Crampon Season-What's your fancy?

Maybe Spring will come and provide some corn and refreeze?
There are a variety of users and crampon selections out there.
Amar's recent HERE on the toe piece adjustment on the Dynafit Cramps got me thinking about getting a set of crampons for my Dynafit Speed/classic setup and Fritsch/Kailias set up since both skis are about the same width in the waist.

I have looked at TAY, TGR, Lou's and Jonathan S's sites to research. Got useful insight to all levels from shaving boot soles to JB weld reinforcements and so on...

Jonathan S Page

I like the B & D set up off first look compared to Dynafit. It gives me a few options.
1) I think I can use the B&D crampon for Fritschi/Kailias set up so I can use both hinge/free walk (for rolling terrain) and lockdown modes (more aggresive conditions) as long as I purchase the mounting block and lock down for both.
2) A) I can use the Dynafit slot provided on the Speed binding and just get a lockdown for when I need to be fully locked in.
Or as Amar suggest order the new toeplates with the steel reinforced slot.
C) Or not use the Dynafit slot at all and get the B&D mounting blocks and lockdown, cut off the slot on the Dynafits. This means more holes in the skis and some weight/snow collectors.

What are your preferences to Hinge style and lock down style?
I like the best of both worlds, but interested what your experiences are like?

Just wondering what others use since there are about 15 other varieties, not including the snowboarder versions.

I looked at the Voile option it looks great and light, quick to take off, but it only comes in lock down mode which is problematic in the rolling terrain. I could use that for both skis and maybe even the Tele setup too.

What's your take?
Let the tech geek in you out of the closet-
Thanks
Joe

Let the tech geek in you out of the closet

Oh, the tech geek in me is pretty much always out there front & center!

A few assorted points:

1. If your Fritschi is the D2/D3/Explore/Express (instead of the Freeride, which has a slightly higher standheight), the B&D crampons will not work.

2. Having the same crampon for both a Dynafit and Diamir setup would be pretty neat. But looking at his website, I'm not sure that's feasible: his Diamir crampon uses a Dynafit-style attachment point, but the "pressure post" configuration is different. So definitely ask him for clarification on that.

3. Swapping in the Comfort / Vertical ST plates in a TLT IV/Tech/Classic/Speed with zero-out the binding delta angle, making it akin to the Fritchi delta. If you've never even noticed the difference between your two setups in this regard, then you can disregard the prior sentence! This will also add some weight, and you'll need to get the longer binding screws too.

4. I really like a pivoting scrampon design. Otherwise, deploying ski crampons means zero glide and lots of resistance. I have been in some tricky situations where a fixed crampon would help, but I probably shouldn't have been skinning then anyway. The B&D design that allows the crampon to be locked selectively is pretty neat, so that's definitely a factor in his favor.

5. If you get the B&D crampons for your Dynafit bindings, I don't see any point in cutting off the Dynafit slot -- the problem with the Dynafit slot is pretty much confined only to the first Comfort generation, which uses different plastic than the IV/Tech/Classic/Speed.

Also, note that a really big difference exists between the following two websites:
www.bndskigear.com/
www.banddgear.com/
(Don't go to the second on your office computer -- or maybe just don't go to it at all!)

Sounds like you're doing your job researching it out, Joe. Well done.
I prefer the free pivot and simplicity of the dynafit sytle ski crampon. Being old and slow I need all my energy focused on getting up the hill so I prefer to drag my skis rather than lift them up. I actually do not see the advantage of fixed crampons because when you stomp down on hinged crampons it appears to me they seem to penetrate the same as the fixed units would. OTOH, being required to lift 5 or 10 pounds of boot/ski/skin entirely clear of the snow with each step in order to move forward seems like a major disadvantage to me. If I need more grip than what I can get with Dynafit ski crampons I go to aluminum boot crampons.

This is a subject that seems to come up annually here, at wildsnow, tt, and elsewhere.  I have used both over the years and almost always would prefer the fixed. Will be getting the B&D option lock for my Dynafit. When one is on a firm, even moderately steep slope requiring high heels, the floaters have almost no bite. I agree with Ron that it's nice to keep a sliding gait to save energy but I seem to expend far more energy in trying not to slip. Of course carrying the skis and having boot crampons is the other option but that requires a good deal more energy.
Before going dark side about 8 years ago, the fixed Rainey's were great for tele. Can't count how many times I wish those dynafits would not float. Of course if you have steel cable achilles tendons, you don't need the high heels.
Good example involving common trip is to ascend the standard NW route up Earl Peak on a cool spring morning. Try and skin the whole thing with non fixed crampons.
Question for those who may have varied quiver widths: if you use a crampon sized for fatter skis on say a 70 or 78 waist, could this be problematic (other than small weight penalty)?  Like not to have to buy a second set of crampons. I seem to remember something about having lots of extra crampon width possibly causing breakage.

When one is on a firm, even moderately steep slope requiring high heels, the floaters have almost no bite.

The key with regular Dynafit crampons is to add a little spacer on top of the crampon -- the little round spacers from the TLT heel work very well. With the extra little "bite" from such a setup, I've skinned up routes like Shasta's Avalanche Gulch & Hotlum-Wintun (and the East Cost's Right Gully on Mt Washington). The only time I would have like a fixed crampon was when my route got a little messed up and I was briefly side stepping more than I really was skinning.

Question for those who may have varied quiver widths: if you use a crampon sized for fatter skis on say a 70 or 78 waist, could this be problematic (other than small weight penalty)?

I used the "widest" Dynafit crampons (effective ~86-88mm clearance) on my old Atomic TM:11 67mm skis with no problems.