why does everyone hate marker bindings?

[beaterdit]

Tiny tow wings.

I didn't think they were rated for towing? :P

Yeah, what others have said about the older ones. Just crap. I read somwhere that the pro racers replaced the toe wings with solid metal slugs so they wouldn't release period.

I had gen 2 Dukes and they were OK I guess. I had to ski them at 13 to get similar retention to my my 916s at 11. Not much elasticity in the toe. Never liked how the toe AFD slid UP to the boot sole vs toe wings cranking Down to the toe block of your boot. Changed the delta for different boots and was prone to failure as well. Tour/Ski mode switch was terrible and prone to icing and failure ala Raizing AZ's experience. Heavy too obviously. Got rid of mine. That said, still a big improvement in terms of performance and durability over Fritchis and other frame bindings. I gather many of these issues have been addressed in later models and the new Kingpin tech offering looks very promising.

[snowaddict91]

Don't leave your Marker touring bindings in the car overnight like I did the other day. I tried using a shovel to pry the mode lever over and snapt the lever in half. They are locked for good now.

I like mine, I want a lighter set up but I'm too poor to make that happen right now. For skiing in bounds and touring they work. The toe pieces have come a long way since before the touring binding era. I used to walk right out of my green spring Markers, they had a din of 24 I think and I would just randomly get released from the toes. Not cool but it did save my ass in an avalanche where I was getting sucked under the moving snow and I got out by twisting the front of my boot. It popped off as the moving snow got up to my chest.

The Dukes are heavy and my feet get banged up on a big day of skinning.
Again, I'm poor so I deal with it.

If you are a serious ski tourer and climb around the mountains all day they are clearly not the best.

Haha I had this happen to me a few weeks ago at the start of a dawn patrol. Set the skis in the truck with heat on full blast and finally got em open. First time for everything I suppose.

[hapenstash]

My Dukes have a lot of play in the track where the binding locks onto the ski. Does anyone know if this will eventually fail while skiing leading to catastrophe?

[powdork]

Because Camel toe > Marker toe.

But seriously their main problem is the legacy left behind from the earlier offerings.

[J22Jordan]

Because if you're a life long skier, a pair of high quality bindings is an investment in safety and convenience that always works without issue, and that gets mounted on a succession of skis. Marker's have known (albeit relatively minor) issues, and just don't last like high end Salomon's almost always do. I also find their marketing strategy objectionable.

What about their marketing strategy is objectionable?

[optics]

Because when I was 14, my m48 titaniums prereleased on a sweet daffy twister spread. With Nelson Charmichael and Donna weinbrecht watching. Never again.

[Choucas]

When my Marker Tours froze, I just pissed on them and that thawed them out pronto. Works every time.

[raisingarizona13]

When my Marker Tours froze, I just pissed on them and that thawed them out pronto. Works every time.

Oh dang......I should've thought of that.

[trip24]

People are crazy.ive used markers for ten years and haven't had a single issue

[beaterdit]

People are crazy.ive used markers for ten years and haven't had a single issue

Thanks for your opinion JONG. We're gonna have to re-evaluate all the bad experiences we've all had.

[beaterdit]

People are crazy.ive used markers for ten years and haven't had a single issue

Thanks for your opinion JONG. We're gonna have to re-evaluate all the bad experiences we've all had.

[kootenayskier]

What about their marketing strategy is objectionable?

All that creativity and art direction dedicated to an elaborate conceit that has zero to do with bindings or skiing. Also Brad (style over substance) Holmes.

[summit]

Historically, Marker had some bad products that failed and injured people... bad juju. Earned them lasting hate in the community at large just like the recent Quest tech insert fiasco with Salomon.

Then in the 90s/00s they had a philosophy of minimal elastic travel + upward release that seemed great for saving groomer glutton ACLs, but the big mountain and park crowd likes lots of elastic travel so lots of hate for that.

The royals have icing issues but otherwise seem like a vast improvement over the past.

[strawjack]

Then in the 90s/00s they had a philosophy of minimal elastic travel + upward release that seemed great for saving groomer glutton ACLs, but the big mountain and park crowd likes lots of elastic travel so lots of hate for that.

The royals have icing issues but otherwise seem like a vast improvement over the past.

Yup. A little extra elastic travel is a good thing.

[old goat]

People are crazy.

Hard to argue with this.

[Canada1]

in 1987 I had a catastrophic failure of a toe piece and I've never gone back. Funny, I broke some Solomon light weight bindings and felt like it was my fault for buying light weight, while I've never trusted marker after that toe piece blew apart on it's first day.

[sb]

Crayons before markers

[SJG]

As an engineer, the more elasticity you have the less likely you are to bust out of it in the chatter on the trail.

This is the simplest way I can try to explain it. Why you'd design in less makes no sense to me, other than more elasticity means more exposure to load (time) during a release. Ideally you'd have the binding release point go down as travel increases to reduce the load. This should work well.

I agree that the Marker's I've skied were horrendous. I can (and do) ski a Look Turntable at a much lower DIN than other designs, and the release is buttery smooth. The are a PITA to get into in the deep though, but this compromise is worth it to me. YMMV

[wgrand802]

My lords release well, but they can be really hard to step into.

[fantorama]

My first pair of bindings was a ~2008 Marker M11. They would constantly prerelease at the toe when I started to get better. Now, I got squires, barons, and demo griffons (used, but haven't tried then yet) and have had no problems yet. Granted, I don't drop 30 ft cliffs.

[creaky fossil]

With the exception of the Knee Binding, downhill bindings are not designed to prevent ACL injuries.

Easy there, the little tyke was being "funny". Amusing his preschool classmates. See, he "trapped" you into thinking he was serious!

[GeezerSteve]

He played me

[strawjack]

As an engineer, the more elasticity you have the less likely you are to bust out of it in the chatter on the trail.

This is the simplest way I can try to explain it. Why you'd design in less makes no sense to me, other than more elasticity means more exposure to load (time) during a release. Ideally you'd have the binding release point go down as travel increases to reduce the load. This should work well.

I agree that the Marker's I've skied were horrendous. I can (and do) ski a Look Turntable at a much lower DIN than other designs, and the release is buttery smooth. The are a PITA to get into in the deep though, but this compromise is worth it to me. YMMV

The Look binding consistently failed the torque tests I did a long time ago. Solly's and Markers both performed well, but to your point, it would be ideal if the release point decreased as the travel increased. In real life situations the old markers released way to quick in the worst situations. On the other hand, a slow speed fall could be catastrophic in a binding with more elastic travel then say an old Marker.

[detrusor]

Used to be when the toe got to the point in its travel when the wing opened, it wouldn't re-close until the boot was out of the binding. I used to hate that feeling of "yeah I saved it" only to have the ski sail off of my foot

[Wired2theT]

After working at a shop for a few years I started to notice a trend in bindings. Almost 100% of bindings I saw come in that were broken were Markers.