good so far - only time will tell

By Ben Reff Ranked #157 - Snowshoes November 30, 2010

There's not a lot to say about these snowshoes - they do the job of keeping you from sinking to your eyeballs in white fluffy stuff. They're relatively lightweight and comfortable to use. I've had the opportunity to use them several times and they've kept me afloat in 2-3 feet of fresh, light powder in the mountains of western Montana. Some snow does accumulate on top of the deck, but the majority of it passes through the openings between the deck and frame.

I do have two complaints: First, the binding system, while touted as simple due to the single continuous strap, is actually unnecessarily complex, in my opinion. It would help immensely if Atlas provided illustrated instructions with the product tags. The included written instructions were basically useless. Also, while the written instructions referred me to the Atlas website for an instructional video, I was not able to find any such video (perhaps it exists, but it was far beyond my patience to locate it). That kind of oversight in customer support is more than a little irritating. On the bright side, the binding is at least functional, as they never felt loose and I never had to stop to readjust them. It just took me slightly longer than I would have liked to figure them out.

Second, I am concerned about the durability of the nylon deck material. After owning the snowshoes for just a few short weeks, there is already visible wear to the nylon. The wear has occurred where the bottom of my boot makes contact while walking, and near the front part of the binding where it rubs against the edge of the nylon. The latter is pictured.

I'm hopeful that these minor wear issues, which are currently purely aesthetic, will not worsen or affect the function of the product in the long term. If they do, I may have to return them (I got my snowshoes from that other gear company with an infinite return policy....).

View Details: Atlas 10 Series Snowshoe

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