Hey Guys, just to be fair, here are some facts:
out of over 7,000 bindings shipped, we have received less than 100 pair back on warranty. That's less than 2%. Industry average is 4-5%.
In a majority of the returns the length adjustment was made by a consumer, not a certified Line technician. Some of the returns, including ones I've personally seen and examined in my hand, were caused by a certified technician mis-adjusting the binding. Additionally, I have personally adjusted bindings on hill for people who were complaining of pre-release, even when set at 8 or 9. Upon examination, the binding's forward pressure was too loose. These bindings were adjusted at a reputable shop, (who shall remain nameless). A binding that is too loose will not retain the skier properly.
Further, two days ago Dash Longe was doing Rodeo 7's over Pyramid gap in Utah while riding production Reactor 12s. I've also personally witness Dash drop a 40 foot cliff under the lift at Brighton (millicent lift for those who know what cliff I'm talking about), stomp it, and ride away. The same day Pollard 180'd a 20 foot cliff into fresh Pow. All of these incidents were with athletes riding production Reactor 12s.
Do I think our binding is flawless? No. Do we take feedback seriously? Of course. This is the first year the binding has been mass produced and available to the public. Of course there will be issues and situations that we could not simulate in the lab or encounter during literally hundreds of days of on snow testing over the past three years.
For every problem or horror story there are other success stories. The problem is most people don't get on the internet to talk about how there binding worked normally. People usually just get on to say how bad of an experience they had.
Of course we're super under the microscope right now because we have a new product, but in all fairness how many people on this site have broken another brand of binding or came out of their system when they didn't want too?
Our binding doesn't make you float above the snow like a God, it isn't impervious to breakage or manufacturing defects, and although it's medically proven to be safer in backwards twisting falls than any other binding on the market, you still might get hurt while skiing on our binding.
We're only trying to innovate and not accept that 25 year old technology is the end all of ski binding design. 25 years ago only the mega wealthy, or large corporations even owned computers...now we're all having this dialogue around the world.
Later,
Jordan Judd
Product and Team Manager
Line Skis
