ideal for that high end beginner approaching intermediate, that wants a board to last a long time with them as they progress. 

Not a bomber, or anything that you'd take into the backcountry - but otherwise very versatile. 

Bindings angles: +15/-12

Stance width: 515mm (20.3″)

Stance Setback: Centered

Width at Inserts: 247mm (9.72") 

Weight: 2480g (5lbs, 7oz)

Weight per cm: 16.64g/cm

Average Weight per cm: 16.48 grams/cm*

*based on a very small sample size of 8 women's boards that I've weighed. 

Ash described the board as feeling light on snow. Some boards weigh in light but feel heavier on snow or visa-versa. 

Rider Height: 5"6" (168cm)

Rider Weight: 130lbs (59kg)

Rider Boot Size: Women's US8.5 Ride Hera

Bindings Used: NOW Vetta, Small 

Flex

In hand it felt significantly softer than the 2 Jones boards that were tested against it (Twin Sister & Dream Catcher). 

Ash said it felt considerably softer on snow than the two Jones and even a little softer vs her board (GNU Gloss), certainly in the nose and tail - but maybe a little stiffer than the Gloss in the center of the board. 

Powder

Didn't get any on the day - but based on my experience with the YES Basic (men's equivalent of this board) and the specs, it's not a great board for powder. Fine in shallow powder though, but when it gets deeper, then quite easy to sink the nose. 

Carving & Turning

Carving: Feels nice on a carve at slower speeds, but gets a bit wobbly when carving faster - not one for aggressive carves. 

Maneuverability at slow speeds: Super nimble at slow speeds. Really fast edge-to-edge. 

Overall edge-to-edge speeds: Gets wobbly as you ride it faster and turning at high speeds isn't ideal, but overall at slow to medium speeds, super nimble edge to edge. 

Skids: Really easy to initiate turns on and forgiving of skidded turns. 

Speed

Not that stable at speed - can handle speed to an extent but then gets wobbly. 

Uneven Terrain

Nice and nimble for getting around bumps, and has enough flex to absorb going over - but not that damp, so you feel the bumps as you go over. And you feel it when you're in crud too. 

Let’s Break up this text with a Video

Jumps

Overall, almost ideal for smaller jumps, but not as suitable for large jumps.  

Pop: Good pop (without being epic) and super easy to access that pop. 

Approach: Good approach for smaller jumps and trickier approaches for side hits, but not stable enough at speed to be ideal for bigger jumps. 

Landing: Good solid landing off smaller jumps - but not ideal for larger jumps. 

Side-hits: Really really good - nimble for tricky approaches, good easily accessed pop and great to spin. Maybe not if you're hitting massive natural hits, but your typical side-his on groomers, it's pretty much ideal.  

Small jumps: Almost perfect. 

Big jumps: Not stable enough on approach and landing to be ideal. 

Switch

Almost perfect. The same going both ways essentially. Only thing that would improve it, is asymmetry. 

Spins

For small air spins, the Emoticon is pretty much perfect - easy access pop, great for landing and taking off switch and feels light to get the spin around. For big tricks it's not as good, but for most it will be a great spinner. 

Jibbing

Great for jibs too. It's one of those boards that would rate really well purely as a park board - and that would have been just as appropriate a category for this board. 

Butters

This is about as good for buttering as they come. Super buttery and super easy to butter on. 

Overall the Emoticon is a really easy going, super nimble at slow speeds, great for spinning, super buttery, playful all-mountain-freestyle board that could just as easily be categorized as a straight up park board. 

Not one for bombing or super-aggressive carves, but great for regular turns and awesome for small jumps and side hits, with really easily accessible pop (i.e. don't have to wind up to extract it).