Arbor El Camino Review

In a wildly crowded field of all-mountain snowboards, the Arbor El Camino stands out for its beautiful performance on every slope, jump, cliff, and turn our team tested. The El Camino offers a balanced approach, making it a reliable choice for riders who are looking for a single board that can conquer it all. Its directional roots are hidden beneath a twin-looking snowboard that can ride switch nearly as well as regular. That versatility continues to apply when switching between different terrains. From carving groomers and slashing through pow, to airing jumps and spinning off of side hits, this model truly is a quiver killer.

Edging

Throughout the testing process, our team's experience on the El Camino's edges evolved through several different phases. From mediocre impressions at first to a final and triumphant “Heck YES”, we all ended up finding this board to be consistent, reliable, and super fun to carve, dip, and rip around the mountain.

This board is equipped with Arbor's signature Griptech, a series of four protruding edge bumps located at the tips of the toe and heel positions, providing an added contact point when turning. These ultimately create a more ergonomic, direct grip on the snow, allowing for longer, shallower contact zones, but only once our team got used to them. At first, they were a bit catchy and unforgiving when transitioning between turns or even from groomed to unmaintained runs. Still, after a few runs, it felt more consistent going from edge to edge.

In addition, this Arbor product comes in a directional shape with minimal taper, which also lends a more stable, consistent feel during large, sweeping carves. On the contrary, the El Camino's waist width is one of the smallest in our lineup at 7.8 meters, giving it a leg up when making tighter, smaller turns. Its torsional flex and minimum sidecut give this board a loose, free feel when handling quick, tight, and medium-radius turns, with superior control. Although this board does feel different at first, its responsiveness and playfulness when turning through a variety of terrain make it an excellent choice for carving connoisseurs.

Float in Powder

There are few things better than a deep powder day, and having a board that can effortlessly levitate and glide through snow can turn a good time into a great time. Fortunately, the Arbor El Camino again delivers stellar marks by providing a boatload of float.

Although this board looks like a twin shape, the hole pattern is set back by 5 centimeters, which immediately relieved our team's back legs when riding regularly. Also, to our lead tester's delight, once we began riding switch in deep snow, this model seemed to thrive just the same. Because of its minimal taper and parabolic camber, both the nose and the tail have a slower progression from the tip and tail to traditional camber. This design feature generates lift on regular and switch, making the El Camino the perfect board for any all-mountain freestyle rider.

As we approached flat sections and traverse lines where speed is crucial, the El Camino's sintered base came to the rescue, saving our team from having to unstrap and kick down the run. This model's wax job achieves some of the highest marks in industry standards by retaining wax longer and being faster than the more affordable extruded bases. This board has no gimmicks, wild profile contours, or even oddly shaped ends, making it playful, user-friendly, and impressively floaty when riding powder.

Stability at Speed

No matter your level of riding, from first-time boarder to long-time shredder, we can all end up in a speedy situation where having a stable snowboard underfoot can mean the difference between sheer panic and nervous excitement. The El Camino provides plenty of comfort and confidence when you start to push the speedometer.

The parabolic camber of this particularly stiff board is specific to Arbor snowboards. It uses a parabolic arc to gradually reduce the amount of traditional camber towards the tip and tail. This gives it a nearly traditional camber feel when riding at face-melting speeds and, in turn, creates stability and stiffness when flying down uneven, bumpy terrain. There are also double-carbon stringers on both edges of this snowboard, which not only make it more durable but also lighter than other models in Arbor's lineup. These create stiffness in flex and sturdiness when laying into the rail, qualities our testers appreciated as they approached terminal velocity. The El Camino's nimble nature is wrapped in 360-degree sidewalls, which reinforce the entire structure of the snowboard, further enhancing stability at speed and damping through rough chunder or icy chunks.

Playfulness

Although the El Camino is not our most playful board throughout the tested lineup, it still toes the line between a highly competent, luxuriously tuned product and simply a fun board to play around on. Its parabolic camber and core construction lend themselves to an excitable flex pattern with ferocious snap and pop, making all types of terrain and conditions more enjoyable.

The parabolic camber, which progressively loses camber toward the tip and tail, strikes an impressive balance between responsiveness and forgiveness. As each tip was flexed in, it became easier for our testers to max out the El Camino's butterability. In addition, the core is made with 80% paulownia and carbon stringers, which is the lightest core Arbor makes. Its flex pattern is fantastic at generating and releasing energy, and it actually lends itself to buttering if you're willing to lean into it. It's not necessarily easy to lift your foot and press like a softer, hybrid cambered board, but with moderate to firm pressure, the board will sit and hold butters well. The El Camino is a mid-stiff, tapered directional board built to hold up all over the mountain, but we wouldn't recommend it for the avid box rider or knuckle hucker.

Pop and Jumping

Those looking for airtime in many forms will find plenty of love for the El Camino. It delivers explosive pop and a sturdy base for those larger cliffs, cat tracks, and cheese wedges.

The core of paulownia, poplar, and carbon is where this thing gets so much snap off the lip, and as previously mentioned, is also the lightest they make at Arbor. Our testers continued to remark how high they could ollie with the El Camino, even on flat ground. Its nearly twin look means that the popping and landing switch has a natural feel despite its directional shape and a five-centimeter setback hole pattern.

The El Camino's pop isn't necessarily for beginners, and it takes a moment to harness this board's energy. It is, however, easy to load for intermediate and expert riders, prioritizing performance and versatility in large terrain. This board ultimately makes an excellent choice for riders who enjoy mixing freestyle elements into their all-mountain riding, allowing them to push their limits and explore new possibilities around every bend, drop, and sidehit.

Should You Buy the Arbor El Camino?

This board is downright fun to ride and has a magical feel, knowing it can handle every nook and cranny your local mountain has to offer. It is one of our team's favorite new models geared towards intermediate and expert freestyle riders. It toes a balance between a fun and beyond serious snowboard that you might end up reaching for on any given day, no matter the terrain type or conditions. The board's balanced performance profile means it can adapt to a range of different riding styles. Whether you're a soul carver, terrain park jumper, or gladed pow slasher, the El Camino is an all-around crowd pleaser.

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