ZED Binding Brakes (Past Season)

After mounting, this brake felt a bit wobbly and overall not of great quality, it's mostly made out of plastic which isn't confidence inspiring. But as one other reviewer said - this is the only option.

I've taken it on 3 short tours now, all very mellow, and on the way back of the last one I noticed the clip that holds the brake pad into the rest of the brake had broken. The small bit of plastic had split down the middle.

I'm just glad this broke at the end of a small tour, and not on a bigger objective.

Will be returning this to get a replacement. If I had to buy bindings / brakes again, I wouldn't go with G3.

I'm very disappointed with the G3 brakes I've had the same problem before where the pin is located to hold the brake into the stomp pad has cracked on both brakes it came a part when I was backcounty ski I had them replaced and it's still happening

I picked up the past season ZED bindings and brakes. These are the second set that I have and I’m very happy with how well they work. They are very east to transition from climbing to skiing mode.

Plastic tabs that insert from front over springs come loose. Brakes do not bind skis well when carrying.

As with others one of the brakes broke whilst out touring. A plastic "tunnel" that holds a metal pin through friction cracked which allows the pin to back out so that it no longer holds the brake together. Still waiting to hear if they will replace them. Won't buy G3 again as a friend with Ions had almost a year of grief with G3.

These brakes having a major issue at this time.
Many units have been cracking at the main spring pin housing.

The current tally is 4 broken brakes over the course of 25 ski days. 135 lb intermediate skier with use mainly in the Selkirks so we aren't talking about an outlier in terms of expected user. All broke in the same location (a plastic "tunnel" that holds a metal pin through friction will crack, and this allows the pin to back out so that it no longer holds the brake together). Rather annoying as the brake needs to be removed in the field to continue skiing. If you are willing to put up with the lack of reliability the other issue to consider with the brake is it's flimsy construction and constant rattling.

They're just brakes, but they saved me on day one. Side slipping on some melt-freeze crust, my ski flexed and ejected unexpectedly. Without the brakes, that ski was a goner. But the brakes caught it immediately. Probably worth the few extra grams on my feet.

I broke both brakes in couple of weeks. My friend had the same issue. One brake broke even when I was going up. Soo fragile.

I got the Zed12 to replace some Marker Alpinists that I didn't LOVE... turns out, the Zed12 and mostly its brakes are way worse. The plastic plate that has a pin holding the parallelogram together broke in one binding during the 2020/2021 season and it took a while to get a replacement. That was a bummer.

A similar brake break just occurred on a mission lately, and that's tragic. I think these brakes are too troublesome to bother with. There are friendlier bindings out there that ski competitively well without worrying about the brakes.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/5YDoFEsmVj7j8kZK9

I really enjoy the bindings. However my two sets of brakes were broken at exactly the same place during the last season.
The brakes are broken at the place where the metal wire is connected with the plastic heel via a small hold.
I believe that reinforcing the connection at the heel should not be a big problem.
Can send photos on request.

The beauty of the Zed is it hits the sweet spot of being just light enough to be considered PDL - Pretty Damn Light - and being burly enough to trust it in any conditions, including getting airtime. I've seen my skis with ultralight U bindings go flying down the hill when messing around on playful drops and pillows. Never with the Zed. In my opinion if you're concerned that the Zed is "too heavy" by 100 grams or so compared to some skimo race bindings, you should probably just eat a salad or two instead. The vast majority of skiers are going to find the Zed has really intuitive release values without unwanted pre-releasing, even when really driving the ski hard.

And there simply is not a binding that is easier to step into / adjust / operate than the Zed. If you're newer to ski touring, the Zed is PERFECT because it's SO EASY to use, it has intuitive and trustworthy retention, it's burly enough to handle whatever you throw at it, and it's so light that you won't wallow on the way up, questioning why you wanted to tour in the first place.

i bought brand new ZED binding&Brakes for the brand new Findr102 from North Van destination ski store. When i was picking up my ski set i noticed the mounted brake was quite loose and rattle. Staff told me it's ok and i accepted it.

First test run on Cypress mtn was very eventful. i was making a turn on a blue run and one ski released (on intermediate skier DIN 6.5). More interesting things happened: the brake totally popped out of the rail and fully detached from ski, which makes my ski slide all the way down to the hill. After collecting that brake piece, i had to walk down the slope to find my lost ski (luckily i found it).

Back to home i did some research online and found i am not alone (see the above reviews). Having a close look at the brake, it's just using 2 tiny metal hooks to hook the base of the plastic binding piece which can easily come off when pressure encountered. No matter G3 admits it or not, i believe this is a design defect.

i am writing this feedback to G3 support to see what comes out. won't recommend anyone to buy this brake for serious backcountry touring (think about losing the brake on the steep slope or top of cliff!)