Burton Cartel 2010 Bindings Review

Burton Cartel 2010

An independent user review by Hoon, a rider, surfer, biker, and all-round family man: hoonhwang.blogspot.com

Brand: Burton / Product Name: Cartel / Model Year: 2010
Reviewer: Hoon

What can you say about the binding that can be found on more pros, joes and ho’s than any other binding over the course of the last five years? Yup, that’s no typo. Count ‘em. Five years at the top of its game. I bet you can’t think of another snowboard product that can claim that title. Here’s a brief sample of some of the riders who are riding or have ridden Cartels: Travis Rice, Aaron Bittner and Mark Landvik to name a few. Oh, and did you notice those riders listed aren’t Burton-sponsored?

The truly phenomenal success of the Burton Cartel derives from its “everything you need, nothing you don’t” philosophy. It was originally built as the park and freestyle domination machine, utilizing Burton’s solid, time-tested chassis and a highback that just won’t quit. No wedgies, cinches, FXT’s, cable-activated BOA’s or other useless crap can be found on this binding. Aside from the steezie and slick color schemes year after year, the Cartel offers solid features such as smooth glide ratchets and ultra capstraps. Plus it has consistently had one of the tallest highbacks in the game. Up front, it’ll bite you in the calf until you get a few days under your belt, but like that dominatrix down the street, you’ll be beggin’ for more. Also for all you non-EST converts, the Cartel comes in both an EST and disc version. Perfect for those missions that find you on a 3D or 4×2 snowboard.

For 2010, the Cartel has received a bit of a facelift. Burton has backed off the height of the highback (ever so slightly) and also included full baseplate padding (about damn time!). You’ll note that it comes in lift-line arresting bold colors like purple and orange, with only a few subtle accents. In a world where bindings seem to have more flair than your local TGIF, it’s refreshing to let the colorway to the heavy lifting.

As you probably can gather from this post, I’m a Cartel junkie. You’re probably asking yourself: Why the undying devotion to these bindings? There’s plenty of awesome bindings out there. So true, but I haven’t ridden any other binding where after five years, the baseplates are just starting to show a bit of wear and tear. Granted I’m frankenbinder’d the shit out of these guys over the years, but those baseplates are still the original Polarized White. Until I can find a binding that can perform like the Cartel and stand up to that abuse, the Burton Cartel will always be my go-to binding in a pinch.

Original catalog copy from 04/05
Rule the freestyle underworld.The all-new Cartel™ is today’s standard in freestyle capability. For an insane snow feel, we removed some of the material from the baseplate but added Pressure Distribution Feet for improved weight displacement. This purifies the interface between board and body and reduces damage to your precious ride. The redesigned Team Skyback® is 13% lighter than last year and maintains the same amazing strength, response and stompability of the tallest hi-back in our line

Burton 2010 Boards, Bindings, and Boots Reviewed

Burton Vapor

Every year Burton comes out with a new lineup and every year they manage to dominate the headlines, snowboarding communities, and virtually anything to do with the sport. And with a market share of roughly 60% to 70%, I’m not surprised. But are Burton snowboards deserving of such publicity? Are their snowboards really that good? Or is it just a case of first mover advantage (they didn’t invent snowboarding but they were one the first companies to commercialize the sport on a grand scale)? Depending on who you ask, you’ll get different responses, but in any case, Burton does an amazing job of staying on top of their market. It’s no coincidence that anywhere you turn, you find their brand and products in the spotlight.

One has to admit though, Burton snowboards are well designed, engineered, and manufactured. But not every board they create is a success and we want to help our readers make better decisions when it comes to buying Burton gear. Many of us turn to the internet to learn more about the gear we want to buy, but let’s face it, almost every review article out there is a sales pitch and not a useful product review. Since it’s almost impossible for our crew to review all the gear out there, we plan on leveraging the snowboarding community out there for bias-free and independent rider reviews. We will also focus on comparative reviews, where our rider reviewers will compare to similar boards to each other to give you an even better idea of what to expect. After all, if you’re going to shell out $500-$2500 for snowboards, boots, bindings, jackets, pants, helmets, etc… or a full set of  gear, you’ll want to make the right purchase. Check out our Burton Snowboard reviews page for a full list of our featured reviews.

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