Like all Never Summer boards, the Swift is built with durability in mind. The Swift utilizes the company's Fusion Camber; it has a more robust section of camber in the tail into the rocker in between the feet to a short section of mellower camber, which blends out to a long gradually rising nose. Blended camber profiles can be hard to visualize, so here is a picture from Never Summer's website.
Illustration of Never Summer's Fusion Rocker Camber. Taken from Never Summer's Website.
Photo: Laredo
Performance Comparison
The Swift thrives on the downhill.
Photo: Laredo
Firm Snow
The Swift didn't sacrifice its stability and edging prowess for the benefits in powder. The Cambered tip and tail provided ample edge hold and security when riding or traversing icy slopes. In corn snow, the board has a unique feel because of its Fusion profile.
Finding the surf style on the Swift.
Photo: Laredo
The Swift has a split personality based upon which section of the camber you decide to engage. When the nose section of the camber is engaged, it can make slashy and surfy. Surf styled cutbacks become easy. When the entire camber profile is engaged, the board thrives at making driven, and arching turns. The additional camber toward the tail accelerates the rider out of the turn. The flex pattern of the Swift encourages fun, playful, and powerful turns due to the blend of rocker and camber.
Powder
The Swift looks like it's made for powder. Flotation and maneuverability are the principal design priorities of this model. That way, you can enjoy the experience rather than being exhausted and frustrated by lunchtime.
When the board naturally floats you can enjoyably harvest powder at lower angles.
Photo: Laredo
The Swift provides effortless flotation and enjoyable maneuverability based on its shape and camber profile. The long nose works to float over the snow. While its nose is cambered, it never dove and was easy to keep above the snow. We attribute this to the rockered center profile and swallowtail inspired shape. The rockered profile makes the board easy to turn and maneuver in most snow depths and densities. The maneuverability in the turn adds to the fun value no matter what the terrain is. The crescent moon tail, coupled with a setback stance encourages natural flotation due to focused weight distribution toward the tail. The rider positioning increases the nimbleness of the board because there is less board resistance in the snow. The rider can quickly pivot the back foot to snap around turns and quickly change directions. If you love wiggling through the trees and navigating tight spaces, you'' appreciate the Never Summer Swift.
Climbing
Splitboards have a strong uphill focus in their design because of their usage patterns. The Swift climbs uphill and does it well when conditions are ideal, like soft cold snow on a low-angle track. When the up-track requires icy sidehilling, the rocker in the middle of the profile provided an added challenge.
The rocker in the middle of the Swift lifts the board's contact points up and limits surface area when climbing of side-hilling.
Photo: Laredo
The rocker in the middle lifts the camber contact points out of the snow, which minimizes two key drivers of uphill security. The first is minimized edge contact with side-hilling, which can result in slipping downhill. The second is minimized carpet contact, which can threaten tip to tail security, especially on steep slopes. This might not pose any issues for certain riders, but may for others, it might. It just takes more technique to find similar security on this plane as other models.
A pro to the rocker in the middle is trail-breaking efficacy. It lifts the nose to aid in breaking trail in fresh snow.
Binding Adjustment
The Swift uses the standard insert pattern. The contrast is a channel system where the pucks can slide.
Playfulness
The Swift is playful in its flex pattern and turning feel. Its medium flex makes the board user-friendly. It turns easily and has a playful and enjoyable in-turn experience. If you're looking to catch air, it provides adequate pop and offers great flotation for stomping airs in a nose forward stance.
The Swift provides a lively in turn experience.
Photo: Laredo
Value
The Swift is one of the highest-priced non-carbon splitboards on the market. The Swift provides an enjoyable downhill experience at a relatively heavy price. While we enjoyed this model, we found its price tag harder to justify based on its climbing ability in a steep or icy situation. When compared to the market, other boards exist that offer comparable downhill performance and improved uphill performance, all at a lower cost. While we like this board, better values are available on the market.
Phantom clips are a passive connection system which brings the Swifts two halves together.
Photo: Laredo
Conclusion
We like the Never Summer Swift for its downhill performance, and it provides fun and playful turns in both corn snow and powder. The uphill performance was hindered by the rocker because of the lack of surface contact on the carpet and on the edge when side-hilling. It can threaten most users who are looking for maximum grip, and it requires more technique. The Swift is ideal for splitboarders with good uphill technique looking for a playful and snowboard like ride that is capable on icy slopes.
Powder Awaits.
Photo: Laredo
