binding plates (for swapping)

Anyone got any experience with plates from www.bindingfreedom.com , or a similar product?

Read plenty of anticipation about the plates on another forum, but little about their performance or ease of use.

any info really appreciated

IDK about plates (which seem like a lot of pointless extra weight to me) -- but I like how these inserts work:  www.quiverkiller.com/ I found it fairly easy to add the inserts into existing conventional binding mount hole to enable moving bindings around between skis.

I have the plates (dyna-duke) on my lotus 120's. The plates themselves are engineered beautifully, add a total weight of 4 oz/ski. I love these skis sooo much for touring, but they are also my favorite in bounds pow ski and the dyna binders can take a beating if skied too hard in bounds, especially on the rally tracks out and back in the Alpental Slack country.

To completely take off one set of bindings and replace with the other it takes approx 30 minutes for an experienced user, which is easy enough IF you are using a 3 mm T handle allen and don't over-torque the hex head.   Moderately annoying if I'm not sure whether I'll be touring or chair-lifting the next day, and with ft12's, I have to move the rear binding back to access the hex heads and remove it.  I probabably changed out 10-15x through the season, great for taking 1 pr to Jackson Hole and 2 binders for both touring and riding lifts.

The plates add ~5mm or so of stack height, which is no big deal to me with the ft12's and if you run ski brakes on these actually makes them recess cleaner. The Barons are arleady a pretty high stack, so you are just that much higher off the ski.  Since there are 2 plates, and they are not connected, they don't effect the skis flex performance that I can tell

The installation kit comes with very thorough instructions and they are really easy to install DIY. The wide(r) mount pattern of the plate to the ski means there should be little interference with holes from previous mounts.

I have a second pair of skis with plates on as well, though I'm questioning the sanity of why I added another 4oz to a heavy dynastar legend pro for dynafitted touring on.

IF the goal is to swap 1 binder (instead to 2) between different skis, I think the inserts work better. Because the plates are machined, the tolerance between holes is less than it would be if you were trying to put inserts in a ski for 2 different mounts.

Product approved.

I've used BF's inserts a few times and have heard good things (Mofro's experience to a T, really) about the plates. Good company and the products are well thought out.

Yep, plates are awesome. I've had them for a year and will echo all the praises that have been said, but would recommend the sollyfits over the dynadukes. I so far haven't had a day that I was happy to have dukes over a good pair of sollys. YMMV.

As far as inserts, I think the general consensus is that bindingfreedom's product is superior.

Umm, what else...? Make sure you get the install right on the money the first time, especially for the inserts. Don't cross thread when you're swapping. Also, it seems like swapping bindings only takes about 15 mins, but maybe i'm just having fun when I do it.

Lots over on tgr, here's something to get you started:
www.tetongravity.com/forums/showthread.p...ight=binding+freedom

Swiss cheese skis:
www.tetongravity.com/forums/showthread.p...ight=binding+freedom

Not hotlinked 'cause i'm lazy.

Edit: TAY automatically hotlinks! the future.

I've used the dynaduke plates for the last....2 years? (or three? Oo) I only went with the duke version since it was the only one available at the time. Solly vs duke is up in the air. One hand you have the nice alpine binding the other you have the touring binding for sidecountry. Anymore if i go sidecountry i just use the dynafits anyways though.

The plates, well mine, add exactly 7.07mm of height so hardly anything. The only thing i notice from the height is with the dukes brakes. The added height prevents them from making as much contact with the snow. Still work just not as well. Same issue would apply to using crampons as well, height height means less bite into the snow. With dukes (and possibly other bindings) the brakes don't "lock" together either if you are carrying them. Not really a big deal for me but just an FYI thing.

Switching out from dynafits to dukes takes me about 10-15 minutes. I dont loctite so add a few more minutes if you do that to each screw. Definitely pick up the t handled allen wrench....youll thank yourself later!

Theres tons of thoughts, even in my own head, on which is better. For just the one binding switching (ie dynafits between a quiver) the inserts seem a better choice. but if you are like me and want solly or dukes or whatever inbounds then plates might be the way to go.