Some might remember the Franken from Echelon. The Orion is its new name for 2014 with the same shape, flex, and camber profile. So with one of the poppiest bases for 2014 here’s what I had to say about this board from the still relatively new company of Echelon.
Board: Echelon Orion
Size: 154
Camber Option: Flatrise. Flat from insert pack to insert back with a bit of rise in the tips.
Bindings: Rome 390 Boss
Stance: 22.5 18 Negative 15 Goofy
Boots: K2 Thraxis Size 10
My Weight: 175lbs
Resort: Breckenridge
Conditions: A few inches of powder, blower winds, puking snow on the first day. Day two consisted of perfectly groomed park laps under sunny bluebird skies.
Flex: Softer in the tips and stiffening up under foot and through the middle. There is a bit of torsional give that adds to the playfulness.
Stability: It’s a Flatrise twin park board designed for getting stuntacular. Not exactly the most stable board out there especially when playing around in push mounds and chunder. You can feel a lot of the micro vibrations that come up through the base of the board.
Ollies: The board has snap which makes it nice when you’re mobbing rollers or just hitting lips to rails.
Pop On Jumps: You can definitely send a jump with ease on this thing. The Flatrise gives it a skate-styled pop off the lips.
Butterability: You can just spin around on this board on snow and not worry. The True3d base elevates the edge which makes catching incredibly hard. Adding to that is the flex pattern and camber profile which lend themselves to making this a fun play around stick.
Jibbing: The sweet spot in the tips is huge you can just lock in and feel the press all the way through. The True3d base makes sliding through kinks easier as you don’t have to catch. Although if you do get a little toe or heel heavy the board can slip out easier due to the base technology.
Carving: On soft snow you can just dig in and lay a trench. On firmer icier snow sometimes the board would kick out. I attribute this to the True3d. Over all it gets the job done but isn’t something to write home about.
Rider in Mind: The Flatrise loving park lover that sometimes ventures outside the park.
Personal Thoughts: Other than the name changing this board is still the same consistent deck I rode last year. The True3d base does take some time to get used to when you come off a flat based board but once you do it’s awesome for jibbing and avoiding edge catches.
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Disclaimer: This board was loaned to us for product review from Echelon Snowboards marketing department.
12 Comments
My favorite board from the echelon line up, right next to the Avenger.
How good is the Avenger as a free ride board?
Strictly freeride?
Yes. It’s for my brother in law. He rides moguls, trees, and groomers. I’d look at a different brand but he is in the military and my sister wants to use the discount. Which of the Echelon boards do you feel would be best? He currently rides a super old Burton Custom.
Well it wouldn’t be a first or second choice for a freeride board. But it’s doable. It is camber and has enough stiffness to charge with, but the whole company is freestyle oriented. Coming from an old Custom to the Avenger I think he might be happy.
We were kinda looking at the Ares, but it’s just a regular camber. And since he has a regular camber board already we thought it would be kinda pointless just to upgrade the same thing. Is that sound logic? Thanks for your help Angry!!
Dat board is the stuff
hey angry…need some tips on the echelon avenger:
1. Will you or are you planning on doing a echelon avenger review? Please do so because I am thinking of buying one and need some tips.
2. Whats the flex like? Middle of the road park? Soft in tips…stiff in center?
3. Whats your honest opinion of the True3D? I like to have some kind of “tech” in my board to keep it from catching an edge. I used to ride bataleon for that reason but I didn’t like the TBT that much and therefore am looking at getting a echelon for their true3D base.
Don’t really care for reverse camber or flat boards and echelon’s avenger caught my eye after riding a Signal Park for 1 season and “wanting” more tech in my board.
Thanks.
Chue,
The reason there’s not an Avenger review is because the samples they had came out wrong and didn’t have camber in them. So unfortunately they weren’t able to get me a properly pressed one in time for reviews. Since then it’s been fixed
I’m a fan of True3d and 3Dlite it gives you that added bonus of not having to worry about your edges when you go through a kink.
The flex on it is a little playful in the tips, stiffening up underfoot, then a little softer between the feet.
Bought an Orion online yesterday.
Was looking at your reviews for the Franken and the Orion. Are these the same board, just different graphics? Reading both reviews side by side, it seemed like there were some slight differences. For example, Stability and Rider in Mind. Did I read right?
BTW, I did one season on an Omatic Celebrity. So I understand (and like) the characteristics of BS/3D technology.
There were minor tweaks between the seasons, but it’s essentially the same board.