Black Diamond

Fritschi Xenic 10 Bindings - 2022

Toe piece broke

Familiarity:

I've put it through the wringer

As others have mentioned, it is sometimes extremely difficult to pull up on the toe piece to lock the toe in walk mode. After only about ten uses, several large pieces of plastic broke off the toe piece so that it would not stay in walk mode and repeatedly released the boot. This happened on the second day of a six day hut-to-hut tour, creating a dangerous situation for four days. This product probably should have been recalled years ago.

Great bindings. Very light. The only things I dislike are that (1) it's hard to get the toe of my boot into the toe of the binding and (2) there is only one heel riser setting.

Great Backcountry Binding

The Xenic's have performed well on the few tours I have taken them on. The toe seems really burly for such a lightweight binding. The heel takes some effort to put into walk mode, but hopefully that will ease up over time. Nice feature on the toe is it will not give you full range of motion unless you put the toe in walk mode. The only reason for a 9 out of ten is that there is only one riser size. I feel having two different heights of heel risers should be standard since this is not one of those super light skimo race bindings.

bomb proof and light

I love these bindings, they keep the setup nice and light for those tough skin tracks yet when it's time to rip some steeps or absolutely drop a cliff, these bindings got you for sure. only thing is that it may be hard to find a shop that will mount these that's the only issue I had so I just did it myself

Lightest touring binding I have ever owned. Holds up to my hard charging skiing style. Blown away by the weight and strength of these bindings. Very unique toe pin system that took a few uses to get used to clipping in a different way, but is easier to use than most other bindings I have tried. Would recommend to anyone and would definitely get another set for my next touring setup

these bindings need a reboot

My wife has these and they ski well enough (racer background and accepting the lightweight binding for what they are). However these bindings are not trustworthy. She has broken the toe pieces twice. Once trying to lockout, and once we had to break her out of locked. I think the tolerances are too small on the toe lever and any amount of ice will jam the lever. Even when we try to clear them of all ice it can take numerous attempts to get them to work. BD has sent replacements and they are very light for the uphill for her, but I now carry an extra toe piece for her on all tours.

Very disappointed

I would like to speak to someone regarding my purchase of a pair of xenic 10 bindings. I am dissatisfied and I would like to discuss return options. I bought them in September of 2020. I've used them about 30 times since then. It's the first season they've been used and they've broken twice. The season isn't even really over yet! Even when they weren't broken, they were finicky and didn't work to my satisfaction. 1. Toe piece is virtually impossible to lock out 2. Toe pins don't line up with the holes in my boots despite the product details saying that my boots (nordica striders) were compatible 3. Heel riser broke on first tour. Didn't do anything out of the ordinary. Filed a warranty claim, got replacement piece. 4. Brake keeps popping out of place. Didn't do anything out of the ordinary. Didn't file a warranty claim as this is a new phenomenon and I would like to take a different course of action this time. I would like to return them.

worst tech binding on the market

Familiarity:

I've used it several times

Roughly half of boots out there will allow this to go into walk mode, it seems the designers did not bother to look at the width of toe inserts in a variety of boots and many are wider than the xenic will close on. Heel riser broke on my 2nd run. Also, Fritschi wouldn't send me a mounting pattern.

Lots of issues

Familiarity:

I've put it through the wringer

Once clipped into the binding the downhill performance is great. The binding is, however, plagued with lots of other issues. The toe piece is most troublesome. Locking out the toe piece takes a lot of force often requiring both hands. This feels very sketchy when in the middle of a steep line. and forceful jerky motion can throw you off balance. Steeping out of the toes can be just as hard and it sometimes sticks to the boot. In addition, I snapped the heel riser within a month of owning the binding. Edit: After a few more uses lots of plastic parts on the toe peice broke off making it not stay in walk mode.