Mountainski.eu: Should be Dynafit afraided of competitors in bindings?

Should be Dynafit afraided of competitors in bindings?

It looks, that with ending patent rights for binding Dynafit TLT a lot of competitors bindings want to reach the ski-touring market. G3 Onyx was the first announced binding in the Czech Republic at the end of 2008. Binding Ski Trab TR1 was introduced at this year ISPO 2009. Another solution ATK RACE was up now completely not known for me. There are also big expectation from Black Diamond and its production in China.

ATK RACE

Producer from Maranello (Italy), which is located just close to the Tusco-Emilian Apennines ATK RACE snow light technology, presents that its solution of ultralight toe and heel as the direct competitor to Dynafit TLT was firstly shown at races in season 2005/06.

Toe ofí ATK Race
Toe of ATK Race

Toe of ATK Race is the same for both version of bindings, heel is offered in two models – Extreme and World Cup. Whole binding's weight is then 135 grams in version Extreme and 125 grams in version World Cup. Producer properly states that toe ATKRace-NX is the lightest in the world. Toe is provided with „AUS“ (Automatic Unlock System), which automatically locks the binding and simplifies going to binding with shoes.

Heel of ATK Race

Skiers, who emphasized DIN norms and release strenght with DIN over 10, will reject immediately from this binding. The reason is, that ATK Race does not fulfil DIN norm for safety bindings.

Weight 125 or 135 grams for binding.
Price started at EUR 474 for binding.

Black Diamond

This company has a big question mark up now. It is known, that they are preparing something, but details are completely missed.

G3 Onyx

Canadian company G3 came out after three years long development with model G3 Onyx. This binding should be officially on the market from March 2009, but I have not seen prices and sellers yet (mid April). There were huge propagation of Onyx in the Czech Republic in last months. Basis of toe and heel of Onyx looks at the first view quite as Dynafit. Binding itself seems to be very robust and the weight corresponds to that – 1430 grams for binding and screws (this value was taken from G3 Onyx Backcountry Skiing AT Binding Review). According to published details Onyx enables DIN settings up to 14.

Lou Dawson describes G3 Onyx in detail: G3 Onyx Backcountry Skiing AT Binding Review. Another detailed review is at: G3 previews Onyx Dynafit compatible binding.

User manual: G3 Onyx User operational instructions

Settings of release strength up to DIN 14.
Weight 1430 grams.
Price is not known.

Pierre Gignoux XP50

French guy Pierre Gignoux (Pierregignoux ski touring equipment) produces many things for ski-alpinism races. Among them there are also heels of Dynafit TLT compatible binding. Heels are produced for more than 10 years and Aluminium 7075 T6 is used as the basic material. Release strength of heel is DIN 6. Rotation of heel is similar to standard TLT with three positions: downhill, climbing with or without wedge.

Settings of release strength is DIN 6.
Weight 50 grams for each heel, i.e. 100 grams for both heels.
Price 150.

SkiTrab TR1

Na veletrhu ISPO 2009 představila italská firma

Famous Italian company SkiTrab introduced other competitor model to binding Dynafit TLT- New SkiTrab TR-1 Alpine Touring Binding at the trade show ISPO2009. Many photos and comments are available at: New Dynafit-compatible binding from Trab. Heel of the binding looks at the first view as standard downhill binding.

Settings of release strength up to DIN 14.
Weight for both bindings 560 grams.
Price is not known.

Conclusion:

There are existing race alternatives for binding Dynafit TLT for several years. In last monthe new competitor models were introduced in the market. Near future will show, how reliable and good will be these models in practical usage. It is big difference between race and commnon users. Common user seems to be very involved in DIN settings in the highest value, this is good mostly when jumping from cliffs and rocks.