Burton High Fidelity Review

The Burton High Fidelity is our favorite all-mountain freeride powder board. The shape and directional camber help reduce back leg fatigue and help you stay on top of the deep stuff despite its narrow waist width. The narrow waist width can be a significant drawback for those looking to lay deep carves on the fresh corduroy as you will likely have toe and heel drag on deep turns. It's a great board for advanced and expert riders looking for incredible performance in deep snow and technical terrain.

Performance Comparison

Edging

The Burton High Fidelity is a predictable and easy-to-turn model that provides a strong on-edge experience with plenty of grip in firmer snow. The narrow waist width of this board makes it challenging to lay down deep turns and drag your gloves on the snow, as you'll likely have toe or heel drag on most sizes if you are above a US size 8.5 boot aside from the 158W.

The directional camber of the board provides a locked turning experience and great edge hold on firm snow. The early rise of the nose helps the board release from turns easily. The stiffer tail provides power out of the turn that advanced riders can begin to harness. The narrow waist width allows quick, easy, and responsive turn initiation across medium to small-radius turns. The rounded, egg-shaped tail helps slash out turns with moderate effort. We enjoyed this board's responsive, predictable, and versatile nature; however, our testers, who love carving, found the narrow waist width and amount of drag to take away from the overall experience. Those testers said they would want a wider board with less drag for those epic corduroy days.

Float in Powder

The High Fidelity was designed with powder in mind, and in our testing, the model shined in this element. Despite the narrow waist width, the board provided significant float, which stemmed from the 7mm taper, an elongated blunted nose, and a squashed egg-shaped tail coupled with a set back stance; the board rises and floats in the deep stuff to keep you on top.

The stiff flex pattern helps the board through takes-offs, landings, and chopping up powder as it pops, stomps, and charges through bumps in the snow. The EST channel gives quick and easy stance adjustments if you feel you need to set the stance back for even more float. This snowboard's shape draws on elements within the family tree line, a renowned freeride line of boards. The blunted nose increases the surface area to produce float and drive down the lower-volume egg-shaped tail. The board provides a lot of float at medium to high speeds, but we found a bit more fatigue at slower speeds due to the stiffness and waist width. Our test team avoided quite a few tomahawks that, on other models, may have ended up with a bit more snow in their goggles.

Stability at Speed

The High Fidelity thrives at speed and uneven snow surfaces to help you charge confidently along your favorite lines. The stiff, cambered profile is resistant to chatter and moves through chop easily.

Boy, this board is built for speed. Our confidence was high as we pointed it down groomers, chutes, and bumps. The Super Fly II™ 700G Core utilizes parallel and perpendicular woods to help increase the board's overall and torsional stiffness, contributing to its stable ride. We found the ride very stable in various terrain, conditions, and uneven snow surfaces. The directional camber provides hard-to-rival tip-to-tail stability due to the platform's long nose and stiffness. In packed powder, you can ride fast and absorb bumps while still being nimble enough to make micro-adjustments. The sintered WFO base is one of the fastest in the review. If speed is the name of your game, you won't be disappointed in the stability this model provides.

Playfulness

Not every day is a blower powder day where we demand the same stability required for Natural Selection. There are days when conditions warrant slashing around and blasting methods of side hits. The High Fidelity is surprisingly playful, given its design intention. The playfulness of the board generally comes from its responsive edging style and ability to pop off side hits.

The nimble, slashy, and responsive edging style of this board makes this board more playful across the mountain. We smiled as we did party waves with our friends, blasted methods, and slashed in the sun. The pop is perfect for side hits and other features around the mountain. The very stiff flex pattern limits the buttering potential on this board. It's not impossible to butter, but it takes excellent technique and stiffer boots to sit into the board's flex.

Pop and Jumping

If you have ever seen a method from Ben Ferguson you have seen the power of pop. While no board can make you do that, the High Fidelity is a step in that direction for advanced to expert riders. The pop is plentiful, and expert riders will be able to harvest its true potential. While this board didn't have the most pop in our review, it has enough for the most demanding riders to send jumps, cliffs, and side hits with the stability to be a reliable piece of landing gear.

The stiff camber profile with a shorter tail helps you gain leverage and maximize the pop that the unique core can produce. It's not as user-friendly to capitalize on the board's full potential, but it is not as challenging as other boards in the review. We found it appropriate for small side hits and large jumps. The profile and flex pattern provide a solid foundation to stomp the landings. Advanced and expert riders will find this board offers plenty of pop and stability for your freeride adventures.

Should You Buy the Burton High Fidelity?

The High Fidelity is a great board for advanced to expert riders seeking to push themselves in steep off-piste terrain, whether in powder, hard pack, or jumping cliffs.

What Other Snowboard Should You Consider?