Ion, Kingpin, Radical 2.0, F1 Evo -- Product Concerns -- with Videos

With the Dynafit patent expiration, and backcountry ski touring being one of the few growing segments in the ski industry, there has been a race to market tech bindings and tech-compatible alpine touring boots. If you are reading this and asking "what the heck is a tech binding?"–look to our tech binding 101 video.

And it seems like many manufacturers have hit speed bumps along the road to having a bomb-proof product–and this is not unusual. Though these products have all been tested extensively before being put on the shelves for sale, the passage of time is key. Products are exposed to forces by regular users over time and sometime things happen that just can't be tested for. One of these situations is the Scarpa F1 Evo, winner of our Gear of the Year. We love the boots and were sad to hear of the voluntary recall. Apparently, in certain situations, the boot's "Tronic" ski/walk mechanism can disengage when the ski backflexes in a certain way. This could be a disastrous fail if you were skiing in a no-fall zone. And if it happened.

Dynafit also had a blip in their product release program. The Radical 2.0 tech binding was due to be available fall 2014 but the company held back the release until fall 2015. Check out our recent vid of the soon-to-be-released Radical 2.0, here. It's not entirely clear why the release was held back–perhaps something with the toe piece? All issues have been addressed.

Though G3 released a tech binding a while ago, called the G3 Onyx, the G3 Ion alpine touring binding, released this season, represents a giant leap forward into the competitive tech binding market. To see our vid with one of the product development guys we shot last season, lookee here. We've been on the Ion for a few months now and have a couple concerns we hope are addressed for next season's verison of the binding. We love the binding, see what we think overall, here. To hear our concerns, check out the video below:

Marker has also entered the tech-binding fray with the Marker Kingpin. The Kingpin has a tech toe with a more traditional heel piece. We share a couple concerns about the Kingpin in the video below ~

Our overall point here is that many of the new products we are seeing, especially in the tech binding world, have minor issues in their first year of consumer release. This is pretty standard stuff in product dev cycles. It's also a reality that forces us to determine whether we are early-adopters (who need the new products immediately) or the kind of shopper who waits for a season or two, for the kinks to be worked out, before we invest.

A big part in all this is how the manufacturers act and/or react. We've been pretty impressed in general. Perhaps, because product information and users' impressions are omnipresent on the 'net, manufacturers have access to more feedback (and are more accountable). This can only mean more product-improvement and better, faster, funner ski touring. We're OK with this kind of gear evolution, and the inevitable speed bumps along the way.