Gaurdian VS Duke present day comparison

[Dhelihiker]

What do the masses have to report? Im a long time Fritschi guy and I its time to go in a new direction.

Ive read a good few folks had issues with the Guardian breaking at the metal bar. I've never heard of Duke's breaking, I've never really heard many complaints aside from the inevitable binding height or taking off the ski to switch modes.

To me, durability is huge. I have tech binding that I dont trust, I dont need more of that in my life

[marshalolson]

compared to fritshcis?

[DudeLebowSKI]

Marshal,

Any new info on how the Guardians are holding up? Blister kinda left it at a preliminary overview followed by a light use follow up. Any more observations to report?

[hoarhey]

haven't tried the guardians, but have been a long term duke/baron/tour f12 user...
Some slop can develop with dukes, so that's a bit of a negative, but I haven't had any failures either.

I'm 5'8" and 170 lbs.

They are heavy, but I have heard that Guardians are heavy too.

I wouldn't use them for actual skinning of any major distance.
I have dynafits on other setups and have had no issues using them in the last 4 years.

Stack height of dukes doesn't bother me much.

Are you using fritschi's in the resort?

I run dukes on pretty much all of my setups to allow me to use my at boots when I want to. I recently purchased alpine boots.

What were you using that one time we did the wahoo gullies hike?
I think I remember dynafits, but I could be wrong.

[marshalolson]

Marshal, Any new info on how the Guardians are holding up? Blister kinda left it at a preliminary overview followed by a light use follow up. Any more observations to report?

they tour and ski just as good/bad as a duke (depending on your mindset) just with different idiosyncrasies.

[DudeLebowSKI]

Anyone hear of more Guardians snapping?

[hoarhey]

are dukes and guardians equally compatible with rockered at boots?

[adrenalated]

Yes, a few Guardians have broken. Dukes break too. I have had numerous friends break Duke AFDs, and a couple snap the main rails. To me, the Guardian skis a bit better. Duke has better boot compatibility (Guardian will not accept heavily rockered AT soles, Duke will). Duke tours a bit better (a bit lighter, and has a flat position plus two risers, Guardian has low rise and high rise only). Guardian allows you to switch modes without stepping out, Duke does not.

Bottom line is both are fine bindings IMO for their intended purpose. Some will prefer one, some will prefer another. I prefer the Guardian, but I only tour short distances on them and use them a lot in-bounds (tech for long tours for me).

Both are way more durable than any Fritschi.

[Skihuckster]

Have tried to break my Dukes going hard inbounds/drops with big skis and alpine or AT boots. Was trying for a new pair on warranty. No luck.

So ill endorse em

[Spyderjon]

What do the masses have to report? Im a long time Fritschi guy and I its time to go in a new direction.

Ive read a good few folks had issues with the Guardian breaking at the metal bar. I've never heard of Duke's breaking, I've never really heard many complaints aside from the inevitable binding height or taking off the ski to switch modes.

To me, durability is huge. I have tech binding that I dont trust, I dont need more of that in my life

The new Beast 16 is designed just for your purpose

[marshalolson]

are dukes and guardians equally compatible with rockered at boots?

dukes are actually compatible.

you can jam 'em in guardians, same way you jam 'em in salomon 916's or whatever. they will fit but won't pass release tests.

[Dhelihiker]

If you are using AT boots in Dukes you might be missing the point.

Marshal, Im curious to hear about the idiosyncrasies.

No one on this board has broke a Guardian??

[PNWbrit]

If you are using AT boots in Dukes you might be missing the point.

I only now have a pair on some old rock skis.

But... what?

[hoarhey]

If you are using AT boots in Dukes you might be missing the point.

Marshal, Im curious to hear about the idiosyncrasies.

No one on this board has broke a Guardian??

For a couple of years, I was skiing with Dynafit Titans as my only boot, in resort or out.
Nice to have a lighter weight boot with vibram sole for bootpacking/rocks/parking lots.
So, I chose to use Dukes.

It sounds like you run alpine boots in the resort and at boots elsewhere.

[Lindahl]

I'd look at CAST also. They both ski and tour better.

Guardians break at the rails when touring. Dukes break at the AFDs when skiing. You have to be skiing really fucking hard/sloppy to break Dukes. Any hack can break Guardians. Dukes are still somewhat useable when they break and AFDs are easyish to replace. With Guardians, you're fucked.

They both ski well enough to have other things factor into the decision. Price (good used market) and durability goes to Dukes hands down, imo. Overall, I'd pick Dukes.

[marshalolson]

Guardians break at the rails when touring. Dukes break at the AFDs when skiing. You have to be skiing really fucking hard/sloppy to break Dukes. Any hack can break Guardians. Dukes are still somewhat useable when they break and AFDs are easyish to replace. With Guardians, you're fucked.

its worth stating that the background is with fritschis. i would really suggest looking at the tour12 epf binding, not a guardian/duke. stuff breaks, and it sucks, but these bindings are dramatically more robust designs than a fritschi (not including the random guardian snapping in half thing). either way, all modern binding options here ski a billion times better than an FR.

[TahoeJ]

My Guardians are holding up fine. Definitely prefer them to dukes for lift-served since I can't really tell the difference from a regular DH binding.

[weasel1]

I'm gonna be that guy and say.... Adrenalins.

[Mountain Relish]

My Guardians are holding up fine. Definitely prefer them to dukes for lift-served since I can't really tell the difference from a regular DH binding.

This is how I feel as well. I have never owned Dukes, but I have skied them (admittedly the pair I skied were old), and I found them sloppy. With my Guardians I do feel like I am in an Alpine binding.

I have not read much about people's Guardians breaking (1 thread on here, but it sounded like a snow clearing issue which could be avoided if you were aware of it), whereas I have had friends break multiple parts of their Dukes.

Clearly neither is perfect so if you can get a good price on 1, but not the other, that is probably as good a way to decide as any.

[skier666]

My Guardians sure look pretty on my new Exit Worlds....but that's all I can add.

[Bird Blaster]

I sure trust my guardians over my dukes. No good reason.

[flying_raven]

next year there will be maybe another new binding and all of you girls will buy it and say
holly shit this ski better than anything before
next year same and next year same.. so the producers are happy that thay can produce mass shit and people will buy it anyway
do you really need new binding everytime it is produced?
i ski dukes since it was born and NEVER have any problem with it
next time you will read some "review" on internet about some super new binding fuck that and go ski with one you have on your skis already

[weasel1]

next year there will be maybe another new binding and all of you girls will buy it and say
holly shit this ski better than anything before
next year same and next year same.. so the producers are happy that thay can produce mass shit and people will buy it anyway
do you really need new binding everytime it is produced?
i ski dukes since it was born and NEVER have any problem with it
next time you will read some "review" on internet about some super new binding fuck that and go ski with one you have on your skis already

True enough. I think it is fair to say that we are all the beneficiaries of the industry finally getting the message and starting to build products that do what we want. This doesn't mean perfect, or perfect for everyone, but the products now available at least give us the opportunity to bicker and squabble over internet forums about which one is best, for what, and what works, and what doesn't, and who poses, and who doesn't, and oh, which crusty old timer can kick all of our asses on wooden skis with strap on bindings. Options to geek out over, bicker about, and weigh the pros and cons of is way better than no options, in my view. So I say HUZZAH! to whatever binding you choose. I am pretty sure that somewhere, while I am fretting about whether my binder is burly enough for this EC icy sketch slope/waterfall/bear cave, someone somewhere is going huge on a pair of cracked, sun-baked OG Fritschis and making me look like the JONG I am.
/my pointless raving

[samokham]

I sure trust my guardians over my dukes. No good reason.

Hm, I broke afd on my Dukes after 10 days on them. And it was just a normal carving skiing not any jumping.
But I broke quite a lot of different gear.

[samokham]

next year there will be maybe another new binding and all of you girls will buy it and say
holly shit this ski better than anything before
next year same and next year same.. so the producers are happy that thay can produce mass shit and people will buy it anyway
do you really need new binding everytime it is produced?
i ski dukes since it was born and NEVER have any problem with it
next time you will read some "review" on internet about some super new binding fuck that and go ski with one you have on your skis already

Hm, I broke afd on my Dukes after 10 days on them. And it was just a normal carving skiing not any jumping.
But I broke quite a lot of different gear, so maybe I am not relevant.