The Never Summer Proto Slinger is a great board for the park rider who wants an easy-riding snowboard that can also carve well outside of the park.
This is an asymmetrical twin freestyle snowboard with a centered stance and a very pressable four out of 10 flex rating. The Never Summer Proto Slinger’s highlights are its soft, pressable flex, easy-riding rocker profile, grippy edge hold, explosive pop, and smooth, higher-end feel.
If you’re looking for a board that can butter and press just as well as it can carve, this is that board.
Never Summer Proto Slinger 2025
Summary of the Never Summer Proto Slinger Review
Board Reviewed: 153 Never Summer Proto Slinger 2025
Price of Board: $519.99
How the Price Compares to Others:
The Never Summer Proto Slinger costs -$6.60 less than the average snowboard price of $526.59.
Our Rating Score: 4.3275 out of 5
How the Never Summer Proto Slinger Ranks Against Others:
The Never Summer Proto Slinger ranks 13th out of the 32 boards we reviewed in the park category.
I really enjoyed riding this board in a park with small to medium sized features. I found it to be very easy to ride. It steers directly underfoot and can make a turn on a dime. It’s the type of park board that boosts your confidence a little just by how simple it is to ride, and that makes you want to push your limits so you progress your riding a little faster.
It’s very pressable on rail features while still offering enough pop to clear the knuckles of most medium sized jumps.
To me, this board felt a lot like a higher-end, faster GNU Money. Both boards are grippy, have rocker profiles between the feet, and steer in similar ways. The main differences are that the Proto Slinger is faster and has a more high-end, smoother riding feel.
If you’re looking for a higher end freestyle board that is very easy to ride, can carve well, and is ridiculously playful for presses and butters, the Never Summer Proto Slinger is one to check out.
Pros of the Never Summer Proto Slinger
- Easy to ride
- Locks into carves nicely
- Easily pressable for jibs
- Decent boost of pop for hitting jumps
- Damp, Smooth Riding Feel
- Made in the USA / 3 year Warranty
- Textured topsheet / No stomp pad needed
Cons of the Never Summer Proto Slinger
- It’s on the pricey side.
- Takes some getting used to if you’re coming from a traditional camber board.
My Rating of the Never Summer Proto Slinger
The Proto Slinger was rated on our All Mountain Freestyle scoring system. This rating scale prioritizes carving and versatility, along with park performance. The weighting column of the score will give you an idea of how much each consideration contributed to the overall score.
| Considerations | Rating Out 5 | Score Out of 100 | Weight / Importance to Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pop / Power | 4.50 | 90 | 10 |
| Carving / Turns | 4.25 | 85 | 10 |
| Speed | 3.75 | 75 | 10 |
| Ice / Poor Conditions | 4.50 | 90 | 10 |
| Switch | 4.50 | 90 | 10 |
| Jumps | 5.00 | 100 | 10 |
| Dampness | 3.75 | 75 | 10 |
| Fun to ride | 5.00 | 100 | 10 |
| Resort Riding / Versatility | 3.50 | 70 | 5 |
| Responsiveness | 4.00 | 80 | 5 |
| Jibs | 4.50 | 90 | 5 |
| Powder | 3.75 | 75 | 3 |
| Buttering | 4.50 | 90 | 2 |
| Weighted Score | 4.33 | 86.55 | 100 |
Our Rating: 
86.55 out of a possible 100 or 4.33 out of a possible 5 review score for the Never Summer Proto Slinger Snowboard.
Who is the Never Summer Proto Slinger the Right Board For?
This board is for the park focused rider who is looking for an easy riding board that can jib, butter, and jump well, all while still being able to carve well outside of the park.
Features That Make it So Simple to Ride
There are two features in the Proto Slinger that make it ridiculously simple to ride. These features will help to give this board its ability to feel locked in while being very simple to ride:
The Asymmetrical Shape
The Proto Slinger has a unique true twin shape with an asymmetrical where the heelside’s sidecut has a shorter and deeper radius than the board’s toeside sidecut.
Here’s a diagram of what the asymmetrical shape looks like.
So what’s the benefit of an asym sidecut in a park board?
The main benefit is that it makes the board easier to carve than the standard symmetrical twin shaped board.
Asymmetrical boards are made specifically to compensate for the natural asymmetry of the human body. Most of us tend to have more ankle strength and control on our toeside turns than with our heelside turns. The Proto Slinger solves this issue by having a shorter and deeper sidecut under the heelside edge. This makes it easier to engage the edge and initiate turns from edge to edge. The shorter heelside edge can help you carve deeper turns and improve your overall riding experience.
For park riding, the asymmetrical shape makes it also easier to get the perfect set up carve for your spins while making it feel a little easier to dig your edge in as you land so you can ride away clean.
Rocker Camber Profile
The Proto Slinger features Never Summer’s hybrid Rocker Camber profile (previously called Never Summer’s Shock Wave Camber). This profile features a short rocker section between the feet and large camber zones right under your feet. The combination of both rocker and camber profiles in the board gives it both the easy to ride benefits of a rocker board with the power, pop, and precision of a camber board.
The end result is a board that is easy to carve with, offering the float and skate-like feel of a rocker board, combined with the responsiveness and pop of a camber board
Here is a diagram that gives you an idea of what the Proto Slinger’s Rocker Camber profile looks like.
Sizes Available
This board is available in 149cm, 153cm, 156cm, 154X (Wide), and 157X (Wide).
For this review, I rode the 153cm.
Actual Feel of the Flex Rating
Never Summer’s flex rating of a 4 out of 10 feels accurate for this board. Both the longitudinal and torsional flex are about the same.
One important note regarding the flex is that the center of the board between your feet is softer than the nose and tail by about 1.5 flex rating points.
This makes the board feel a little more stable for balancing on nose and tail presses.
Photos From the Never Summer Proto Slinger Review
Category Performance Notes for the Proto Slinger
All-Mountain Riding
The Proto Slinger is a true all-mountain freestyle weapon. It’s the kind of versatile board that will excel in the park equally, and it carves on groomers. So, if you’re looking to press and butter and still need a board that holds an edge on ice, this board will come through for you.
This board offers a unique ability to be both playful and grippy when you need it to be. If feels stable underfoot for carving while the profile gives it a skate-like feel that also helps the board float. If you’re looking for a twin board that can do it all, from park laps to big mountain adventures, the Proto Slinger is a solid choice.
Jumping
This is a board built for getting you in the air while having features that make landing and spinning feel a bit easier.
Carbon for Extra Pop
This board has a noticeable extra boost of pop for hitting jumps because Never Summer added two carbon v-shaped stringers into the nose and tail. Here’s a diagram of what the carbon profile in the board looks like.
The light blue V shapes are what Never Summer calls its Carbon vxr laminate technology. This gives the board an extra level of springiness to its pop. I found it offered more pop than the typical rocker board without really needing to load it up to launch you.
Landing Spins Felt Easier
This board has some dampening built into it that made it feel like it absorbed more impact than the standard park board. This helped the overall ride feel a bit smoother and made landings feel a little softer when conditions began to ice up.
This next note is probably personal preference, but I found that the asymmetrical edge helped me land spins a little cleaner too. I have a tendency to washout or revert my frontside spins and the asymmetrical edge seemed to make it feel more natural to dig the longer toeside edge in so I could ride away clean.
Jibbing
This is where this board really shines.
Overall, this is an easy board to balance jibs on. It didn’t feel like it over flexed when I tried to boardslide, and it made balancing on features feel a bit easier.
Easiest Board to Nose Press
Id consider this the type of jib board that can easily get a very tall nose press without needing to put a lot of effort into it. What is best about that is that while the board is so easily pressable, it doesn’t sacrifice performance for jumping or carving.
The ability to really press this board comes from its construction. The center of the Proto Slinger’s core was designed to be more flexible than the nose and tail of the board. The constructions flex pairs well with the shape of the rocker profile where all you need to do is lean forward slightly and you’re holding a nose press.
One foot Jibs
One neat feature with the Proto Slinger is that the topsheet has a grippy texture to it, so if you wanted to hit features one footed, you would have an easier time doing that with this board than most other park boards.
This also was useful when getting on and off the lift.
Buttering
Buttering with this board is incredibly simple.
The softer flex and rocker camber profile make it as simple as pressing down and keeping your weight uphill as you spin around. The contact points remained out of the way, and there were no issues.
Powder
While the Proto Slinger isn’t a powder-focused board, it still floats well enough to hold its own during the deeper park days.
The Proto Slinger’s main feature for powder is in its hybrid rocker profile that works to continually keep the nose of the board up and out of the snow, allowing it to float better than a camber park board.
When I rode the Proto Slinger there were six inches of fresh powder in the morning, and the board had no issues floating through the softer snow. With that said, it’s still a twin park board with a centered stance, so it has its limits when it comes to powder. If you are riding in deep snow often, I suggest a more directional powder-specific board over this one like the Never Summer Valhalla snowboard.
Carving
I was impressed by how well the Proto Slinger carves, especially given its softer flexing park board. The board has an easy turn initiation that feels like it rolls from edge to edge effortlessly. It also has a very locked-in feel in icier conditions thanks to its Power Grip Sidecut. All in all, it’s a park board that also carves well, regardless of conditions.
Tighter Turns With Nimble Steering Underfoot
In terms of the types of turns this board makes, it works best for shorter, tighter, and medium turns. The board’s nimble steering can be engaged directly underfoot, which makes it very easy for you to change direction quickly when you need to on a dime. For park riding, the nimble steering is incredibly useful because if someone falls on a feature in front of you, you can simply swerve out of the way.
This board isn’t designed for aggressive carving, so it’s not the best choice for digging trenches with wide turns. If you’re looking for a Never Summer Proto board that’s better suited for aggressive carving, check out the Never Summer Proto Ultra.
The Edge Hold’s Grip
The Never Summer Proto Slinger offers a ton of grip while you carve.
Never Summer gave this board its Power grip sidecut. Here’s a diagram of what it looks like.
Notice how there are several angles designed into the edge of the board? The sections where those varying angles meet give the board 5 extra contact points that work to more firmly grip ice and harder packed snow.
For me, living on the icy East Coast, this was such a nice feature. Whenever I turned, I felt secure, stable, and confident, no matter how slick the conditions were.
Learn Curve of 3 to 4 Runs
It’s worth noting that I had a bit of a learning curve with this board.
I’m used to riding fully symmetrical camber boards, so the asymmetrical shape and rocker profile between my feet took some getting used to. There were a few times when I didn’t have the pressure on my edge quite right, and I slipped out of my turns.
After 3 or 4 runs, I got the hang of it and began to appreciate the feel of the ride. The Proto Slinger has the unique ability to feel skate-like and playful while still feeling very stable underfoot.
Once I got used to riding it, I started to appreciate that it’s a park board you can confidently push harder when linking turns.
Speed & the Base
The speed of the base felt above average to me. It wasn’t by a lot, though. It was more than enough to get from feature to feature in the park and casually cruise outside of the park.
Review Wrap-Up: Is the Never Summer Proto Slinger Worth It?
It depends on what you’re looking for in your next park board. If craftsmanship, quality, durability, and speed are important to you, then yes, the Proto Slinger is a worthwhile investment. However, if you’re simply interested in finding a board that can press, butter, and balance on a rail, there are a few less expensive park boards I’d guide you toward. Check out my list of award-winning park boards to see which one I recommend. While those boards may not feel as great underfoot while carving, they can still get the job done quite well in the park.
To wrap this up, the Never Summer Proto Slinger is an excellent board for intermediate to advanced park riders who want to get something that’s in the upper echelon of the park board category. It’s great for presses, butters, and jumps, and it can also hold its own on the groomers outside of the park.
So, if you’re ready to drop a bit more cash for a board that’s built to last and feels great underfoot, the Never Summer Proto Slinger is totally worth it.
Specs of the Proto Slinger
| Size (cm) | Effective Edge (mm) | Tip Width (mm) | Waist Width (mm) | Tail Width (mm) | Sidecut Radius (m) | Rider Weight Range (lbs) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 149 | 1130 | 292 | 247 | 292 | 7.35/6.57 | 100 – 150 |
| 153 | 1170 | 295 | 250 | 295 | 7.83/7.01 | 120 – 160 |
| 154 Wide | 1170 | 303 | 258 | 303 | 7.86/7.03 | 120 – 180 |
| 156 | 1190 | 298 | 253 | 298 | 8.18/7.36 | 140 – 200 |
| 157 Wide | 1200 | 307 | 262 | 307 | 8.23/7.37 | 140 – 200 |
Comparisons to Other Boards
Here is how the Never Summer Proto Slinger compares to a few other similar boards.
Proto Slinger Vs. Proto Synthesis Vs. Proto Ultra
I see the Proto line like this:
- Playful park riding: Go with the Proto Slinger.
- Happy medium for all-mountain and park: Go with the Proto Synthesis.
- Aggressive all-mountain charger: Go with the Proto Ultra.
Never Summer Proto Slinger Vs. Never Summer Easy
I see the comparison to the Never Summer Easy Rider like this:
- Both are so simple to steer and offer some grip for ice.
- Park riding: Go with the Proto Slinger.
- Happy medium for all-mountain and park: Either work, but go with the Easy Rider for a more all-mountain versatile feel. It’s a little stiffer and offers some more stability for carving.
The Never Summer Proto Slinger vs. the GNU Money
While the board profiles are slightly different, the GNU Money is the closest feeling non-Never Summer board I’ve found to the Proto Slinger.
Here’s a look at the Never Summer Proto Slinger’s Rocker Profile Compared to the GNU Money’s profile.
The main differences in the profiles is in the Proto Slingers transitional zones before it’s camber sections under your feet. These transitions help make the board
Overall, both boards feel very similar underfoot and share many of the same characteristics that make them feel close to one another.
Both boards are easy to steer, offer an extra level of grip as you carve, and have a similar flex pattern, allowing them to press on park features in a very similar feeling way.
Here are a few distinguishing features that will help you decide which of these two boards you should go with.
Reasons to Get the Never Summer Proto Slinger over the GNU Money
- It’s Higher End Feel – The Never Summer Proto Slinger feels faster, damper, and was easier to carve with.
- Its Pop – The Never Summer Proto Slinger had noticeably more pop off jumps.
- It’s Easier to Ride – The Never Summer Proto Slinger has an asymmetrical heelside edge making it the easier board to link your turns with, so you can charge on this board a little more aggressively.
Reasons to Get the GNU Money Over the Never Summer Proto Slinger
- It’s Better on Ice – The GNU Head Money had the better edge hold in icy conditions. Both boards grip well to ice, the GNU was a hair better with its Magne Traction edges vs Never Summer’s power grip sidecut.
- It’s Cheaper – The GNU Money is $200 cheaper than the Proto Slinger (the Money’s base isn’t the fastest).
Altogether, the Proto Slinger is the easier to ride, faster, and higher end feeling board, but that comes with a higher “you get what you pay for” type of price tag.
Bindings to Pair With the Never Summer Proto Slinger
I rode this board with Union Ultra bindings. The flex of the binding paired well with the flex of the board.
Where to Buy the Never Summer Proto Slinger
You can get the Never Summer Proto Slinger at these retailers.
About the Reviewer
Rider Name: Steve Weber
Field Test Notes: I rode the 153 2025 Never Summer Proto Slinger at the EWSRA on snow demo in Stratton VT on January 31st 2024.
Rider Experience Level: Intermediate to advanced – I’ve been riding for over 15 years. However, I lean more freestyle than freeride (I prefer hitting jumps and rails over making the perfect turn) .
Rider’s Preferred Terrain: The park with small to medium sized features
Size / Model: The board I reviewed was a 2025 Never Summer Proto Slinger in the 153cm size.
Bindings Used: The 2024 Union Ultra
Rider Weight: 142lbs
Rider Age: 41
Why Trust This Review?
With over 15 years of park riding experience here on the icy East Coast, I know what it takes to have a safe and fun time out on the mountain. I’m an intermediate park rider who can relate to riders of all skill levels. I’ve been writing in-depth reviews just like this one for the past four years, and my main goal with this review is simply to help you find the right board.
I write these reviews as a “for the fun of it” project. They are as unbiased as I can be for someone who tends to ride in an area with icier conditions.
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Steve Weber is the passionate snowboarder, skateboarder, and author behind Board of the World. He understands that most gear reviews focus on having the perfect snow conditions, but his testing methodology is different. Living in Pennsylvania, Steve describes exactly how a board performs when the conditions aren’t perfect. His reviews cover performance on ice, hardpack, and flat-out brick conditions. In other words, he reviews boards for the conditions that East Coast riders actually face.
Bringing 27 years of East Coast snowboarding and 21 years of skateboarding experience, Steve is a 42-year-old intermediate park rider. His recommendations are informed by decades of battling icy conditions, ensuring every review accounts for the board’s performance on the roughest of terrain.
For the last five years, Steve has poured his passion into writing in-depth, unbiased reviews that help riders make informed decisions about the gear they’ll use. He also works part-time at a snowboard shop in Northeastern Pennsylvania, which gives him a direct line to learning about the new gear tech months in advance. When he’s not writing reviews, Steve is often found riding at Montage Mountain and testing out new boards.
Steve’s goal with Board of the World is simple: to help every reader find the right gear so they can have fun outside from the first time they use it.