Since this has been the main discussion on this forum for a few weeks now, I just wanted to share my thoughts as far as the touring options available today.
The Shift, having been introduced in January of 2018 and then released Fall of 2018, is still, in my opinion, the most versatile option. That being said, there have been a number of issues reported (as with the Kingpin), and there is no higher-DIN option available yet.
The Fritschi Tecton 12 is, also just my opinion, a better version of the Kingpin. It has lateral release in the toe, it’s lighter weight, and has not presented the number of problems and recalls as its Marker counterpart. With that said, it will not ski as well as the Shift inbounds/on hard, chopped up or icy snow.
The new Duke PT16. Personally, I’ve been riding Marker bindings all my life and believe them to hold a significant amount of market share when it comes to alpine ski bindings. I have been waiting for 3 weeks for this announcement, and I have to say that I’m disappointed. Like someone else already pointed out, the CAST system is give or take the same thing and it’s already tried and true. Given that Marker is one of the larger ski binding companies, I personally expected more of an innovation than what we received.
Please feel free to correct me on any wrong information and discuss!