Xplore vs. 3pin+cables

[Stephen]

@Roelant Do you feel that the greater stiffness of the Xplore boots makes up for not having the rails of the NNN BC binding in parallel turns or other situations where keeping the heel down makes the NNN BC binding successful?

In my limited experience, YES!

Have skied 2,800 vertical groomed on Free + both Voile Objective and FTX, mostly P turns, and felt like I had better control and stability than I would have had with Alfa Guard + NNN BC.

[CwmRaider]

Thanks for putting in the time to offer this @Roelant, very good info. I will add that one advantage I find with the Voile 3PC over the other cable binding options is the lever action. When doing laps I close the lever on the down, but on the way up I flip the lever open, freeing up my heel and the cable stays in the notch on my boot heel. I don't know if this is obvious to others or not good enough for them, but it seems to work for me in my limited experience. This is not possible with the heel piece on the Voile Hardwire or Rotte ST Cable.

True. I tried the Voile 3 pin cable but when I got a second pair of skis with Rottefella ST Cable I preferred the binding action of the latter and replaced the Voile as well. The Voile did not clip as securely on the the duckbill of my Crispi Bre.
It is possible to mount the Rotte ST on a Voile riser and be able to clip the heel piece. @fisheater is happy leaving the cable on his heel the whole time.

@Roelant Do you feel that the greater stiffness of the Xplore boots makes up for not having the rails of the NNN BC binding in parallel turns or other situations where keeping the heel down makes the NNN BC binding successful? That's the part of Xplore I don't fully understand yet since I've never been on the binding.

I have not noticed a lack of lateral rigidity, so I guess it is a non issue. How this is different between the Free and other Xplore boots depends on the boot construction to some extent. In any case there is no play at the binding interface, the tolerances are tight.
I do find the Xplore boots better to walk with than NNN-BC boots.

[fisheater]

Thanks for putting in the time to offer this @Roelant, very good info. I will add that one advantage I find with the Voile 3PC over the other cable binding options is the lever action. When doing laps I close the lever on the down, but on the way up I flip the lever open, freeing up my heel and the cable stays in the notch on my boot heel. I don't know if this is obvious to others or not good enough for them, but it seems to work for me in my limited experience. This is not possible with the heel piece on the Voile Hardwire or Rotte ST Cable.

True. I tried the Voile 3 pin cable but when I got a second pair of skis with Rottefella ST Cable I preferred the binding action of the latter and replaced the Voile as well. The Voile did not clip as securely on the the duckbill of my Crispi Bre.
It is possible to mount the Rotte ST on a Voile riser and be able to clip the heel piece. @fisheater is happy leaving the cable on his heel the whole time.

@Roelant Do you feel that the greater stiffness of the Xplore boots makes up for not having the rails of the NNN BC binding in parallel turns or other situations where keeping the heel down makes the NNN BC binding successful? That's the part of Xplore I don't fully understand yet since I've never been on the binding.

I have not noticed a lack of lateral rigidity, so I guess it is a non issue. How this is different between the Free and other Xplore boots depends on the boot construction to some extent. In any case there is no play at the binding interface, the tolerances are tight.
I do find the Xplore boots better to walk with than NNN-BC boots.

This year I remounted my Rotte ST cable onto the 10 mm (smaller) Voile riser, so that I can clip the cable onto the heel piece. Unfortunately snow has been slim and I have only had the combo out once. It did function very nicely.