jhkiefer

@Broussard okay great. my binding has sliding slots on the front and back, and individual holes in the middle. The metal piece slots into the ski itself, then you screw the other two into that? Wouldn't the binding not be flush with the ski then but instead resting on the surface of those pieces? Sorry if this is unclear

@aupatking yes, however from my memory there aren't holes for middle screws on the ski. ill double check this

@Horton thanks for the input. thats what im thinking. Attached are photos of my front binding and rtp. As you can see by the red circle there appears to be some foam absorbers in between the plate and the ski. Just wasnt sure if they NEEDED to be flush against the ski.

@Horton just 4. same deal with the rtp.

Great, thank you @Tevskis and @MDB1056! Been looking for a shop as well. This info helps.

Thanks for all the recommendations. Ended up between Follow or O'neill. Went with the slasher! :)

@buoyboy1 Great, thanks for the recommendation. Honestly not too worried about rib/chest protection, just want a single vest that will keep me afloat if I were to ever go unconscious in the water. Wondering if most impact vests do that to some degree- never tried one on before.

@aupatking its made with a very stretchy bungee. Naturally my leg doesn't fill the upper cuff and tightens down pretty nicely over the top of my foot so I think I should be good.

@vtmecheng thanks for this

@BraceMaker elaborate?

@OldboyII Haha! Might as well be an advertisement for radar.

@Skiphreak I recently joined my school's collegiate team and their setup is a syndicate A1 with vector (non-boa) bindings. I do really like the vectors. I believe I had one OTF this season and did in fact slip out of both feet. Honestly it will probably just come down to whatever the cheaper option is that still makes sense for what I want. I'll go ahead and PM you about tho vectors, or if anyone has a hardshell they'd let go for cheap...let me know

Thanks @DonT . Honestly speaking, I'm a pretty experienced freeskier who's just now starting to get into course skiing. I really prefer the comfort and secureness of a laced binding compared to rubber, however the release characteristics concern me. I've looked into hardshells (which seem like the perfect median) but can't seem to justify one due to their price, and truthfully, I don't think I'm skilled enough to deserve one... yet :D Thanks for your input though, will probably end up finding a set of direct connects and try them out.