# Est vs reflex vs.... Katana



## Decade190 (Feb 26, 2012)

jdang said:


> Hey.
> So after having all my gear stolen (long/shitty story) i'm starting afresh for next season.
> Boards wise I was thinking salomon assassin vs a jones mountain twin...
> However I have just seen the new endeavour line for 2016 which will use the EST channel. Therefore the "endeavour live" is in the mix!
> ...


Can't comment on EST vs reflex but my buddy has the new Katana binding and absolutely swears by them. Reckon's if you tighten them down tight you get crazy better response and loosen them for surfy feel. Not sure if he's just fallen for the marketing ploy there though.


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## ridinbend (Aug 2, 2012)

If you want one binding for one board and are with this then the est will give you a slightly better feel of the board but realistically I think your splitting hairs when it comes to differences. I bought est cartel for my flight attendant and board feel is second to none. However I can't use them on any other board so I'm committed. Obviously est is made for the channel and would probably be best but it comes down whether our not you want to buy a binding only useful in the channel. I say go est imo. Vitas and the assassin sound amazing though.


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## ek9max (Apr 8, 2013)

I've tried a lot of different bindings and boards on the market. While I don't think Burton boards are better than any of the other good boards out there. I will only buy burton boards because of the EST channel system. 

But now that Endeavor is on the channel, I will be picking up the Live for 2016 too. I have a endeavor cobain boards that was their first channel board.


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## ItchEtrigR (Jan 1, 2012)

What I like about EST is the little amount of material between boot and board, What I don't like is it loses some side to side flex because of the inserts on the outside of the binding frame. Which is why they introduced that hinge on some of their higher end models.

One thing to note is because of less material between boot and board on EST your boot sits closer to the board magnifying boot and board width fit even more.

Another thing which probably doesn't apply anymore is on older ICS boards with the old squeeze box core (negative profile) EST bindings seem to over emphasize the designed flex pattern.


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## Soul06 (Dec 18, 2010)

The EST binding definitely give you a different board feel. Especially if you have the thinner footbeds like the Shredbed, just as example. I can tell the difference when I had those in versus the Autocant footbeds I have in now. 
The Hinge does give you a bit more lateral movement too. Its not a night and day different but it is just enough that you can feel it.


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