Tubbs Frontier Series

Summary

Good bindings. My Easton Artica trails broke and these were available. Seems to be just as good a binding and better crampons. Good buy.

Good shoes for the price. They seem on par with the Easton Articas I have.  The heel straps are a bit easier than the Easton ones as my articas (Easton) have nylon/web straps and when they get cold and wet they can stretch a little and make it hard to adjust heels. Not an issue with Tubbs as they use synthetics that feel like biothane to me, so they do not get hard to adjust in wet/cold. 

I have not had them long enough to speak on durability, but anticipate no issues. As mentioned above there is a black plastic clip that secures the instep strap. It is designed with ridges that lock in to tension the system for one snap on/off of shoe. This is all well and good, but hate to see plastic clips on a stressed thing like that — would rather see AL or light steel.

I would not let that be a deciding factor as most shoes use a like mechanism, just an observation. That was the one good thing about the Easton ones as they used plastic tensioners to hold the nylon strapping, but not a plastic clip inserted into it — less chance to wear out/break.