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SO,

I doubled down and bought a new rig: Venture Zephyr 163, spark R&D burner LT, and Deeluxe Spark XV to replace my Voile split decision 166 with a variety of binding/boot arrangements (standard, plate with AT boots, and my favorite was K2 HB boots and bindings.

Given this background, how do they compare?

THERE IS NO COMPARISON.

My new rig is amazing. I need to send out a special thanks to Chris, Ryan, and Eric at Next Adventure for taking care of me in getting my new rig.

OK. Here goes.

The Venture Zephyr rides like a solid board, albeit and stiff solid board, but amazingly smooth and supple feel, as long as the whopdedoos don't buck ya.

The boots are comfortable and warm, stiff and very efficient on the way up with enough flex for a surfy ride down, but stiff enough for me--I generally ride big, fast soul turns.

The bindings. WAY no comparison here. With the bushings in the connection and the unifying of the plate and binding, it's brilliant. Because of the bushings, in ski mode, I actually edge control and don't feel I'm losing much efficiency skinning, but the AT boot set up still wins out on going up (as would be expected).

I've ridden two days on Mt. Hood. ONe was a perfect powder day--just blissful. The whole rig was great, except I decided to move back one inch to reduce toe grab.

The second was windblown crud so I stuck to the groomers. Having moved back that inch, my center of gravity was perfect, and BOY CAN THAT BOARD TRENCH. You should've seen my line in the Palmer corduroy.

I'm giggly happy with my new set up, despite the small fortune it cost. Thanks again to NA for getting me set up.

Cheers all, and Enjoy the Ride

-Ben
MooseDawg

p.s. I don't know how to post pics here. Sorry