Try describing your friend from a chairlift sometime. Black jacket, black pants, helmet, somewhere over there. Congratulations, you have identified the entire mountain. Put two mint-green streaks on the friend’s snowboard, though, and you can pick out Dave halfway down the run. You can also tell exactly where Dave sat down.
The ActionGlow AG2 LED snowboard lighting system puts a pair of colored light strips on the board you already ride. In the seller’s night photos, the snow right beside the rider’s boots picks up the color. The effect is particularly good when the rider is sitting still. Even the deeply unglamorous business of doing up a binding looks like the beginning of a concert.
Two strips and somewhere to put them
Open the box and the layout makes sense. There are two roughly meter-long strips, two waterproof power supplies, and a pair of fastener clips. The lights sit up on the deck alongside the bindings. That distinction matters if you’ve been picturing a glowing base gliding over the snow. Look closely at the board in the photos and you can see where the light actually starts.
A snowboard makes an oddly accommodating canvas. There’s a long stretch of real estate in front of your toes and behind your heels, and most of your graphics disappear from view the second the light goes down. A bright line running lengthwise gives the board a readable shape again. When a rider tips it onto an edge, the angle of that line tells you something about the turn even if the jacket above it has disappeared into the trees in the background.
The kit attaches with adhesive. That spares you the unpleasant moment when someone approaches your snowboard with a drill, but it also makes the first placement count. Set everything on the board with the backing still on. Strap a boot in. Swing the highback up and down, open both straps, and see where your free foot lands when you skate toward the lift. A power pack looks small until it occupies the exact square of deck where you like to put your heel.
Pick a color with your phone still in your pocket
The controls live on the hardware. Two buttons handle power, color selection and brightness. For anyone who has ever removed a mitten to unlock a phone, dropped the mitten, then watched the phone decide that a face in goggles belongs to a stranger, this is an excellent arrangement.
There are seven color choices. The one that makes the most sense to me is amber. It’s warm enough to stand out against blue evening snow, and you don’t see a lot of amber snowboards going past. The brand’s signature mint makes for a particularly good photograph. Cool white has its own peculiar charm, like somebody took the fluorescent fixture from the ski rental shop out for one last lap.
- Choose red, green, blue, cool white, amber, magenta or AG Mint.
- Use one of three brightness levels to suit the light around the board.
- Pick a color your group can remember before you split up on a run.
What goes onto the board
| Kit detail | What it means on the hill |
|---|---|
| Two one-meter LED strips | Check the usable length alongside both bindings. |
| Two waterproof power supplies | Allow space on the deck for the housings as well as the lights. |
| Two 9-volt batteries | Bring your own to power the kit. |
| Cleaning packet and adhesive promoter | Surface preparation is part of the installation. |
ActionGlow describes installation as a five-minute job. That sounds plausible for putting the pieces in place once you’ve worked out where they go. Leave yourself time to follow the adhesive directions, including the wait before riding. The lodge parking lot, ten minutes before your friends disappear into the lift line, is a terrific place to discover that you should have done this at home.
Fit deserves a little extra attention on a narrow board or one with bindings set at pronounced angles. ActionGlow markets the kit for any snowboard, but owners describe different experiences with clearance and adhesion. Several Amazon reviewers mention a battery housing coming loose. I’d check each housing before a lap, particularly after carrying the board through a busy rack. If a component lifts, sort it out somewhere warm before taking another run.
Where the glow earns its keep
Think groomed runs during a resort’s evening session. The snow beside the strips gives the color something to bounce off, and a person watching from the side sees the board move across a pale background. ActionGlow says the LEDs can be seen from more than half a mile away. That’s a claim about seeing the lights themselves. For picking a line downhill, you still want the illumination provided by the resort. Two strips shining sideways across your boots do a different job.
In deep powder the snow can cover the very thing you bought to show off. In bright afternoon sun you’ll have plenty to look at already. For the friend whose season consists of first chair, fresh tracks and an early lunch, there are better gifts. For the friend who goes straight from work to a lit hill every Thursday and comes home with six nearly identical phone videos, this kit has found its audience.
There’s a small bonus for whoever films those clips. Instead of telling a sibling to watch the third dark speck from the left, you can tell them to follow the magenta board. Even a very ordinary heelside turn gets its own little signature. If you catch an edge, that signature is going to be legible too. Choose your camera operator with care.
The details to remember
- ActionGlow AG2 is an add-on LED lighting kit for a snowboard.
- Two buttons control seven colors and three brightness settings.
- ActionGlow lists an IP68 waterproof rating and supplies surface-preparation materials.
- The board and two required 9-volt batteries are separate purchases.
ActionGlow sells the snowboard kit on Amazon for $139. If you’re wrapping one for somebody who rides, tuck a pair of batteries into the gift. That way the first evening can be spent arguing over whether magenta goes with the bindings, an argument considerably more festive than asking which gas station still carries nine-volts.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Changes color and brightness on the board | Controls require reaching down to the hardware |
| Adhesive mounting avoids drilling holes | Needs clear deck space and a sound adhesive bond |
| Colored snow glow stands out on evening runs | Snow covering the strips can hide the effect |
| Works with replaceable batteries | Two 9-volts are required and sold separately |
Save this find.
Thank yourself later.
Your next great gift idea. Your someday space. Your collection of wonderfully weird things.
Pick a board. Keep the inspiration.
These LED Snowboard Lights Turn the Snow Seven Different Colors
At a glance
Product snapshot
- Listed price
- $139.00Prices and availability can change. Check the seller for current details.
- Where to find it
- Amazon.com
- Category
- Outdoors
