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Naxo NX21

1. innovative design
2. improved stride?
3. heavier
4. enhanced safety

Rumor is Naxo began with a bunch of Fritschi engineers who thought they could build a better binding and started their own company to do so.

Fritschi's loss is our gain; the start-up Naxo is now one of the major players in the Alpine Touring binding market, and the NX21 is their premiere offering. Naxo began with an innovative idea: a double-pivot at the toe intended to allow a more natural, telemark-like stride.

Anyone who has spent much time kick-n-gliding on Fritschi bindings knows that the stiff, one-point Fritschi pivot point makes for a poor substitute for leather boots and 3-pin Telemark gear.

To remedy this issue, Naxo's engineers added a second pivot at the toe, creating a short toe-piece lever arm, and effectively three points of motion.

As an added bonus, the second pivot allows Naxo to use a full-length Alpine toepiece, instead of the blunt, shortened toepieces of most other A/T bindings (this is because the Naxo doesn't run out of room as your heel comes forward).

Questions of stride quality aside, the Naxo's toepiece is the one clear advantage the binding has over the Fritschi models. With its robust, mechanically-sound toe, the Naxo offers improved retention quality and release performance. For those seeking an in-bounds "one rig" solution, the Naxo should therefore merit a close look.

Thanks in part to its larger toepiece, the Naxo is a heavier binding. The top-of-the-line NX21 weighs five pounds, eight ounces. That's a lot for an A/T binding, especially as one leaves close proximity to a resort and begins climbing the deeper backcountry in earnest (to address this concern, Naxo does offer a slightly lighter model, the NX02, which weighs eight ounces less).

Another concern is the added mechanical complexity inherent in Naxo's 2-pivot design. An extra pivot is an extra point of potential failure—another reason not to stray too far from civilization. Truth be told, however, Naxo has steadily upped the reinforcement of the pivot arm assembly with each iteration, and we hear almost no anecdotal reports of mechanical failure from the field. To the contrary, Naxo has earned an excellent reputation for reliability.

Which brings us to the key question: does the 2-point pivot work?

The answer is a mixed affirmative. Unquestionably, the extra pivot takes some getting used to. On flat ground, most users report a smoother, more comfortable stride once they've gotten used to the binding.

Compared to the stiffer Fritschi gait, the Naxo's advantage is not overwhelming (and no match for 3-pin gear or Dynafit bindings), and it quickly fades once you begin climbing. On steep climbs, the Naxo's extra pivot seems stubbornly unnatural, introducing an extra layer of complexity that is especially evident when lifting the ski or executing a kick turn.

For these reasons, I recommend demoing the Naxo to see if its 'ergonometric' stride matches your sensibilities. The clear benefit, however, is the more Alpine-like release/retention system, which just might give the edge to the Naxo when it comes to frequent in-bounds use, or any situation in which release/retention is a priority over weight.

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