Dynafit brakes - do you like 'em?

So the Fritschis are history and I'll soon be skiing Dynafits - better late than  never... My new ST's came w/ brakes and leashes.   My experience with alpine skis is that when you most need them on a steep slope, brakes are worthless. I prefer a simple, less is more setup - function rules. What works better at keeping a rogue ski close by - brakes, leashes, both?

So the Fritschis are history and I'll soon be skiing Dynafits - better late than  never... My new ST's came w/ brakes and leashes.   My experience with alpine skis is that when you most need them on a steep slope, brakes are worthless. I prefer a simple, less is more setup - function rules. What works better at keeping a rogue ski close by - brakes, leashes, both?

Neither, hate dynafit brakes and leashes.
Trying B& D ski leashes this year.
Having breakable leash connection when skiing in avy terrain is a MUST.
See here.
www.bndskigear.com/skileash.html

When I step out of my Dynafits, the brakes remain neatly stowed on the top of the ski about 90% of the time. Convenient if I am going into climb mode but not very useful if you expect them to stop a runaway ski. I have tried grease and McLube on the moving parts which helps a little (won't deploy 87% of the time).
I'm going to stick with them since I paid for them and they are on the skis but if I had to do it over, I would stick with safety straps.

Here's a posting I did last month on a Dynafit thread.

"I have used Dynafit leashes for the past 15 years after watching a few friends skis slide away from them while attempting to enter the binding on a steep, firm spring slope.  In late May, I bought a pair of the B & D leashes as mentioned in Lou's thread. I have only used them about 10 times.  I attached a split ring on the rear of my boot for attachment.  It is quite easy to leave the leashes attached to remove and apply your skins. Time will tell."


www.wildsnow.com/1494/ski-leash-safety-strap/

No brakes for me, either. I normally leave BD Clipwire leashes on my boots, and a short loop of accessory cord through the toepieces, but I only connect them when I feel compelled to by reason of steep and/or icy terrain or presence of crevasses. I carry some thin zip ties as an intermediate connector for high avy danger days.

IMO the Dynafit brakes don't deploy reliably and are relatively heavy compared to the rest of the binding.

That said, I've dropped skis several times resulting in lengthy downclimbs or one-ski descents where a brake MIGHT have helped.

I have noticed in sunwarmed snow that my Dynafit ST bindings have a willingness to rotate back to the ski mode. I don't have a vid cam on this so I don't know what is causing the binders to go back to ski mode as I walk, thus deploying the brakes. ONLY happens when pow turns to glop skinning. I have started to think that the brakes may go and the BD leashes Scotsman scored for me may be the go to retainer. I would set it up like the other posters here with the THIN ziptie.