Frankly I don’t see why many of you have such a hate-on for this system. Many of you in hardboots aren’t going to be swayed by a new system, and many of us in soft boots with sparks/karakoram probably won’t switch either…unless it’s to hard boots. That being said I’d be interested to try it before I threw it under the bus…and that’s exactly what I plan on doing. I think it’s an interesting concept, something that is certainly more feasible and realistic with newer technologies than older step-in systems. If if it works, and works well, awesome, and if it doesn’t then it’s really no skin off of anyones back is it?

I have a friend who’s adapted Burton Step-in for his splits, and swears by it – never seen him have any problems, and he tours a lot. Seems like a pretty great system, if only it was still being made (and the boots)

I’m not liking the K2’s setup being bolted onto the voile slider pucks though… seems like a lot of extra stuff, and higher off the board than it should be

Their weight savings claim of four pounds says a lot. To me, it says, “our target market knows jack shit about splitboarding, so lets make these outrageous claims of weight savings, they’ll never know the difference!”

Saving four pounds off a Voile plate, with a binding, and boot is not a straight up comparison. I haven’t heard of anyone but the noobiest of noobs who still uses the voile plates. Now, if they compared their system’s weight to a pair of Karakorams or Sparks, I’m guessing the weight savings is much less.

I’m just not sold on these at all. But good luck to K2 selling them.

Yeah 4 pounds seems like a bogous claim. I think the clicker system is a cool concept. I’ve got a buddy thats been riding them for years and he’s had no problems with the bindings, just complaints about the boots.
It’s funny how some folks get worked up about products 😉 . New systems can only be good for the split world, it’s not like they will push all competion out of the market.
Again (insert dead horse with flies buzzing here) i’d be all about the hardboot set up if i had $1,200 burning a hole in my pocket. I really like the looks of the Phantom/Dyna set-up,but i digress.

@Craig505 wrote:

The prob with the old clicker was the heel lift in the boots, if they fixed this then they may have something. Looks like they did change the toe clip, the old design had it bolted on with two bolts in the back, so snow could pack in there, it now looks like it attaches on the sides similar the back clip. This may help clear snow.

Shasta’s story is interesting, I do remember though that once you got clicked in you could twist the release lever sideways and a small tab on the bottom of the handle would slide under the binding essentially locking you in.

I have K2 T1 double Boa’s now, granted they are three years old. the outer Boa loosens up pretty easy, wish it had laces instead.

Also wondering if the new boots will work with the old bindings? Might prove to be more popular as a resort set-up if they fixed the old boot issues.

I’d just assume the new clicker boots are modified version of the T1. I don’t think they’ll go back to the old technology in boot construction.

I met Hunter and another K2 employee while out on the slopes this past week. They were doing some laps on the new Ultra split and Kwicker set up.

Actually getting to see the design and in use had me pretty impressed as someone who has worked in R&D and as a splitter. The touring bracket looked nice and beefy. They claimed “about 3-4 lbs lighter than current setups”. So I guess that means about 3 lbs less than a K/Spark setup which is still a huge savings. They were killing in on the transitions in our 14″ of fresh pow that day. Obviously it’s going to come down to the boot redesign. I didn’t get much info on the redesign.

Apparently it will be offered as a package deal w/ the ultra and separately. I believe he said it will be Premiering at the Mt. Baker SF.

Well, I think we need to wait and see if its a good system. I like that companies are trying different stuff, even if its back with the old stuff..Every time I go into a snowboard shop, I just shake my head at the total garbage we have to choose from. Bindings look like big plastic pieces of shit, graphics and boards for 12 year olds, boots that are over built with all kinds of fake leather neon puke garbage sweaty shit crap..

But really, the big thing we need, and already have I suppose if your willing to mod a 700 dollar boot 😉 is a walk mode. Period. That is the reason people switch to hardboots, and that is what makes us slower and more tired than skiers. To me, the solution for now is still finding a hardboot/dynafit system that works for you.

The weight savings are laudable but this is neither revolutionary nor is it an entirely new “system.” It’s a clicker on a slider plate. There is no time savings beyond that gained by clicking instead of strapping. Three things to watch will be icing of the clicks, durability, and functionality of the boot for touring and riding.

I’d have liked to have seen a boot system that included touring-mode step-in, and touring-mode heel lock down, which the heel-click is uniquely suited to. K2 has the capacity to crack those nuts. Props to them for pushing things forward with these new designs.

I also would not suggest that something which still relies on the Voile pucks is a big advance. We now have two systems which do not use the Voile pucks: Karakoram and Phantom. I cannot personally speak for Karakoram, but the Phantom system certainly out performs anything (from a riding perspective) which uses the Voile pucks.
When I first saw this topic, I was expecting a little more in terms of real innovation…

Glad to see different ideas coming to the table and companies advancing splitboarding but I am not holding my breath here. Never was a fan of the original clickers, saw many a rental come back to the shop in the day with “broken bindings” only to find out the boots were iced up and would not fully engage when stepping in.

The new boots tread looks terrible for hiking. How’s the forward lean work? I think I would rather go hardboots if I was looking for a switch, but interested to see what the reviews are.