I haven’t tried sparks so my point of view is from an old voile set up. I tried my Karakorams for the first time yesterday. But I have been out once last week on my old setup too, just so I can remember clearly why it sucks.

First impression, Wow. Way better than my old setup with the voile plates and bent metal bindings. My board felt 10lbs lighter. Skinning was easier for some reason. Not sure if it is how stiff the attachment is, or the axle system, or the low profile. Every step felt more locked in on the snow and I just slipped less.

The transition to ride mode was the easiest I have done yet. I barely cleaned the snow off of the parts and all clipped together with ease. I tried to hose it up. And it still worked easily.

Riding was the biggest improvement. I have always hated my Voile freeride. I have always felt that the tail was catchy and the board was unpredictable in varied conditions. The bindings were a huge improvement in the way the board rode. I never really gave the bindings much thought in the past. It was more of something that held your feet to the board and not much more. But with a splitboard, they are what gives the board its structure. The Karakoram system pulls the board together with the clamps and the bindings for less slop in the whole board. So maybe it was never my tail catching. Maybe it was the middle of the board flexing on the tail area and catching? All I know is it is gone now. It felt like a normal snowboard.

The only downside to these is they are the first run of a brand new product. So they are still a bit rough around the edges. They are not anodized and the paint is a bit weak on the hoop portion. The machining on some of the plastic parts is a bit rough too.

Mounting them was a bit like giving birth. At first I slapped them on and found they went right on, but they were not on right. They had some side to side play. To get the most out of these bindings they need to be mounted just as the instructions say. The screw heads on the heel plate behind the pin need to hit the back of the lower heel bracket. If not there will be play in the binding. To do this seems easy but it was not easy at all because of an interference with the middle pin bracket. I ended up bending the tab/ bracket in a few degrees. This gives clearance for the binding as it is swinging into ride mode and gives enough clearance to make the critical adjustment to the binding. I will post more pictures of this later. This mod is a must for anyone that has these bindings. Or it could just be something weird with my old voile board. After the the adjustments were made, I can not move them side to side on the board at all. Zero side to side or up and down motion. They are more solid feeling than the burton bindings on my solid board.

So aside from some cosmetic stuff that will just get better in later runs, these things are the bomb. They work really well. The ease of transition and the rigidity of the board are worth the $$$. With time we will see how they hold up. I am totally impressed that the brothers at Karakoram got these to market and to my doorstep pretty much on time. For 2 guys to get that done is a lot of work. They have also beaten Spark and …………..Jones on delivery.