Jones Snowboard Ultralight Stratos Review

The Jones Ultralight Stratos utilizes much of Jones' most modern tech and design features. It has 3D spoon profiling in the nose and tail, traction tech on both the inside and outside edges, and is built with their premium ultralight construction. The ultralight construction comes at a premium and significantly reduces weight over the regular construction, but much of what we say in this review can be extrapolated to their regular Stratos construction if you are looking to spend less money. The regular version has the same 3D profiling, traction tech, and shape as the ultralight, but comes in at a heavier weight and with more forgiving flex.

Powder

The Ultralight Stratos is fun and capable in powder, while it is not a super floaty shape, we rather enjoyed the turns we had on this board in soft snow conditions. We wouldn't normally seek out a board like the Stratos, with its shorter nose length, longer tail, and narrow width, for our powder exploits, but the 3D Spoon Tech in the nose and the 10mm of taper made this board quite an enjoyable ride. The narrower tail and unique half-moon swallowtail shape did a good job at helping the nose ride up, and tail sink in soft snow. We found we could make turns off our front foot in powder with the Stratos, but it does prefer a more centered stance. Regardless, back leg fatigue was not much of an issue on this board, and we would happily ride it all day.

The Ultralight Stratos has a fun character in powder, as it really seems to favor fast and snappy turns. Riders who enjoy making last-minute decisions after catching a windlip or side hit out of the corner of their eye will really enjoy the Stratos as a powder board. Jeremy Jones describes the board as a “serpent,” and we would agree with this statement. The poppy flex off the tail of the board encourages you to air off sidehits, but its shorter nose does require a bit more of a centered to backseat landing gear to not go over the handlebars in powder. Overall, riders who like a quick turning style or take a freestyle approach to powder riding will likely have a good time on this board.

Firm Snow

One of our favorite snow conditions to pull the Stratos off the rack for was firm snow. Windboard, corn, and even icy snow hardly stood a chance if we had the Stratos under our feet. In general, we have found Jones boards to be quite damp during testing, and the Stratos is no exception. This board eats up chatter and microbumps, which is really one of your first lines of defense for not losing an edge in firm snow. Beyond the dampness, the Stratos has a narrower waist width, which allows you to direct more pressure to the edge of the board, and it features Jones Traction Tech. The traction tech essentially builds in extra contact points to the edge of the snowboard, increasing its purchase on firm snow. In our side-by-side testing, we find this technology has a noticeable advantage over regular edges.

In general, the firm snow performance of the Stratos made those days in between storms far more enjoyable, and we ended up taking more laps on the bad days than we usually would without this board. If you enjoy turning tracked-out tree runs and mogul fields into a sort of on-mountain skate park at the ski area, we found the Stratos gave us that same feeling on tracked-out backcountry runs. This was a great benefit mid-season, but when the time came for steeper descents later in the season, we still found the Stratos' edge hold to be a valuable asset in firm couloirs and tracked out chutes. Our lead tester noted that the Stratos was quickly becoming his go-to board for technical descents in Rocky Mountain National Park.

Variable Snow

In chopped up snow, we found the Stratos to be a pretty fun ride, as its quick maneuverability allowed us to easily turn around bumps and weave through funky snow. If the snow was crusty, though, we were a bit less psyched to be on the Stratos. In general, the Stratos does a pretty good job in crust, enough for us to happily call it a quiver of one snowboard, but it is more work than other boards in these conditions. The primary shortcomings of the Stratos in the crust were its longer tail and narrower waist width. Narrow waist width is a bit subjective, and dependent on boot size, but we generally find that wider boards with less tail and more nose are easier to cruise through crusts with, whereas the Stratos can feel catchy at times. We wouldn't call it unpredictable, but you do get hung up on.

The Stratos is a good board for the reality of most backcountry riding: crusts are dealt with rather than sought out. This board deals with crusts and gets you out of there, and that's a good thing. It is not going to be the board that magically makes crust feel like powder, but it's capable. The good news is that in any other form of variable snow we came across, we found the Stratos allowed us to ride it without thinking about the board that was on our feet, which is a great quality to have.

Stability

We often find that boards that are turny and maneuverable tend to sacrifice stability at speed, but the Stratos feels pretty solid if you like to let it rip every now and then. The Stratos definitely prefers a more turny riding style, but you can make those turns at pretty high speeds, and if you want to straightline a section here or there, the board will stay with you. One of our testers noted, “the Stratos feels like a race board at heart,” and that makes sense given the solid version has been seen on the feet of some of the fastest banked slalom racers in snowboarding. Our lead tester made a specific note of a time he straightlined a short face on the Stratos, into a recently deposited pile of avalanche debris at the bottom, and was quite surprised by how composed the board felt in that dicey situation.

Flex-wise, the Stratos is listed as a “happy medium” flex on Jones' website (3 out of 5), but we feel it's a bit closer to the Medium-stiff (4 out of 5) side of the spectrum. This stiffer flex helps the board feel more composed at speed and keeps us feeling upright if we are really cutting loose out there. Overall, we're not sure we would say the Stratos is the straightliner's dream board, but it's definitely stable enough for most riders and a lot of fun for those who like high-speed turning.

Maneuverability

As we've been alluding to throughout this review, the Stratos is a highly maneuverable splitboard. In powder the 3D nose and the tapered shape make it quick and easy to ride in the tightest of trees, in firm snow the narrow waist width makes it quick and lively edge to edge so you can keep having fun days after the last storm. For riders who enjoy fast and short turns, the Stratos should be near the top of their list.

The Stratos has a pretty even flex from tip to tail, but torsionally, it has just enough forgiveness to make it easy to foot steer. If you're riding at slower speeds, this makes the board easy to control and fun for surfy turns, and it keeps things predictable on those sketchy luge track exits at the end of the day. For newer splitboards, we think a board like the Stratos is a great choice as you build your skillset for handling backcountry snow conditions.

Uphill Performance

The Ultralight Stratos is one of the best climbers in our test. Its ultralight construction and narrow waist width will make you consider entering the skimo circuit and shaking things up. To help with weight, all of Jones' ultralight series boards feature a white topsheet, which helps reduce snow sticking so you don't have to carry it uphill. The sidecut edge features Jones traction tech, but so does their inside edge. While we initially thought this might be a bit gimmicky, we found it offered significantly increased edge hold. For taking laps all day when the snow is dumping or for long days on big objectives, this board makes life pretty easy.

Should You Buy the Jones Ultralight Stratos?

The Jones Ultralight Stratos is a premium splitboard that carries a premium price tag. While most carbon splitboards are pricey, the Jones' ultralight series is significantly more expensive than the rest of the market. We think this board's performance, both up and down, may just warrant that price tag for the right user. If you don't want to pay that premium, Jones offers the Stratos in their standard construction at a more common market price. We imagine that board offers all the same downhill benefits, with a slightly higher uphill cost. We think the Jones Ultralight Stratos is one of the most predictable and agreeable splitboards on the market. If you're new to splitboarding, this board is an excellent option for making life easier as you learn how to take your skills from the resort to the backcountry. If you're more experienced, the Stratos is a lightweight, predictable, and capable board for any riding you may encounter.

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