And for him, 'performance' meant one thing. (Somebody else would have to explain the 'X' part of that, sorry.) As I understand it, the three screw toe can be driven noticeably better, tracks better, and thus is faster and ultimately safer also at high performance levels.įrom what little I actually know, Hirscher made the move to the Marker EPS 30.0 Comp binding and the Marker Piston Plate largely because of the Piston Plate's performance on his skis. The new X Comp apparently combines the best of the old Comp and the 'x' part of the X Cell. (I learned this first from pugski's own ScotSkier, and have been told the same thing by others since.) Not as good a design but not defective. Most top racers prefer the old Comp race bindings and also the new X Comp bindings over the ones in between, the XCells, which, as I recall, they say don't track as well, for many, because of the four screw toe setup, and how that translates to performance dynamics. The XCells do not so much have a reliablility problem as a design problem for the best racers. I think the problems with the XCells only become noticeable to top racers, not kids or recreational skiers, and are not about dependability, but rather race performance, speed. In terms of dependability and design, their trouble free history, among other things, has propelled them to the top of bindings in terms of sales in this country: something like 75% of all bindings sold are Markers. Click to expand.Other bindings have had problems, Marker few for a long time, to tech folk who work on them regularly or shops that handle warranties, I've been told repeatedly.

Marker bindings review