Flow Flite 3 Binding Review

I recently bought a pair of Flow Flite 3 (White) bindings because I thought it would be nice to get in and out of my bindings quicker. I chose white because I currently have of pair of black bindings and wanted my bindings to look new and different. I purchased the bindings from Seirra Snowboard during their end of the season snowboard sale and got a very nice deal. I was very pleased with my purchase and couldn't wait to try them out.



I have read many reviews where people commented on the extra amount of time it takes to set up Flow bindings. As I was reading reviews before I received my new bindings, I thought to myself, "They're just bindings, I don't get why it would take that much longer to set up." I actually experienced this long set up time myself. If you have never setup a pair of Flow bindings, there's a lot of different things you're not sure about when you're setting up a pair of Flows.

I think the way Flow printed their manual is very stupid. They make it unnecessarily complicated because they have the explanations of how to setup all their different model bindings interwoven together but broken down by steps. What they should do is 1) print different manuals specific to the binding models, or 2) divide the setup steps by binding models instead of by steps. After reading the manual about three times and picking out all the sections that applied to the Flite 3, I finally was done binding my snowboard.

The Pro's:

1. Very quick "strap in" time. Like everyone says, "You'll be waiting for your friends!"
2. Evenly distributed pressure. No painful pressure points on your boots.
   
3. Comfortable snug fit. I felt like they weren't even there when strapped in.
   

The Con's:

1. Very quick "strap in" time. Like everyone says, "You'll be waiting for your friends!"
2. Setup time takes longer than traditional strap-in bindings.
   
3. Don't want to mess with your bindings once you're set up. This is a con because you can't put down the Flow's highback without messing up your setup. And the reason you might want to put down the highback is because you're trying to fit your snowboard and 4 other people's boards into the back of an SUV.
4. These bindings are heavier than my traditional strap-ins.
5. May not work with all boots. Unless you have Flow boots, you don't know if your boots will fit properly.
6. Flow's logo sticker on the right binding is gone after 2 trips to the mountain.
   
7. Binding unbounded as I was sliding down the mountain head first on my back.

The last con is why I sold my Flow Flite 3 bindings on eBay. I "ate it" on a jump and was sliding down the mountain head first on my back. Somewhere along the way, my snowboard was no longer attached to my feet and was sliding with me only because I had a leash on. I have read about people having their Flows unbound from them before and that's why I was using a leash. I never thought that I would experience my bindings coming off as I was snowboarding. I talked to one of my co-workers about this and found out that he had a set of Flows too. His also unbounded as was sliding on his back. The board came off, flew, and almost hit his head! Wow!

I read somewhere online after the incident that the trick to prevent the Flows from unbinding like this is to cover the latch mechanism with your pants. This prevents the snow from catching the latch and unbinding. Either way, I know that every time I ride these Flows I will think of them unbinding on me. So because of Cons #2, #3, and #7 I sold my Flow Flite 3.

Flows are nice, but I guess they aren't for me yet.

PS. While selling my Flows on eBay, I did find of a site that showed the quick rundown of how to setup the Flite series bindings. They also have "How To Videos" for their NXT and M series bindings on their site.