# Opinions on Salomon Shadowfit bindings?



## Yeahti87 (Jan 17, 2019)

My friend owns Holograms and I’ve put a few of hours on them only so this is just an impression and someone who owns them can give you more valuable feedback here.

I’ve ridden these on a downsized Typo for me and actually the combo felt awesome for my limited freestyle abilities. The board popped so well, it was responsive and damp enough. I cannot comment how these would work for Euro carving as the board was too narrow to really rail it hard for me but cross-under carves were a breeze. Like I’m trying to think of any negatives now and nothing comes to my mind. Shadowfit gives some more lateral flex feeling imo but no worries about losing the edge to edge response. I don’t jib at all but butters felt really good.

Definitely a great value considering you can find these post-test for ~~110 USD or 150 USD new on sale.


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## buller_scott (Jun 10, 2018)

I had a pair, used them for _literally_ one morning, then went out that afternoon and bought new bindings (I was staying on-snow at a ski resort here, only had the Salomons, and had left my Malavitas and IPOs at home - in order to make the most of the rest of the trip, I had no choice but to get something else). 

Given that I already had other bindings, I deliberated for a _loooooong_ time, before getting my Holograms in L (I have a pro-con matrix thingy I use, when buying new gear that I absolutely don't need). 

The things that sold me on them:
~ Salomon make good gear
~ They are fcking light!
~ Numerous other people love Shadowfit, and there was _massive_ appeal to my recent appreciation for increased lateral movement in my riding
~ The marketing worked, and I could absolutely see myself embracing the increased movement nose-tail, be it for driving a turn, or for spinning off side hits. 

Of note, I brought my (then) Salomon Dialogue Wides in size 10, into the store so that I could fit the bindings properly - I'd presumed to be fitting into a size M binding as per Salomon's own size chart, but absolutely no dice - the fit was so tight that the boot had to basically be stomped into the heel cup in order to fit (with noticeable pressure points either side of the heel), there was massive toe overhang, the straps did a pretty mediocre job of fitting when maxed out, so I had no choice but to move up to size L binding - which was much larger, to the point that there was space either side of the boot, in the heelcup (which I didn't think would be that big of a deal, but it came into play later, as I'll go into below). 

I mounted them up to my Lumberjack, strapped in, felt the lateral play whilst skating towards the chair (which was a new experience, and had me pumped), got up top, strapped in, started riding.... and then absolutely fcking hated them. 

My take / thoughts:
~ There was *way* too much slack in the side to side movement - to the point that if the base plate was any softer (it's decently rigid), it would've meant too little control for mine. 
~ As it were, I felt a serious lack of control in any on-snow situation: when turning at speed, speed checking (almost caught an edge twice), and _serious_ delays in drive when dodging traffic at slow speeds
~ Delays bordering on dangerous, when changing from toe-heel, to the point that I completely lost confidence from a safety perspective (and the cat tracks were starting to ice right up - with my very bad back at the time, taking a slam on ice wasn't an option) <<< I suspect this has something to do with the gaps either side of the boot, in the heelcup. Testing the bindings back at the hotel at the end of the day, pushing the boot back against the highback showed that there was a good ~inch of boot movement backwards before the highback would even start to come in to play, due to the soft heelcup "slack" where the heelcup wasn't touching the sides of the boot, being taken up before the kevlar wiring could offer any support whatosever. 

They disagreed with me so badly that I looked around the village for the nearest shop that sells Burton, and went and picked up a pair of Clutches that night. Thankfully, I was able to return the Salomons for store credit, otherwise I would've been double-in-the-hole. 

By comparison, strapping into the Clutches next morning and one-footing down to the chairlift (service road that was covered in snow thanks to the season's biggest dump), I had more control in my (3rd pair of) Burton's with only 1 foot in, than I felt I had with both feet strapped in, in the Holograms. 

I feel like Shadowfit would work if the boot-binding interface is snug and there's little excess width in the heelcup. If there's any discrepancy like there was in my case, I think you'd potentially have as miserable a time as I did with them. 

I don't regret the experience - once again, it's Australia, so if you want to check something out you have to buy it - but despite spending $400+ for bindings I absolutely didn't need, with tech that intrigued the shit outta me, and researching and deliberating then deliberating some more... I couldn't even come _close_ to approaching the realm of trying to persevere for long enough to adjust to a new style of binding feel- they just didn't mesh with me _at all. _


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## Yeahti87 (Jan 17, 2019)

@buller_scott
So it seems that these need to be sized pretty tight, I’ve tried Salomon boots and they were bulky, I’m also 10 US but with a reduced footprint and I’ve squeezed into Hologram M size without any problems. Maybe that’s why I haven’t had any issues.

This forum is gold ?


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## drblast (Feb 28, 2017)

For park I loved my Salomon Districts which are the floppiest of the set paired with a Space Case. I had Salomon Synapse Wide boots size 10.5US with Large bindings. They were extremely flexible but not ridiculously so. The baseplate was stiff enough that I never felt out of control, so for me they felt about equivalent to Re:flex bindings for freestyle. Like, they got to the same place that Malavitas of the time (2014/15) got to but by a totally different path.

For fun I put them on a Never Summer 25 (stiffer freeride board) on a decent day at Alpental and really didn't like that. On a stiffer board you really have to want the soft bindings on top of a stiff board feel. After two runs I went back to the Unions and it was night and day difference in response.

I'd also throw out that boot stiffness probably has more of an impact on how you're going to feel about Shadowfit than it would on more traditional bindings.

On thing that's not apparent from pictures of ShadowFit is that the heel loop is very soft plastic (you can squeeze and bend it) and the ankle strap attaches to that. You can imagine that if you're putting a ton of pressure on the ankle strap that the heel loop is going to flex up and inward such that it pinches the heel of your boot inward. I think most of the complaints about "heel pinch" come from this. They've beefed up that heel loop in recent years though so it's not as big of an issue, and the stiffer highback on the Holograms probably negates this a bit compared to the Districts I owned.

Summary: I really liked them on soft boards for all-mountain/freestyle but would not use them on stiffer boards at all.


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## buller_scott (Jun 10, 2018)

Damian Å�ach said:


> @buller_scott
> So it seems that these need to be sized pretty tight, I’ve tried Salomon boots and they were bulky, I’m also 10 US but with a reduced footprint and I’ve squeezed into Hologram M size without any problems. Maybe that’s why I haven’t had any issues.
> 
> This forum is gold ?


At the end of the day I'm just an average rider with a personal, non-professional opinion, but yeah man, I really do suspect that this was a noteworthy contributor in my experience with them. 

Your experience is close-to-home for me, given that upon returning my Holograms, I used the store credit for new, properly fitting snug boots (the eyelets on my Dialogues gave way later that snow trip, x2), so I went and sized down into Burton Ruler Boas, standard width, 9.5 - which are visibly, _significantly_ smaller bulk than the Dialogues. 

I think _these_ would have fit into a Hologram M much better, and who knows - my experience could've been very different. Given that I already have my Clutches (and absolutely adore them - the heel cup feels reasonably soft and playful, but then you've got that Diode highback to lean on - I chalked Shadowfit up to a non-fit for me personally.


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## linvillegorge (Jul 6, 2009)

It's not for me. I had a pair of Defenders. I didn't like them riding in trees and other situations requiring quick response. To me, the Shadowtech was very noticeable and not in a good way. Now, with that said, if I was looking for a pair of bindings to surf open powder bowls and nothing but that, they'd probably be my pick.


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## Chamaica (Nov 20, 2016)

I have 10.5, so I might be in the lower range for a large from what you're saying. I think I might just wait a while and hopefully get to test them before I make a decision.

Thanks for the input.


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## eelpout (Mar 1, 2009)

buller_scott said:


> I think _these_ would have fit into a Hologram M much better, and who knows - my experience could've been very different. Given that I already have my Clutches (and absolutely adore them - the heel cup feels reasonably soft and playful, but then you've got that Diode highback to lean on - I chalked Shadowfit up to a non-fit for me personally.


I have 10.5 (28.5 cm) K2's in a 2018 Quantum large, fit fine, but K2's are kinda bulky. 

Now I've only had Defenders (now Highlanders) and Quantums and I've never found them slow. Not quite as quick as my Flows, but they're fine for me. You have to make sure to kick the heel edge so the boot comes up against the loop when strapping in with these Shadow Fit things. Some boots are more of a pain than others, I remember a set of Ride boots that would constantly get stuck in the Defenders I had and would be a pain to get _out of._ 

Sounds like the Holograms maybe weren't the best flex for you and you could have gone up the line.

I hear they are using a new foot bed (Vibe?) for 2020 that has damped the ride even more. Curious as to how close this brings them to Now and Flow.


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## electric (Jan 13, 2020)

I had a set of Quantums 3 seasons ago. Didn't hate them, but for my riding style (no park) there was something that just didn't feel as stable as they could/should. I'm guessing they would work better in the park than freeriding.


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## smellysell (Oct 29, 2018)

electric said:


> I had a set of Quantums 3 seasons ago. Didn't hate them, but for my riding style (no park) there was something that just didn't feel as stable as they could/should. I'm guessing they would work better in the park than freeriding.


I've wondered about them on my powder board? 

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk


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## electric (Jan 13, 2020)

smellysell said:


> I've wondered about them on my powder board?
> 
> Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk



I rode em on a 171 (I'm 6'3") and in deep pow they definitely felt better than average all mountain conditions.


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## smellysell (Oct 29, 2018)

electric said:


> I rode em on a 171 (I'm 6'3") and in deep pow they definitely felt better than average all mountain conditions.


Kind of what I assumed. Only thing that scares me is a lot of time pow = trees around here, and appreciate being able to avoid those. 

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk


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## zc1 (Feb 20, 2017)

I have Salomon Quantums on one of my boards. I think they're outstanding. They have my favourite baseplate and straps of any binding I've ridden (for my taste), and a good mix of response and comfort. I've ridden them for 4 seasons and love them. The Defenders and Holograms seemed to have tighter heel cups and weren't my cup of tea. 

Shadow Fit definitely takes some getting used to, but I have no concerns regarding safety and responsiveness when I ride with Quantums.

You can get used to a lot of things given enough time.


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## eelpout (Mar 1, 2009)

zc1 said:


> I have Salomon Quantums on one of my boards. I think they're outstanding.


what year Quantum’s do you have (mine are ‘18 I think))? I’m curious if you have the ‘20’s because I heard they’re even stiffer. The amount of play in mine are just about right, but I’d like the better, thicker foot bed cushioning they have going on in the newer models. Which makes me think the replacements for the Defenders, the Highlander might be a better all mountain bet this season.


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## zc1 (Feb 20, 2017)

@eelpout I have the 16-17s (last year before they changed the straps). This is my fourth season on them. I haven't tried any Quantums newer than that. I have a backup pair sitting on the shelf, though, so I really have no good reason to try out the newer ones (although I _want_ to).


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## BurtonAvenger (Aug 14, 2007)




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