Massive over generalisation?!
Marker have definitely put out some crappy bindings, but so has every one else!
Examples:
Salomon; Their Din 16 and 18 bindings from about a decade or so ago are bomber and reliable, I have a pai which are about a decade old and they look like crap but work better than any other Salomon I've tried since. In fact, I especially hate some of the Salomon bindings of recent year which have these stupid toepieces that get loose and needed to be constantly fiddled with
Rossi/Look; I remember being stoked to see these come back a few summers ago. I also remember being pissed after breaking them on my first day on them at Momentum! Fortunately I made the decision to pay a bit more to get them from TMC in Whistler, rather than buy them online for less. Result; no problem from TMC, they took gave me a new set of binding, helicoiled the holes and mounted the new bindings no cost, no questions asked. If I'd bought online and out of town I'd have had to buy a new set of bindings and pay for the mounting work and hope that the manufacturer would eventually send me a new pair. I'm now a massive fan of TMC and will always buy from then when I'm in Whistler if I can.
Marker: I've had some questionable experiences with the 'free' series of bindings way back. However, I've got a pair of Dukes on a set of skis and a set of JEsters on another. I haven't used either that much but I haven't had any complaints so far. The Dukes are heavy compared to AT gear but are beefier and for as I just do a bit of slack country rather than hard core trekking with them I think they're great. Jesters are on big fatties (Kuros) and I've never really pushed them. However, my sister has jesters and griffons and she swears that the griffons are crappy by comparison.
Tyrolia, Head, 4FNT, etc...; Probably the most consistently decent set of bindings over the past decade. When the decent Salomon and Look designs disappeared a decade or so ago the only binding that I liked was from these brands. The 15 din bindings were light, didn't come loose and I never had any problems aside from breaking one toe piece. To be fair to the binding, I've no idea how I didn't get broken too! The 18s are completely bullet proof, I've got a second hand pair who's previous owner was Sean Petit (claim!) and they work absolutely fine despite them being mounted too two different pairs of skis that I've broken.
I've read that Salomon are reintroducing the bomber bindings of old that I remember, pivot bindings are back, Tyrolia are still going strong and Marker seem to have some pretty daman good new options. Good time for ditching tired bindings!
