# Raiden Vs. Union



## Meatball707 (Jan 27, 2011)

I've been a Union rider for years, but the Raiden Phantoms look pretty sweet. How do Raiden's compare to Union in comfort, dampening, durability, and stiffness?

I'm looking at the Raiden Phantom Vs. the Standard Force


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## mbesp (Jan 30, 2009)

How does that mini disk thing they use work?
You just have two screws into your deck?


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## Nivek (Jan 24, 2008)

The Phantoms will be stiffer, more damp, and in my experience more comfy.

I have been riding Union for 3 years and will be starting my switch to Raiden this next year.


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## Meatball707 (Jan 27, 2011)

Good to hear Nivek!

The Raiden's really look like a solid binding, simple like Union, but maybe a little more tech. Raiden's just look lighter, but I know that means nothing and could be lead wieghts. The thing that has me looking at Raiden's is the adjustable heel, Flux were on my list too, DMCC and SF45, but the Raiden's just look solid with less parts to fail.


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## mrjimyjohn (Dec 18, 2010)

i saw a pair of raidens on sale for 70 so i grabbed em'. liking them so far the only issue ive had is the center plate has weirdly shaped indents for the bolts so that they can wiggle around a tiny little bit. doesnt affect anything, but just thought id say. i dont have the phantoms specifically but on the whole raiden seems to be pretty descent quality wise.

EDIT: the raidens dont have heel ramps, only toe ramps. dont know if youd need them my heel just hangs off a little


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## Hodgepodge (Dec 9, 2010)

i had raidens and had no complaints. they make a solid binding. im really looking forward to the return of bent metal for the 2012 season. they make DOPE bindings


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## Meatball707 (Jan 27, 2011)

Good to hear the positive reviews. I ended up just ordering a pair of used phantoms, so once I get on em' I'll post my thoughts. Keep the opinions coming though, it's good to see what people have to say.


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## Nivek (Jan 24, 2008)

Don't get too excited. They're still pretty garbagey


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## Meatball707 (Jan 27, 2011)

Nivek said:


> Don't get too excited. They're still pretty garbagey


Well f me, I hope their not that bad, seems like people like em.


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## Nivek (Jan 24, 2008)

Meh, basically for every Bent Metal, there is something better somewhere else.


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## ardvark666 (Feb 4, 2011)

I am digging the Raiden Wizards that I have. They were only 80.00 and they are comfy. I had old Ride's on the K2 but they had no pad at all and my feet went numb. The GF has a set of Raiden Janna Meyen's that she loves. Actually she refuses to look at another pair. She will use them until they die. It's all personal preference really. I figure if they last and are working for you then they are good. I do like the Cartel's that are on my friends Custom but not enough to drop 200.00 when mine are doing the job well.


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## ardvark666 (Feb 4, 2011)

mrjimyjohn said:


> i saw a pair of raidens on sale for 70 so i grabbed em'. liking them so far the only issue ive had is the center plate has weirdly shaped indents for the bolts so that they can wiggle around a tiny little bit. doesnt affect anything, but just thought id say. i dont have the phantoms specifically but on the whole raiden seems to be pretty descent quality wise.
> 
> EDIT: the raidens dont have heel ramps, only toe ramps. dont know if youd need them my heel just hangs off a little


Mine don't wiggle. I have indents for the bolts but they are still tight. Are you sure they are supposed to move?


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## mrjimyjohn (Dec 18, 2010)

ardvark666 said:


> Mine don't wiggle. I have indents for the bolts but they are still tight. Are you sure they are supposed to move?


no theyre definetly not supposed to wiggle. they probably wouldnt if i made them real tight. i just dont like to crank down on the bolts im afraid of getting dimples in the board


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## Nivek (Jan 24, 2008)

Meatball707 said:


> Well f me, I hope their not that bad, seems like people like em.


My bad, the Phantoms are good. My comment was in reference to the Bent Metal comment of "DOPE"


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## Meatball707 (Jan 27, 2011)

Nivek said:


> My bad, the Phantoms are good. My comment was in reference to the Bent Metal comment of "DOPE"


I figured that out Thanks for clearing that up though.

So to everyone else, I ordered some used Raiden's, they were supposed to be in excellent shape, couldn't even tell if they ridden the description read, LOL. I got them in the mail, the leather/faux leather was torn on the highback, seems really soft. There was a crack in the highback wear the bolt goes in that holds the high back in place and it seems the paint is pretty fragile because they had some chips in them. I hurried up and ordered myself a pair of unions to replace my still functioning and solid Union Inverters, that have over 70 days of 4 to 8 hour riding sessions on them that are working better than a pair of raiden's that were used a few times. 

The tech in the Raiden's is sweet, but they have some issues to take care of before I ever think of switching again. I think if you're looking at something other than Union, try Flux, or something else until Raiden fixes their issues.


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## Hodgepodge (Dec 9, 2010)

Nivek said:


> My bad, the Phantoms are good. My comment was in reference to the Bent Metal comment of "DOPE"


i mean i had bent metals and they were very good IMO. they just werent all that well put together but performance wise, very good. it looks like they've certainly spent more time thinking about their design since they been gone for 3 years or so...


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## lisevolution (Sep 20, 2007)

I have Raiden Phantom's from maybe 3 years ago now in the Eero Ettala blue/white colorway. I thought they were solid, comfy etc. I swithced them out for a pair of Union Data's the following season and felt the Data's were overall more comfortable and had better response. The Raiden's were definitely solid though and I only switched out because I got the Union's pretty much free. 

The biggest complaint I had on both of them though was the convertible toe strap didn't hold to my boots at the time very well. They had a very rounded toe box and neither binding really formed well to them.


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## PredaClone (Dec 30, 2010)

mrjimyjohn said:


> no theyre definetly not supposed to wiggle. they probably wouldnt if i made them real tight. i just dont like to crank down on the bolts im afraid of getting dimples in the board


This shouldn't happen unless you have (generally older) screws that are too long. Most screws that come w/bindings these days will not go in far enough to dimple the board.


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