Thursday, February 9, 2012

Dynafit DyNA Evo, factory defect? UPDATE

1lb 8 oz
I wore my Evo's for the first time today.  The goal was to climb and ski the Middle Teton via the SW couloir as fast as possible (more to come on this). The boots climbed as well as expected (very well).  Only problem was the down, the right boot kept unlocking.  If you've ever skied a boot like this than you know it's very difficult to ski when in walk mode.  I fell my way down the whole mountain.  Luckily I didn't fall into Idaho and only have a sore wrist and ribs.  After looking at the boot it appears Dynafit forgot to add a vital piece of metal that keeps the boot in ski mode.  This leaves me with two thoughts.  First, if the day's objective is important stick with gear you've used and trust.  Second, WTF? They forgot to finish making their boots?  They retail for the price of a cheap car, you'd think they could get it right.

***After a quick email exchange with Dynafit they agreed to send me a replacement spoiler (red piece).  It was a relatively easy switch and now the boot functions as expected.  As I said here, I think these were a contributing factor for the Powderkeg win!  Minus the rocky start, I'm loving the boots!***

5 comments:

  1. I just got a pair of Dynafit bindings in the mail today and the base plate had been used/or mounted to a pair of skis already!? Glad that you made it down safe and sound!!

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  2. Glad to hear you're nevertheless still alive, but . . . that 681g weight is for what size boot? (And for the left boot fully assembled or for the right boot missing the metal interface?)
    Seriously though (although that inquiry was serious!), in the event of some sort of complete failure of the walk/ski mechanism, in my emergency kit I always bring a screw rivet that can lock the upper cuff together along with a Voile strap to tighten up the fit.

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  3. mts-used gear? is it damaged? Are you going to send it back?

    JS-The 681 is a size 27. The boot on the scale is the one without the metal piece but the other basically weighs the same 688 (different scale). We had a Volle strap but it was too small! Screw and rivet would have been useful. Next time...

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  4. Thanks Jason and Jonathan for the reminder. I saved this link where JS wrote up the parts list for the emergency kit, and now that I'm finally on TLTs am going to put in an order tonight.

    http://www.wildsnow.com/4715/dynafit-tlt5-buckle-repair/

    All we need is a bit more snow here in the Sierra!

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  5. Hey Jason,

    Would you mind giving some quick comparisons of the following boots. I own the TLT 5 Performance and love them but would love to do some more races/tours with a crazy light boot. I have some EVOs in mind on sale and the Alien looks really promising. I prefer the Aliens Metal Rivet but the fit of both works fine for me.

    Now that you have skied both which boot would you say is the better touring and newby racer boot? Evo or Alien? Which Skis closer to the TLT 5 or say could handle a slighty bigger ski than a race ski?

    Thanks!

    Tyler

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