In europe the old school bca alpine trekkers sell for between 20-30 euro used. I got some initially for early season rock ski touring and they're not nearly as bad as people say.
Pro's:
-Cheap
-works for any boot-binding size
-they tour similar to heavy frame bindings
-cheap
-you can throw them in your bag and do a short lil tour (1200 ft?) Or if it's early season and snow is good and you're hyped you can go for a bit longer tours (4000 ft?)
-good if a (fit) friend wants to tag along on a mellow tour, way better than snowshoes
Cons
-transitions are slower than any frame or tech binding. Probably a bit slower than cast too but that margin is negligible
-changing boot sole length and getting the adjustmen right takes a while. Lots of screws to be screwed and unscrewed each time
-if you dont adjust properly they can pop out. Even if you do they might still every once in a while.
-no bueno for hard snow unless you're going straight up
-heel risers are hard to actuate with your pole
-obviously it's gonna be heavy. They're not that heavy themselves but most alpine bindings are already pretty heavy. Otoh, i think some aatacks with these are lighter than guardians so theres that.
-stand height can be uncomfortable if it's flat
In conclusion:
For the right price they're worth it if you have lots of skis or want to go for some early season pow tour or short tours near the resort.
I have skis with shifts and with frame bindings, i stopped using these cause if i want to go touring ill take the shifts and if im not doing a full day ill take the trekkers. To the point that im probably going to remount the skis with alpine bindings.
For 100 I would still consider them for my use case, but it's a tougher sell than 30. Btw you can often find some on wepowder dot nl
