[wrathfuldeity]

The thought occurred that one can dive right in to the AT hardboot on the budget...especially if you are already on the Sparks train.

Just get some tech toes, Dyno DH and depending of model of Spark base plates...(the old ones are better because you already have the volie dual riser bars).
Anyway a person could easily find some used volie pucks, tech toes and volie dual riser bars. And methinks that it would be a straight forward, very nice, little maintence and fast transition set-up.

 

[wrathfuldeity]

A bit of an update:
Currently Phantom bindings are $399 plus the $200 for the cleats.
Spark Dyno DH plates $250 plus the $75 for pucks.

Had an issue last year with the Dyno DH:
Sparks were great, immediately sent out some replacement toe clamps this summer. My daughter's boyfriend is a welder and we decided to see if he could repair/mod something and make it more durable, since the old ones were potentially toast anyway (besides could use the new replacements if the mods did not work).

First 2 pics are of the tangs bending. In the 2nd pic you can see stress fractures on both sides. This bending would occur when riding...in bounds on a solid board at Baker, not when clamping in. Initially, I came out of the bindings 3-4 times and gradually adjusted until they were quite tight and no longer coming out of the bindings while riding. However, even though they were locked down, when riding hard, the tangs would eventually bend/deformed. I would gently bend them back in to shape at the end of the day. As expected the aluminum fatigued after 2-3 times, developed stress fractures and then sidelined them until I could get them replaced.

The other pics were the mods/remedy. Anyway, with the old repaired toe clamps, they are working well and definitely locks the toe of the boot. The clamps are ground out to match the toe shape/profile, it keeps the boot's toe from slopping around laterally/side to side. At this point, I don't anticipate any further problems.