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Gear Reviews, Snowboard Reviews 5

2018 Flow Blackout Snowboard Review

By Kevin Hub · On April 3, 2018

Board: Flow Blackout

Size: 159

Camber Option: Pop-Cam. Flat between the feet, camber under foot, and flat right before the up kick in the tips. This makes for the new version of traditional camber.

Bindings: Flux DS

Stance: 21 Wide 12 Negative 9 Goofy

Boots: DC Lynx 8.5

My Weight: 155lbs

Resort: A-Basin

Conditions: Late season heavy wet powder with snow falling periodically throughout the day.

Flex: Stiff! Stiff in the tips, stiff between the feet, and just a little bit stiffer under foot. Trying to twist the board was the same. Stiff! Did I mention it’s STIFF!

Stability: Oh yes. Feel nothing as you run it all over, but still be pretty lively. Its like a Cadillac ride with hyper-car performance. The stiffness plows through everything and the urethane keeps the vibrations from your feet. But since the urethane is doing all the dampening instead of the core, they can keep the board from feeling like just a thick piece of wood with no life.

Ollies: Man power. You’ll need it. It’s camber so you’ll have to load it and it’s stiff, so you’ll need muscles to do it. It’s not a super accessible snap, but when you do power into it, there is a hell of a lot of boost in there.

Pop On Jumps: This is where this board wants to be. It wants to go big on big jumps. If you aren’t watching yourself on smaller jumps you might just be landing in the flats.

Butterability: Hope you don’t skip leg day. Go fast, push hard. It’s not a very spreadable deck.

Jibbing: Slopestyle jibbing is about all you can get out of this. Nothing really very technical is likely. It’s just too stiff. Go fast, land, pop off.

Carving: You do have to work a bit to keep it engaged and to get everything started, but if you do it right you’ll have whatever kind of carve you want. It’s work to lay into the nipple dragging carve range with the stiffness, but still doable. It’s not a dead deck, so quick snappy carves are still great as it rides so smooth.

Rider in Mind: If you’ve ever complained that boards are just too soft nowadays and often reminisce of the manly boards or yesteryear, this is what to look at.

Personal Thoughts: It’s the spirit of an older bomber traditional camber send-it park deck, updated with newer tech. If you like to freeride on twins and still ride camber this will be right up your alley. It’s a lot of board but it does ride very well.

Check out the 2015 review of the Flow Blackout.

Comparable Boards: Capita DOA, Jones Mountain Twin, Interior Plain Project Honalee

Support your local snowboard shop buy locally. Find a shop here.

This board was loaned to us for review by Flow Snowboards marketing department.

*This board did not change for 2018 so we carried the 2017 review over.

2018 Flow Blackout Snowboard Review2018 snowboard reviewblackout snowboard reviewflow blackout snowboard reviewflow snowboard reviewsnowboard review

Kevin Hub

Nerds out harder on snowboard tech specs than you.

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5 Comments

  • Crusty says: April 3, 2018 at 1:14 pm

    Get that it’s stiff!!?
    Shape and flex pattern aside, how does stiffness compare to a Berzerker, Warpspeed, XV, or even an A-frame?
    Looking for a super fast and stable ride, preferably in a twin or directional twin shape.
    Something to slay hard groomers at speed, carve, launch a side hit or two, dip into the trees, and handle found pow all in the same run.

    Reply
    • Angrysnowboarder says: April 3, 2018 at 2:29 pm

      It’s probably closest to the Berzerker out of those 4 you have listed. It’s more like a Lib Hot Knife than anything really.

      Reply
  • Vadim says: October 1, 2018 at 12:29 pm

    Hi Angry, I am 185cm 85 kg and 9 feet! Will blackout 156 do the trick for me? Thanks!

    Reply
    • Angrysnowboarder says: October 1, 2018 at 12:49 pm

      Yes.

      Reply
  • Vadim says: October 1, 2018 at 1:34 pm

    Thanks a lot! I was kind of worried that it’d be a bit small and 159 would fit better.. my current board is 158. I ride mountains mostly in Alpes

    Reply
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