Light on Price, not Performance

By Phil Santala October 28, 2010

So I've got the Dukes, and the Barons, the big difference between the two (outside price), not much that I can tell. The Barons weigh slightly less a few ounces. The DIN is lower on the Baron 4-13 VS 6-16 with the Dukes.The Barons may not take as much of a beating. I have defiantly skied my Barons pretty hard, but not as hard as I have skied my Dukes. I run both of them thru their paces, but just have more days on my Dukes. My Barons have around 50-ish days on them, my Dukes 150+ days.

I'm 5'11", 170lbs, and a pretty aggressive skier who doesn't huck cliffs but makes tight, high speed and torque turns like an SOB. My din in on 10-9 on all my skis. I have never felt that these released when they shouldn't have, and they stay on my feet just as well as my Dukes on the same din.So if you a larger skier, or a very aggressive skier (and judging from the pic someone else posted that may not matter)or a guy who is planning on putting 100 days a year on these, I might think Dukes, but Barons would most likely suit you almost as well, for quite a bit less change.

The higher center of gravity on both Duke and Baron will give you extra carving power on those wider skis on hard pack, and both have great edge control.

O these tour well, I've done a 16 miler on them, while it's exhausting work compared to a dynafit setup on light skis, they make up for it on the downhill (well after 16 miles I was beat either way)and are great inbounds.

View Details: Marker Baron Ski Binding

Helpful Votes: 5 Yes