Think XCD freeheel 20 years out

Seems the future is here already. Leather doubles are heavier and far less powerful than T4's, even if they slog along more comfortably. This Rott knockoff of Voile's HW3pin and the 3PC added nothing-- a bit more active than the 3PC and less powerful than the HW3Pin.
And look at that Xplore mess, 100's more for a setup that has 0 activity? Nice proprietary move but where's the market for a $$$ slightly more downhill-capable XCd system? If that Xplore system actually had some level of activity, there might be something to crow about.

This Xplore binding make NO SENSE. It's just a dressed up XC NEUTRAL binding, the same as NNN/BC. TOMM has a video on it.. First he says it feels a lot like a 75mm (plain pins) binding, then he surmises that the new soon-to-be-released flexor will somehow turn it into a binding capable of competing with 75mm cable bindings..and that folks is a segue into nonsense i.e. a fuckin flexor has nothing to do with either activity or heel lift resistance. Now ignoring the fact that the poor guy cannot ski but on a beginner level, he could still do the simple tests I mentioned to him which contrast just a 3PinCable with the amazing Xplore, but true to the tendency of chronically weak Telemark skiers to resist reality, he refuses, going silent after whining about my comments and suggestions.
I am not saying that the Xplore can not be downhill skied well in a limited range of conditions by those willing to flail for the 100's of hours of fucking around needed to achieve the mastery.. WHAT I AM SAYING is that it is yet another neutral binding that without a cable will never be active or significantly stiff (being that stiffness is a function of cable and activity a function of cable pivot point).
Look at the fore/aft floppiness of this boot.. Right a fucking flexor does what to make this systems stiffer and actually ACTIVE?

Yeah, not much of a consensus on DH power turnabilty with the xplore boots/binding. Johnny raves about it but, at one point says its almost as powerful as NNNBC. Almost? WTF is the point? Tom is not very sure about the power either. Shouldn't be hard to ascertain, I suspect they just dont want to admit its not an improvement for legit DH. Probably a stouter boot would be great, I think the system may have potential, but like NNNBC, soft boots will handicap it.

I'm going the other direction anyway. Im gonna give NTN/Meidjo a try next season. XC is XC, T4/Excursion handles everything else up to and including lift serve, but I want more power for bumps and ice and a release. I'm still relatively new, lots to learn and I want to feel the power!

Uh....figure less is better...three pins that last forever is not a good capitalist thing....but they work.....leathers for those who don't want to ruin the planet as in plastic.....skinny skis for cruising....Unless capitalist pigs can stop production of the above.....why not give luddites their due?? Since you guys NEED the big and burly to do the deed you will happily suck up the new and useless...Enjoy! TM

Production of leather boots uses resources too, what are those soles made out of? Where does leather come from? How does feed get to the farm? Give it a rest. You guys use XC skis and leathers for low angle BC, we get it. Its great, but hows that work on East Coast boiler plate laden bumped out steeps?
My woods are just like yours, and I've skied it NNNBC, soft 75, even with the fabled E99, and outside of perfect conditions it basically sucks.
One size doesn't fit all.

P.S. I use simple 3 pins too.

Right - there's impacts to everything. Aren't T2 Ecos fully recycled? Whatever they are, they are a well designed boot. They could be lighter... true, but they're already pretty costly, so I don't know about $1k boots. They have the "power" of at least a moderate Alpine boot. That makes a big difference in how/what you can ski with them. Probably not worth it if you're riding lifts - just go to NTN. And maybe just go NTN anyway because the bindings have way more advantages with less weight, at least in the Meidjo side of things.

T2 is nice for me because it can ski moderate BC and lift-served terrain confidently. That's the extent of what I do, and it's all I really need.

I still ski leathers and NNN-BC and all that, but based on having not-great days out on my long skis with NNN-BC vs great days on my Objectives, I'll tell which one I'm going to grab for what. And for me it's just about having fun. If it isn't fun, I won't do it. I've had fun days on skinnier skis with NNN-BC or just pins. But I know what conditions those are. I also know on a real nice snow day, I *could* ski those lighter skis, and do better, but honestly, they just aren't as fun, so I don't. XC skiing on AT skis isn't fun either. YMMV.