ewishan

One more note for the doubters... I had another skier, just a few miles from where I live reach out to me via this forum about OB4, and he ended up buying a front mount setup for his ski. I even drove out to his home to help him set it up and answer any questions I could.

It's complicated. I assumed while we tried to find a pair of liners that would work in their hard shells, I was still covered and able to return the product. I was traveling as well for 2.5 weeks out of the 7 weeks total, and I even bought a pair of the soft shells from Amazon and sent them to them to replace the "used" bindings. Just like D3 had a demo program available before I bought my ski, I made an incorrect assumption about the ability to return a product that I did not like. 1) I felt concerned about spending $1400.00 on a set of bindings and plates only to be told that it was now my job to glue back down the rubber covers to the plates. If there is a known manufacturing issue, why not fix it with the very recommendations they were telling me to do? 2) Also, I followed to the letter their recommendations on maintenance, and after returning them to me, the feedback was the "Both spring housings look as-new from the outside but will need to be taken apart completely, cleaned, lubricated and readjusted; as you can see from the picture below the spring casing contains dirt and sand." If the housing's needed to be re-built on the inside after following all of their maintenance guidelines, it leaves me with a concern that the bindings would not release and that the current design is not something I wanted to count on long-term to prevent injury. 3) Also, when the bindings, plates, and soft shell boots were mounted on my ski, the combined weight felt like something from 10-15 years ago. Just too heavy, and too much mass to turn on the course. 4) FYI, I think it is important for people to know my experience, what happens after their 30 day window that I was not aware of, etc... When i initially was doing the research, I found some positive reviews and write-ups on these bindings here on Ball of Spray. 5) I was unaware at the time of my initial comments that OB4 was a paid advertiser. I know now. Thank you. 6) Happy to answer other questions....

Check out my comments and experience with OB4... http://www.ballofspray.com/forum#/discussion/14012/ob4-bindings-not-a-good-experience

Hi all, I felt a need to post my most recent experience with the OB4 group out of Georgia. I had decided to rid myself of my Radar Vector bindings after a pretty bad Over the top fall I took several months ago. Everyone out at the lake had Reflex's, but someone at our home lake said I should check out OB4. I made a call and had some great interaction with Mike Mosely, a founder of the company, and he had been skiing on these release in any direction bindings for quite some time. I have a story that could go on for pages, but I think most would be bored. Let's say that I ordered hard shell sand soft shells and wanted to find a complete system that worked. Within 2 weeks of owning the system, the rubber portion of their engineered plate system began peeling off of the metal. I called and emailed, however, instead of getting Mike, there was now an Eric Allenspach who was heading up the company. I was told that they had a manufacturing issue with the glue they were using and that I should use gorilla or superglue to put the rubber pieces back on to the aluminum plate. I wish I had just sent them back at this point. Instead I glued them up, played with hard shell combinations that I could never find a good fit, even ordered a second set of plates which I thought they had fixed, and even those came apart as well. After 7 weeks of trying to make these things work, I finally gave up and sent them back to OB4. They would have none of it. No refund, no acknowledgement of the defect in their manufacturing process, and it goes on... Upon their receipt of my bindings, plates, and release mechanism, they decided to pull the release mechanism apart. They advised me it hand sand and dirt in it, and that they had to be cleaned and repaired and they attempted to send the whole kit and caboodle back to me. Mind you, their instructions say to spray the release mechanisms with WD-40 silicon every 8-10 sets, and I followed those instructions 100%. It is my opinion that these bindings are not ready for our market. They have manufacturing issues, defects, and a system that although I could send back to them as much as I wanted for a year, I would be off my ski half the time fixing a binding that was defective and not ready for the public at this time. As of today, I am working with my credit card company in a dispute to get my money back, and I have refused delivery of the bindings they sent me. I offered OB4 to pay them a 20% restocking fee for the limited use of the bindings. After evaluation, I determined this setup would not be safe for me. They have flatly refused my 20% offer, don't want to refund my money, and frankly don't seem to care. I am disappointed as I really wanted the safest binding system out there to be worth almost $1400.00, now I'll have to fight them to get my money back. Buyer beware! I have photos and 7 weeks worth of emails that I decided not to post at this time. Email me if you want more info or would like more of this story... Eric

Thanks so much @than_bogan's Appreciate the download and will read thoroughly. Just like others, I am progressing in the sport, and was looking around at all the scars those who have been skiing for 35 years have. ACL tears and rips, knees blown out, etc... Figured I might as well have the best equipment and the best chance of not hurting myself. Took a really hard OTF fall over the front of my D3 Helix 2 about a month ago, and thought I broke my back while I was still in the water. After the shock wore off, I was out for about a week with a lot of ice, heat, and stretching. Hope to never have that again. I currently have Radar Vector bindings, set-up just as the factory suggests, and I did not come out in the fall. Thanks for all the help, hope someone finds the commentary useful.

Just ordered a set of the OB4's. Should be here in about a week.