Well, I got to try the 32's FASE binding today. One of the things I've found out is that not every company are coming out with smaller bindings next season. In fact, not a single one amongst Bataleon, 32, Rome and Jones had one for demo, and as far as I know, for Jones and 32 we are going to have to wait until 26-27. Bataleon confirmed that they'll have it before next season but just didn't have them ready for demo. Didn't speak to Rome, but looking at pre-orders, "Small" / "Small-Medium" are mysteriously sold out almost everywhere minus one place, making me suspect that they also aren't being made for 25-26 and the lone online shop might have put that size up for order by mistake (don't quote me on this, it's just a guess).
Anyway, my 24.5 boots were not really ideal for the 32's I tried, and there was quite a bit of space near the toe straps... though it wasn't moving all over the place and I had no problem doing spins on small features. I do appreciate the convenience over traditional bindings.. And actually, I found it in a way easier than the Supermatics bindings (which I tried for half a day earlier this season). Now as far as putting the bindings on, the Supermatics wins hand down, but I remember that on a cold day with kinda oversized mittens (more accurate to say that my hands are very small and a lot of gloves/mittens end up oversized), I sometime struggled a little with the levers for release, and straps are much easier. The other thing is that position of the levers (on the inside rather than outside - I guess to prevent accidental release) also kinda make it more cumbersome to reach). Both issues might be resolved with practice, but with FASE, it's super easy to get out.
Now due to the spring condition, I didn't really get to try out in all kind of condition notably what happens if you need to release / put back in deep pow. And I didn't really get to put to the test putting on the bindings while in motion (on a pow day at my resort, there is a bit of a mad rush to the top involving multiple lifts and after skiers, people on Step Ons are pretty hard to beat, and I wonder how FASE will stand up in this situation.
Due to the size limitations though, I am likely going to skip FASE next season and might wait for the tech to mature a bit before jumping into it (see how people report on reliabilities, availability of spare parts and that kind of stuff).
By the way, I think that one of Jones binding's "thing" is Skatetech, which won't be on their FASE bindings. Can anyone speculate if there are obvious reasons why the technologies are simply incompatible, or if there are no obvious reasons (in which case one might hope for future implementation).
www.fasesystem.com
