About this Review: This review is my honest opinion of the snowboard, which I tested for two days in 2022.

My take

The Arbor Draft Camber Snowboard is a standout performer for park riding with a focus on jibbing and hitting rails. It is great for anyone, from a rider looking to progress their parking, to a seasoned park rider looking for a softer deck, to even an entry-level rider looking to get into snowboarding.

About the gear I demoed

• Model: 2023 Arbor Draft Camber
• Size: 153

About me

• Height: 5’8”
• Weight: 160lbs
• Experience: 20 years of snowboarding

Test conditions

• When I demoed these: February 2022
• Days tested: 2 days (2/7/22, 11/16/22)
• Mount position: Goofy, 21in wide, 12/-6
• Boots: 2020 Rome Libertine
• Boot Size: 8
• Bindings: 2023 Arbor Hemlock
• Where I’ve used it: Loveland, Colorado
• Terrain: I rode the Draft in both mid-season conditions at Loveland as well as early season. I was able to get a little bit of park riding in with some small side hit features and rails.

How it performs

What I was looking for

I spent quite a lot of my early days snowboarding riding nothing but park. I grew up emulating riders like Jon Kooley, Nima Jalali, Darrell Mathes, and Jordan Mendenhall. So I always make time to get on softer park boards, as they are just too much turning the mountain into a skatepark.

Why I chose this gear

I chose this gear to try it out as a demo product.

I have always been more of a fan of camber when it comes to softer park boards, and I have always had a great experience with the way Arbor boards tend to snap and pop for hitting the park. When they added a camber version of the Draft, I knew I had to get on one. I would compare it to boards like the Rome Artifact, Salomon Sleepwalker, and K2 Geometric.

What I love about it

• Edge hold: This snowboard is not usually where one looks to for a soft twin. But the Draft’s combination of camber and Arbor’s Griptech sidecut really makes this a standout attribute of the board. Now, boards built more around an all-mountain style will pretty much always grip better through a turn than the Draft. But within the softer twin category, this board has more grip than most of anything else out there.
• Turns: Similar to the edge hold properties, this board excels in its category in how it turns. The camber profile and dialed sidecut are great for short quick snappy turns and medium, more driven turns. Long, fast, and big arcing turns are more of a chore as the board starts to have a little trouble holding its line when driven hard at higher speeds.
• Groomers: The Draft handles manicured snow like a dream. It sees the whole space as a playground for buttering and jibbing. Keep the speeds in check, and the board will stay put and composed and produce good times.
• Park: Park is what the Draft was built for. Small to medium jumps are where it excels, and I found it comfortable on anything up to about 30 feet. Anything beyond that is doable, but if I didn’t land bolts, then not washing out was all up to my own leg power. Jibbing is definitely its forte, and this is where it truly excels. It wraps a rail really well in a boardslide without folding and cradles the feature really nicely. Pressing takes a little bit more precision since it is camber, but that precision is rewarded with a really stable lock point in the press and great snap off of the feature. Arbor utilizes what they call System Camber in the Draft, where along with the grip tech sidecut, they lift the contact points a little bit. I found that with the Draft that meant I could fudge around any less-than-perfect landing in the park without feeling like I would catch. Just that little bit of insurance in an off-center landing to keep me upright and headed to the next feature.
• Durability: While I did spend a significant amount of time on the board myself, it is a demo product. By the end of the November date, it had been ridden by a slew of different riders who were all out there to test the capability of the board. Demos have a hard life, and the Draft was showing no significant damage and even less than expected for the life it’s had.
• Switch riding: Being a twin board in shape and flex, there was no difference in feel between riding my natural stance and riding switch.
• Stability: With the fenders at the contact points, camber, and the softer flex, it is a buttering dream. It does take more skill and precision than something with rocker to it, but the benefit is more control and more snap out of the press. The snap out of the board responds more to a skate-style quick pop than a fully loaded pop. If I would put my full effort into center flexing the board to snap it, it would pop, but nothing that really blew me away. The quick snap out of the tail is where this one lives and excels. I never had any doubts about getting up and onto any feature I came to, and it had a really fun snap off of side hits.

Issues I’ve encountered

• Speed: For a softer, more jib-oriented board, it does well, but it is not built for high speeds. The softer flex makes the board very lively and it is a lot of work to keep the board composed at high speeds.
• Powder: I have spent a lot of time slamming bindings back on jib boards to ride deep snow. It is not ideal. While the tip shape should do okay in deep snow, the flex, twin shape, and camber of the board do not point it toward being a top performer in deep snow.
• Trees: In firmer conditions, the softer flex does make the Draft easy to get in and out of turns, which results in a ride that is easy to control in tighter conditions. The softer flex felt like it gave the board a speed limit, especially in the trees, and the twin shape made it work better if there was fresh snow.
• Backcountry: Similar to the deep snow characteristics, this board is just not built for riding steep and deep terrain. The twin shape and soft flex are not what I look for in a board to ride steeper terrain.
• Weight: While not lightweight, it’s not really heavy either. I would put it in the middle of the category for weight, but weight is not really a benefit of the Draft.

Favorite moment with this gear

As mentioned earlier, I spent a lot of time in my younger days as a jib rat. I have since transitioned to more of a cruising surf-style carver, but enjoy getting into the park here and there. A favorite trick used to be nosepress backside 180 out, with the lock and press of this Draft, I did a trick I hadn't done in years: a nosepress backside 360 out. The stability of the lock point outside the foot and the level of snap off the feature were really confidence-inspiring and just felt really good to be on.

Value for the money vs. other options

There are a few boards in this category that are a little bit cheaper, but one of the benefits of the Draft is the base. Most boards in this category come with a lower-end extruded base. The sintered base on the Draft is a little harder and makes the board that much more durable. I would put the Draft up to the Rome Artifact, Salomon Sleepwalker, and K2 Geometric. Compared to the Artifact, its tips are a little easier to press into, it has better snap than the Sleepwalker, and it has better edge hold and better off jumps than the Geometric.

Final verdict

The Arbor Draft Camber Snowboard is a top performer for someone looking for a board that will turn the whole mountain into a skatepark, be a killer on rails, and still be able to throw down a turn here and there on the way to the park.