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Union Charger first impressions (Capo comparison)

6K views 23 replies 11 participants last post by  trpa_ec 
#1 ·
Long story short, I had Ride Capos for the last 3 seasons (about 100 days) and loved them, but I broke the aluminum baseplate last weekend so I sent them in for warranty and picked up the Chargers are a replacement because I wanted to try something new.

So I pretty much ride all/big mountain, anything from just surfing pow to natural hits to big mountain steeps/chutes. My Capos have been swapped between my Salomon Sick Stick (big mountain, pow) and various other all mountain decks (Berzerker, Highlife, SL, DH2). Put them through everything and loved them.

So now on to the Chargers.... mounted on my Sick Stick, 12" of fresh heavy pow at Stevens Pass.

First impressions..... very very similar to the Capos. The highback is slightly stiffer (pretty stiff in the grand scheme of things) and very responsive. The baseplate isn't quite as stiff as the aluminum Ride chassis though, but it does allow for a more natural flex of the deck. The ankle strap is nice and supportive, no huge difference from the Capo, but the toe strap falls short. The web Ride toe strap is tops in my book. Nothing comes close. The ratchets on the Unions are probably the best I've ever had my hands on. Very solid feel, great ratcheting, waaaay better than the Ride ones (or any other binding for that matter).

Overall, both bindings are very similar. Looking at price point though, I don't see the Unions being worth $60 more than the Capos. Don't get me wrong, I'm still really happy with the Chargers, but if I were concerned about the price point, the Capos win out.

Props to Union for making a very high quality binding in the Chargers. You've come a very long way since the last time I demo'd some Union bindings.
 
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#16 ·
my 390 boss's just shit the bed a few days ago...somehow managed to break the highback and warp the heel loop and not notice. anyway, i switched back to my old ride spi's, and they are indeed the shit. blew those rome bindings out of the water. i got the 390b warranty replacement and im not gonna bother putting them back on.

is there anything current thats similar to the spi??
 
#12 ·
Yikes! sucks to have this kind of mishaps when you go on a trip...

Union does look solid like you said, and many people have put them through the test and have good feedback, so hopefully it's a freak thing. Most bindings kinda work the same... so for me quality is absolutely PARAMOUNT.
 
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