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Looking to buy a K2 Panoramic 158 to get me into splitting.

I can't read enough reviews on the Voile kit that say how disconnected you feel, and to upgrade to Sparks. As a guy who's been riding for almost 20 years, I don't want to feel disconnected.

However, I've been thinking of going a Karakoram route on the K2 Panoramic, and buying the board and skins separate from the kit. I met the guys once at Baker, and been stoked on their bindings ever since. Price difference is almost a wash, just a tad more expensive than the kit + sparks.

bottom line: does anyone foresee any issues with putting the Karakoram bindings on the panoramic? I've heard the clips (which I already own) aren't the best with the cap sidewalls.


History: I'm new to splitboarding. I've been hiking out of bounds for a few years now in Washington, particularly Stevens Pass. I currently am living in the northeast, but will eventually be relocating back to Washington (I hope). I'm looking to get into some splitting here in the northeast, even if it's not the best place for it, I'd like to earn some of my turns. My current pow board is a 156 K2 turbodream. Only on a few (rare) deep and light days at stevens, have I found myself wanting a slightly bigger board, so I'm thinking at least for now, a 158 will probably do just fine. I'm beyond lean, at a mere 5'8" 130 lbs.

thanks in advance guys...

The interface for Karakorum bindings seems tricky to work with gloves. Small moving parts, etc. You'll find lots of guys on here that like them, but I really like my Burners. Simple, easy, bombproof. See if you can demo some prior to purchasing, that should help make the decision.

Also, I'd recommend trying a few different boards as well if you can. K clips are a no go on cap construction, they'll 'hull' your board. Lots of discussion on this board on that issue.

Hope this helps...

http://triadfuture.com/

I rode the whole '10-11 season on Ken's ^^^ binders (then they were DIYs) which he is now making under his own Co. name. I felt they rode way better than Sparks and are about the same in weight. He has a whole batch he made last year he lists for $299 that I'm sure he'll give you a deal on as he's trying to move them. They are very comparable to Sparks and imo fit tighter and have a better ride. His new touring brackets that fit with these have less play than any system on the market (karakoram, spark LT's). And his new light pins are sick too. The website is still being formed but there's enough pertinent info on them.

email him and I'm sure you can get them cheaper than any other binding new (the toe straps he used on his first run kinda suck but you can just put your own on)

I did a pretty thorough comparison between the Sparks and K's this past spring. You can see it about half way down this thread. viewtopic.php?f=11&t=13523

I did find that review a few months back and breezed through it. Thanks for linking to it again, it was worth a second read. Same with your thread about the K's on the mojo, and potential hulling on the cap construction.

Maybe the sparks are the way to go if I decide to stay with the panoramic. I'm a gear whore though, so if I do end up splitting a lot, I'll end up with both setups and multiple boards.

Guess I have some reading to do on the sparks and those triads. And consider if I want to support Chinese made boards.

I am stoked to see the Triad web page--and the new developments that Ken has going. Nice!!!

Those triad bindings look great, and most of the info I can find seemed good.

Thanks to some more digging on here, i came to a decision, to stick with the burners for now. I'm a gear whore, so I'll likely end up with more than one split, so using the voile pucks and swapping bindings seemed nice. Who knows, I might add the triads or K's to my list later on, but for now, I'm all set.

Gear's all ordered up, just waiting for snow!

might just need to sell those k-clips now that I'll basically have no use for them.

just an fyi for anyone who might read this in the future...

I spoke with Bryce from Karakoram. He stated that there is no real issue with using the Karakoram system on the Pano, since the split edge is not a cap, just the outside (sidecut) edges are cap. The clips are a little tight, and the bindings work well. And the cap sheet is UHMW PE, so it's beyond durable enough for the k bindings.

throws a wrench in my current plans for the Sparks, which I already have. decisions decisions.

David, what size are the Sparks? I'll take them off your hands if you go with the K's.

Medium... But I'm planning on keeping them.

i'd go with the Triads. Haven't seen 'em but I know Ken does good work and would completly trust their reliability.