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Marker touring bindings.

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.RYAN66
Posts: 5381 - Karma: 231
hey guys, so i have really lost my motivation to ski park and am thinking about selling my ar7s

if i do it will be to fund a touring set up. so this begs the question,

what is the difference between the duke, baron, and f10 besides din?
Feb 29 2012 5:43PM
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Pipe_Munky
Posts: 10888 - Karma: 2,184
the duke is by far the burliest of the group. metal in the toe and heel pieces to make it more durable with a 16 din. the baron is a more price point binding for maybe a lighter or less agressive skier with out metal in the toe piece or heel. the F10 and F12 are for the weight weenies that are super concerned with how much their gear weighs for long tours in the BC. not the binding you want for dropping big cliffs or landing switch
Feb 29 2012 5:47PM
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SFBv420.0
Posts: 2539 - Karma: 3,124
draggin heavy shit uphill is stupid
markers are for people who have yet to learn that
Feb 29 2012 5:52PM
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tomPietrowski
Posts: 7256 - Karma: 18,388
If your making a real touring setup, get dynafits or plums. If you want to use standard boots have a look at the gaurdian, instead of the markers.
Feb 29 2012 5:55PM
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.RYAN66
Posts: 5381 - Karma: 231
i agree completely that the guardian felt like a much more solid binder, but the price sheet i saw at sia indicates that it is going to be more expensive than the duke.

i can get the duke for 382 on BackCountry right now.


i agree that all of these a/t bindings are pretty heavy, and that if this was tgr i would be getting bitched at non stop. but i dont want to spend that much money on a ski i can only use to tour with.
Feb 29 2012 6:02PM
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tomPietrowski
Posts: 7256 - Karma: 18,388
Well MSR on the gardian in Canada is $499 so you probably will find the dukes cheaper, but you have to consider how much more you get with the ghardians. I was mounting some today and they just feel solid, no play like you often find in a marker or fritschi setup.

Overall if you just want cheap, then dukes will be fine, but if your serious about getting into touring, you will probably want somthing else.
Feb 29 2012 6:09PM
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84west
Posts: 646 - Karma: 1,254
any binding in the duke/guardian range is in my opinion, more of a side-country binding. Its really designed for someone who spends just as much, if not more time in bounds. Any binding in that range will hold up very well on any pow day in bounds and skiing all mt. where you may run into problems is in the park. The tradeoff for this durability, as mentioned is the weight, but unless you plan on skiing exclusively in the B/C, i would recommend something in the duke/guardian/adrenalin range. The duke is probably going to be the least costly option, especially at the end of this year.
Feb 29 2012 7:14PM
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rozboon
Posts: 1642 - Karma: 868
I am often reading/hearing about people messing their legs/knees up on tech-insert style touring bindings. Unless I was doing some seriously long-range touring I'd stick with a regular alpine style binding for sure, I just wouldn't put my faith in that little claw providing a nice lateral release with the retention turned up high enough to hold me in. Personally I would be rocking the MFD Alltimes with a FKS140.
Feb 29 2012 7:20PM
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skiingute
Posts: 630 - Karma: 15
The Fritschi Freeride Pro is only 378. The Fritschi bindings are real solid and great for touring. I don't like to tour with touring skis so I drop some weight with the Binding. It's a lot easier to tour in really light gear but I  prefer to take burly resort or big mountain gear and tour with it. The hike is harder but the reward is bigger in my opinion. Besides, if you're touring a lot you will adjust and the added weight won't matter that much

Feb 29 2012 7:21PM
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BskiP
Posts: 1369 - Karma: 223
Dynafit radical is the way to go. I ski it hard everyday, in and out of the resort, even hucking. Don't do mfds, you will hate life, I did that last season. Wait for salomon trackers/atomic guardians, or f
Feb 29 2012 11:16PM
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BskiP
Posts: 1369 - Karma: 223
Go dynafit.
Feb 29 2012 11:17PM
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lewisn14
Posts: 49 - Karma: 10
Are you selling the AR7's? What size are they?
Mar 1 2012 10:58AM
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Sklar
Posts: 8864 - Karma: 31,612
You can get dukes for about $250 on tgr
Mar 1 2012 11:20AM
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YewTard
Posts: 619 - Karma: 196
One thing to consider about the Guardian is that from what I've heard it's going to be even heavier than the Duke. My Dukes are heavy but get the job done.... picked up a paid of my friends MFDs w/ PX18s and good lord, that has to be torture pushing up.
Mar 1 2012 11:22AM
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arammell
Posts: 117 - Karma: 30
Are you going to buy a touring boot or do you want a binding that allows for traditional alpine ski boots?  How serious about touring are you and how much do you plan to be doing? 

I have been touring this year on Dukes and haven't had any issues.  They are on the heavier side, but they are lighter then MFD's for sure!  I don't understand why everyone is so head over heals over the Guardian either.  They weigh more then the Duke and right now they are way more expensive.

Next season I am going to be returning my dukes and getting a dynalook plate setup with FKS for resort and Dynafit Radicals for touring.  This in my opinion is the best of both worlds, but it does require two pairs of boot and two pairs of bindings. 
Mar 1 2012 11:44AM
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VD.
Posts: 4054 - Karma: 4,565
This is true unless your doing super long trips you can get by fine with heavier gear. I still tour on Day Wrekkers as I'm 15 and don't cash for dukes, I am just as quick on the uphill only my change overs aren't that of a randonee racer. I am not advocating that you buy Trekkers they are pretty sh*te if you can afford Dukes by all means get Dukes. I personally would shy away from fritschis, they sit you higher off the ski than dukes and have a lot of plastic in them (I've heard about toe piece cracking on Fritschis). Out of Dynafit/Plum I would go Plum they are more durable than Dyanfit.
Mar 1 2012 1:02PM
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PappaG
Posts: 931 - Karma: 797
Chances are that the OP doesn't have $300-400 for Dynafits and $500+ for a Dynafit-compatible boot. Unless you need a DIN higher than 12, there's no reason to look past the Barons which can be had for $200-250 used. Really, this isn't a bad place to start since you may not truly looking touring.
Mar 1 2012 1:06PM
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YewTard
Posts: 619 - Karma: 196
This. The Fritschi's have a super high stack height and there are a lot of issues with them breaking.
Mar 1 2012 1:50PM
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arammell
Posts: 117 - Karma: 30
I have had plenty of friends love the Fritschi's but for me I snapped the toe piece on mine the first day I rode them.  I would never recommend them because of this, but if you are light weight and easy on them I'm sure they can hold up ok...
Mar 1 2012 2:44PM
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mountainviper
Posts: 1931 - Karma: -3
IMO the best touring rig is a snowmobile but I digress, haha. Seriously, I've used the dukes a few times and they were fine. Zero issue with weight or function....but I'm not a big time tourer type so take that as you will.
Mar 1 2012 2:48PM
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.nasty
Posts: 10595 - Karma: 11,315
whatever you do Ryan don't get the tour series, get a duke or barron (preferably duke), the tours can and will explode. But really, I'd just wait til next year for the salomon/atomic tracker/guardian binding. way lower stack height, weighs less, and the function to switch from ski to tour mode is AWESOME.
Mar 1 2012 2:50PM
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.RYAN66
Posts: 5381 - Karma: 231
Agree completely. Buying already have to much money inveted in summer toys:). I will probably go with dukes or barons if I can find them cheap used. Probably going to put them on some billy goat tours. I have used a friend mfds and that was to heavy. It's doable but a little over kill IMO.
Mar 1 2012 2:51PM
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arammell
Posts: 117 - Karma: 30
I have Dukes on my 191 BG's!  Such sick skis!!!
Mar 1 2012 3:13PM
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YewTard
Posts: 619 - Karma: 196

Guardian will have a lower stack height but will weigh more than the Duke from what i've read. And if you're getting something that weighs more than the Dukes you may as well just get MFDs so you can ski your alpine binding.

Mar 1 2012 3:32PM
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.RYAN66
Posts: 5381 - Karma: 231
The main thing is money. Dukes will be on sale now, or maybe I can snag a used pair off tgr. I don't want to spend to much on the skis/bindings. Since I am not cutting corners on a beacon probe and shovel. The gaurdian is going to be the best binding out next year in this. Category.
Mar 1 2012 3:57PM
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mountainviper
Posts: 1931 - Karma: -3
Haha. Yeah call me lazy but I'll take a sled over skins any day. Inb4 some stuff is inaccessible by sled. To that I'd argue but can't as I'm getting 10 runs to your 1. Haha. Sorry. But that sounds like a fun setup. Good luck man.
Mar 1 2012 4:16PM
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