G3 Onyx AT Binding - 2009 BCS

Finally RETURNING this item. I was attracted to this binding because of the ability to interchange main binding with base plates on a couple pairs of skis, which I'd eventually planned to do after a year using the G3 Onyx bindings. They worked well for me on the downhill (5'5" 135 lbs, not too aggressive a backcountry skier), but the plastic "steps" eventually came off. G3 does not have phone support. Through email support I eventually got a FREE replacement kit for the lost parts, but then the handle to switch between climbing and ski mode broke on one of the bindings. This piece was not replaceable... I could makeshift still use it, but in the end I am returning this itembecause I LOVE the durability and ease of use of the FRITSCHIS on my other skis.

After only a few days on these the toepiece broke and refused to open.

I've been using these bindings all season. I've been touring in the Wasatch backcountry and skiing at the Canyons. They've been good for short bc runs, no problem on groomers. A little play between my ski and my boot when I'm charging hard. I took them to Alaska for a couple days of skiing and they basically fell apart. My heels popped loose repeatedly, a toe pin sheared off in the threads, and I had to take them to a car mechanic in Valdez to have it drilled out. Bummer. It can be very difficult to engage the toe piece via a ski pole on an angle or in powder. I've lost heel risers multiple times. You can accidentally switch from ski to tour mode while skiing. I had the brakes installed and they wouldn't release if I came out of my bindings, so I just installed the leashes and took the damn brakes off. There isn't much aluminum involved in this binding, he bulk of it is PLASTIC. Just buy the Dynafits.

I haven't had any ejections or problems, and most people I've talked to have liked this binding too, don't know what is with all the hate on for this binding on here.

The older model (09/10) like this the front toe piece is stiff and hard to get your foot into. Apparently they revamped the new ones so it's easier to use.

I've never used this binding for flying of cliffs, or taking jumps, and maybe that's why people dont like it. But for backcountry, powder, hiking, or groomed runs this binding performs GREAT!

First up I’ve never skied a set of Dynafit bindings.
I’m male, 5’ 51/2”, 135 lbs+/-, expert skier.
My previous AT bindings were Fritschi Freerides.
I didn’t like they way the Freerides flexed or the catching/clicking in tour mode.
And the way binding articulates when touring plus the weight of the Freerides.
What I wanted was a tech system binding with: the ability to change from tour to ski without removing the skis.
The Onyx’s are mounted on K2 CoomBacks 167cm.
This has not been a good year for AT skiing in Southern Idaho.
The back country has been treacherous; so far eight people have been killed in avalanches.
The snow has been wet heavy crud or ice. Most of my skiing has been in ski area boundaries, with a few sessions out of bounds. Here’s my review after four months of use:
Touring:
The Onyx’s excelled in touring. They were easy to get in and out of. I could engage the heel lifts without stopping. I’ve never used the tour lock. (If I had a 30+ lbs pack on I would). I could remove skins without taking my skis off.
Skiing:
The binding worked on the level of a regular down hill skiing binding. I ski a 6 DIN.
I never had a pre-release all winter. I skied, them in bumps, hard pack, ice and heavy crud.
I’ve landed 8-10 foot drops on to moguled flat landing and never busted out of them. I’ve hit trees with the sides of my skis and my skis have stayed on. I ended up in a tree well and the bindings were very easy to get out of by using on hand to release the rear and grab the ski and push down with your palm to release the front.
Also, I never had any of the lifts come off and I’ve caught them with my tails crashing through brush.

I've skied 40+ days, on and off resort, on these bindings mounted to K2 Coombacks 174 and Mt Bakers. Toured great and skied great. Felt stable as I skied off boulders into thigh deep PNW "pow". No ejection problems. Heel lift slipped off the pin one day, but I was able to fix it with no problems since. Summer Skiing and climbing is great!

The Onyx is a nice system for those looking for an alternative to a Dynafit binding. While not the lightest weight tech binding option, I believe it's features make the little bit of extra weight worth it over their counterparts. For one, switching from ski to tour can be done without removing the ski. Yes, I know you can kind of do this with dynafits, but it's much more fiddly than throwing the lever on the onyx.
Second, the heal risers are flip risers. I've never been a fan of the "spin the post" system on dynafit binders and have seen a few break due to this leaving the skiier in a crappy situation not being able to ski out; I don't have to worry about that with the onyx. Even if a riser breaks, my heel post is still sound and I can ski out.
Third and one of the most important is the way the toe jaw operates. On the onyx you must press on the forward piece to open the jaws and insert your toe. While I agree that this makes it kind of a pain to put on in powder or on a steep section, it prevents lateral toe prerelease. All the dynafit models (save next years radical with power towers that help to combat this) are prone to this sort of release when the boot sees a high lateral load. The wings flex and can pop open, releasing your toe piece too early. Since the onyx naturally wants to clamp rather than open, it will take a far higher load to initiate a prerelease. While this problem isn't glaring (people have been using dynafits for years) it's something I didn't really want to take the chance with. Personal preference really.

I've been skiing on the onyx for two years now and haven't had any major issues that any of the other reviewers have had. They've seen plenty of backcountry and resort days and I couldn't be happier with them. You can't ski them hard like a duke, so if you're going to go huck yourself off of stuff consider a different binding and don't complain when these don't preform in that manner. Use them for their intended uses and you'll love them.

I got these mounted up on a pair of Dynafit Mansulas with a pair of Dynafit ZZeros, somebody made a comment isn't that blasphemous mounting the G3's with so much Dynafit equipment?! But what I like about these over the Dynafits is that I can swap them between different pair of skis. You can get a mounting plate from G3 and swap the same pair of bindings between multiple skis, so instead of having to buy 2 pair of $450 bindings, its one pair and a $70 mounting plate. I have 6 hard days in the resorts and 2 days touring on these, and they have worked well. The only releases I have had were from weird twisting motions, never had an "auto eject" or anything like that. I even took a short 4 foot drop into a crater which threw me as far forward as you can go without your head hitting the skis and they stayed on. 6-8 footers or beating chopped up super heavy Sierra crud at high speed wasn't an issue in the least bit either. I'm no extreme skier, but am 6 ft, 190 lbs and I work my gear pretty hard. My only problem was heavy wet snow packing under the toe piece and making it hard to release manually (beat it with my pole and stomped the ski and the snow came out), but even Dynafits have issues with snow packing in the springs etc. As for touring, I upgraded from a pair of Freerides and it was noticeable lighter and smoother tour! Plus you didn’t hear that annoying clunking noise with every step! And yes, I did use the ability to click in and out of tour mode without removing the ski or skins, Tele mode on a short 35 degree slope to work the terrain isn’t always fun, that’s why I am on Randonee skis!!

Bottom line: No complaints after 8 straight days of hardpack, groomers, heavy Sierra Cement and blower powder on them, and have another 3 days BC this weekend!!=

I've been skiing on the onyx most of the season both in the backcountry as well as some in bounds. They have pre-released plenty of times even with the dins cranked all the way. This last week I was coming down a mellow slope and the pins in the toe piece completely snapped and sent me and my ski flying. My leash also failed and I ended up running after my ski. I've had problems all season with losing the risers as well.

While I do enjoy the flip option of dual risers and the general ease of the touring to ski mode these bindings just don't hold up. Along with the other reviews I hated putting these on on ridge lines or anything with much of an angle. I took them back yesterday and exchanged them for dynafits, it's worth the extra money for a more stable and lighter binding.

I wish I could give the Onyx a positive review, but they just failed on to many occassions. Continual problems with the brakes: (a) failure to deploy, and (b) incredibly irritating when they will not stay locked up for tour mode.
Additionally, both of the heal pieces blew out on the same day. Fortunately the toes lock in and I was able to tele out. Additionally, having to hold open the toe piece with a pole to get the boot in flat out sucks, particularly in powder.

If you can't rely on and trust them in the backcountry...what is the point? Dynafit it is.

The folks at G3 need to take some serious time to address some potentially hazardous, if not deadly design oversights (I'm not being hyperbolic here). I come from a racing background and started venturing into the backcountry after my NCAA eligibility expired. I originally bought Frishis - they're bomb proof, but heavy - but ended up trading them for the Oynxs when my local shop got nervous about running the Frishis with Radiums (it's fine, by the way). I have these mounted up on a pair of BD Verdicts. The first time I took these out one of the plastic arms for the "low" tour setting broke off. Either the torx bolts that hold it on were never put in, or the engineer who put the hardware/manufacturing scheme together didn't think things through - the shoulder on the bolthead is tiny, and they had no locktite. I replaced the bolts and locktited them, problem solved. The second time I took these out I skiied from the summit of Hood in rough, hard snow. The plate that holds the toepeice to the ski disintegrated on the upper palmer snowfeilds - where it's wide enough for me to pull the one ski gig off. I hate to think of what could have happened if the binding had flaked above a cornice field. There are several obvious solutions to fix the plate: Either beef up the plate, use a stronger plastic (... glass filled Nylon?) or machine it from AL (which would send the price skyward).

If these things are fixed, the Oynx will be an excellent, well designed piece of equipment. Until then, I'll go nowhere near them and I'd advise all to do the same.

The folks at G3 need to take some serious time to address some potentially hazardous, if not deadly design oversights (I'm not being hyperbolic here). I come from a racing background and started venturing into the backcountry after my NCAA eligibility expired. I originally bought Frishis - they're bomb proof, but heavy - but ended up trading them for the Oynxs when my local shop got nervous about running the Frishis with Radiums (it's fine, by the way). I have these mounted up on a pair of BD Verdicts. The first time I took these out one of the plastic arms for the "low" tour setting broke off. Either the torx bolts that hold it on were never put in, or the engineer who put the hardware/manufacturing scheme together didn't think things through - the shoulder on the bolthead is tiny, and they had no locktite. I replaced the bolts and locktited them, problem solved. The second time I took these out I skiied from the summit of Hood in rough, hard snow. The plate that holds the toepeice to the ski disintegrated on the upper palmer snowfeilds - where it's wide enough for me to pull the one ski gig off. I hate to think of what could have happened if the binding had flaked above a cornice field. There are several obvious solutions to fix the plate: Either beef up the plate, use a stronger plastic (... glass filled Nylon?) or machine it from AL (which would send the price skyward).

If these things are fixed, the Oynx will be an excellent, well designed piece of equipment. Until then, I'll go nowhere near them and I'd advise all to do the same.

These bindings seem to do the job, despite the obvious oversights on the heel piece. I suffered the loss of a heel lift after a very mellow tumble like just about everyone else on this post, but I haven't experienced any of the free release, unintentional switch from ski to tour, or sloppy feel that others have commented about.

The guys at my "local" shop ( it's in quotes because I have to drive 30 minutes to find a good BC ski shop, the only reputable place in Tacoma, WA closed this summer. But I'll save that rant for another day) gave me all the 411 on these bindings before mounting them to my Kahru Spires so I kind of knew what I was getting into. That being said, they did a great job on the mount and have helped me get the retro kit for the heel lifters. Yeah, it's BS that owners of this binding have had so many problems, but maybe some of these are originating at the shop.

Who knows? Maybe I'll update this post in a week after I have free release in line for the chair lift, or the heel piece desintegrates during a tour.

Skied the onyx a couple dozen times this spring/summer 2010 on many cascade volcanos. Absolutely no problems with them, takes a little getting use to operating, but works great once you figure them out.

I have three different skis all mounted with onyx mounting plates. It now only takes me 5 min to change bindings from one ski to another, which is awesome (avoided buying 3 sets of any other brand bindings, makes these really cost effective).

Totally recommend these, especially if you have a quiver of skis.

Bindings that bind. What more could you want?

I have the Onyx mounted on G3 Zenoxide skis, and ride Dynafit Titan boots.
I have broken the small heellifter in plastic twice, and it keeps coming off. I have stoppers mounted, and have had a lot of annoying and unintentional releases without the stoppers deploying.
I got this binding to have something more robust for the Titan boots, but will definately go back to the Dynafit bindings next time.
Not impressed!

So far, I love them. I had a problem with the brakes, but I received the repair kit and they work fine now. Great for touring. light and tough. I have never had an unwanted release. Heel lifters work fine. I use my super heavy Fritschis at the resort and I use these for touring in the backcountry. I have these mounted on G3 Tonic skis and I love 'em.

I purchased the G3 Onyx for my wife's first attempt at AT. During the season, while on trail, she has struggled with the ease of entry and operation. She has trouble with entry, particularly on any slope with angle. Entry is difficult because of the need to depress the toe for entry. After skinning her first day, the toe pieces had become frozen with show and would not open except with hard banging to clear the frozen snow. I need to replace these technical binding with a more conventional AT binding such as Marker's Touring bindings. She has not be able or willing to adapt to the Onyx.

I have the Dynafit FT 12, love it, and would not consider the G3 as a replacement.

This is the first time I have ever written a bad review. This is because I broke the heel lifts off on my 3rd ride. Additionally, spite anally checking the ski mode and cranking up DIN settings I still ejected while skiing. The ejections are RANDOM! What happens spite making sure you are in ski mode, the binding will magically switch into tour mode. Its a cool trick which impresses all bystanders with an amusing crash but its not so fun for the skier.

MESSAGE TO G3: toe pie is great, locks in, has a solid hold, and climbs well. The heel piece is terrible! its long, switches into touring mode from ski mode without you making the switch, and the heel lifters are WWAAYY to flimsy/kind of make it look super ghetto. Please redesign the heel piece, you guys are great and the binding has great potential but it SUCKS! Make the heel shorter or change how where the touring lever is, and redesign the heel lifts. They seem like they were an after thought

I demo'd this binding and fully agree with the poor reviews below. The toepiece is rock solid and probably stronger than a Dynafit toe piece, however that does not matter when the heel is junk. People ride a dynafit style binding because they are so light and tour so well. At 1430 grams, this binding is twice as heavy as a Vertical ST, immediately eliminating one of the key advantages of a dynafit system (weight). The binding tours well enough, but I'd rather pay 2x as much for the real deal than mess with this binding.