Stale version owner, rode them for the entire season (70+ days).
They are great, no doubt about that. Very responsive, quick to step in (when conditions allow), the elastic toe strap is among the best I've tried in terms of adjustability and feeling, the weight is not much more than a normal binding. I had no loose bolts problems, in fact quite the opposite, I had to heat them up with a heat gun to unscrew some of them (the heel sliding mechanism) and ended up stripping one.
So why not 5 stars? Two main issues:
Adjustability - They are not as adjustable as the main katanas. The pivot mount has 4 positions instead of 8, the high back only two settings, and no high back rotation available. These are all compromises to have the FASE system as of now.
Stepping in - The way to put the foot in is kind of unnatural, you have to lean your body more forward than with a normal binding. That's all fine and dandy when you have pow or a flat and stable snow surface, but that's not always the case. With icy snow or a slope gradient you start sliding immediately, to the point that stepping in gets harder than strapping in. It may just be 20 or 30% of the time, but that's why I don't think they're a revolution yet.
Solid overall binding. Fase system worked really well with my vans boot. Good adjustability. Nice you can still kick the high back forward when kicking around in the flats. Pretty responsive and has good forward lean (not too much but not too little). Typically like a touch forward lean despite still being a park guy and this works for me despite not being able to adjust the forward lean. Decent board feel. If you interested and like Rome bindings these will be solid for years to come.
I'm waiting for my product to arrive for a month and all the customer service reply are AI!
It seems they just don't care .I don't even have a way to cancel the order so I just have to wait until the season end.
Bought my First new snowboard setup this year. Loving my Rome FASE Katana bindings so far! They feel great, look great and get me out on the mountain significantly faster than a traditional binding. Also not having to sit down is a huge plus!
Rome has always made a solid binding, but the fase takes it up a notch. Getting in (that's what she said) to the binding takes getting use to, but is faster than normal bindings. Feel is great and responsive.
I purchased this product a couple weeks ago. I like how it wraps around my boots and how it can quickly strap in. However the durability seems to be a concern as the strap started to break after only a few time of usages. I guess that’s why Rome is sending along extra parts. But this can bring lots of risks especially when it breaks during the day of riding.
As other customers wrote on here, I was mid run and lost the screw to attach my ankle strap. I don't see the replacement screw up on the website in spare parts and there are several other reviews on here with the same issue.... Seems like a known design flaw and it caused my board to be unrideable. I'll be carrying a small screwdriver on all my laps once I get this fixed...
Rome, if you read this, please put this screw and washer on the site and label it clearly!! We need the pieces!!
Love the fact that you can tune the bindings, like the “normal” Katana. The entry and exit system works fast, though it does take some time to get in and out quickly while riding. With low chairs, you still have to kick down the highback, so on exit it's not as easy to step in while riding away, since you need to put the highback back up and pull the strap up. But I can now do that while riding as well, so it's still quick.
Getting out is fairly simple. Two points here: wider pants that fall over the highback can prevent it from opening, so sometimes you have to pull up your pants before releasing. When there's powder, the latch can freeze up, which prevents it from releasing the highback. Over the last few weeks this happened maybe eight times. The same can happen on backcountry tours where there is a lot of snow. Two things about that: it's very easy to fix—just a little tap and it opens again. Second, you can still use them like normal bindings and strap in as before (FASE).
In the beginning I had some issues where, when I dropped the board to strap in, the ladders/straps came undone. For some reason this stopped happening.
As a conclusion: I'm very happy with the bindings. They feel just like regular bindings, but faster. Especially when exiting the lifts it's a big advantage. It takes some time to tune them and to deal with the above-mentioned issues, but still worth it in my opinion. I just bought a second pair to prove this :)
These have been my favorite bindings the whole season. They preform amazing and feel great. My biggest issue is how they hold up after serious runs. The connection screw from my heel strap to the highback got loose and fell of mid powder run. I was not helped by costumer service, even when I was willing to honestly just buy the screw myself. Darkside fixed it for me quickly and its fine again but i am incredibly weary of the 4 screws, and its honestly pretty annoying to have to retighten them after every lap. I'm hoping this issue gets resolved for the next Fase release, because these binding really do outperform most other ones I've tried.
Slapped the Rome Katanas on my 155 Weston 10th Mountain. The ease of access for my boots was impeccable to the point where getting on and off the chair lifts was just as smooth as skiers. Slapping my boot in with a matter of seconds was the best feeling. The bindings are light and strong, that provide the secure feeling only a mother gorilla can provide. I got plenty of looks and stares just sliding down the slopes and throwing my boot in. Thank you Rome for making me look steezy and popular. The Jerry’s were begging for my attention and take pictures with me to show their moms. This was a great purchase, 10/10 doctors approve this purchase. But in all the good, I would like for the bindings to be a bit stiffer. I like to go fast just like Ricky Bobby.
