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Bindings

Spark R&D Arc Pro 2021-2022 Splitboard Bindings Review

  • Price: £518 / €599 / $540
  • Sizes: S, M, L
  • Weight: 1.13lbs/ea (557g) – Medium
  • Entry System: Classic

Lightweight, baby! Take everything you all know and love about the Arc splitboard bindings, drop the weight, up the response, et voila! Introducing the Jimmy Wilde of splitboard hardware – we’re still not sure who’s more deserving of the nickname “The Mighty Atom”…

“Quite probably the lightest and highest performing softboot splitboard bindings we’ve ever tested”

Who Is The Spark R&D Arc Pro For?

Quite probably the lightest and highest performing softboot splitboard bindings we’ve ever tested, the Arc Pros are designed for both male and female riders who are clocking up some serious vertical metres over the course of a season. But while it’s all about “fast and light” with the Arc Pros, they still deliver on those feelgood, surfy turns.

Baseplate

The baseplate itself is the same as you’ll find in the regular Arc bindings, but the heel loops have undergone an upgrade. Using 7075 aluminium allows them to be made lighter and thinner, while still retaining their overall strength.

You’ve gotta get down to near microscopic levels to fully appreciate the engineering levels that are going on here though. Take the screws, for example. Custom aluminium hardware replaces the stainless steel found in the Arcs. The aluminium screws weigh next to nothing, and also feature a deep hex head and unthreaded shoulder which gives you a super tight connection between the baseplate, heel loop and highbacks that won’t work it’s way loose in the backcountry.

Even the pivot pins are hollowed out in the toe-piece to sh hollow stainless steel pivot pins in the toe piece. Don’t know about you – but we’re imagining scenes at Spark HQ when they shave another 2 grams off a product, crack open the beers and give everyone a 20% rise…

“You’ve gotta get down to near-microscopic levels to fully appreciate the engineering levels that are going on here”

Straps and Highbacks

The highbacks are also made from a carbon-reinforced carbon construction. This ups the strength and response of the binding, so it’s not quite as soft as the original Arcs, but it manages to shave off a few extra grams at the same time.

The Pillow Line straps look almost identical, and they have the same footprint as the Arc bindings, but they’re made with Pebax plastic in the straps, ladders and adjusters. You still get the pillows for added comfort and the ribs on the outside for overall structure, but this material is able to withstand colder temperatures and retain the binding’s response over sustained use and some pretty serious sub-zeros. Oh, and guess what. Yep, 20% lighter than the original Arc straps.

“This material is able to withstand colder temperatures and retain the binding’s response over sustained use and some pretty serious sub-zeros”

Roundup

Making a binding lighter is one thing; making one stiffer and tougher is another. Rarely do these two criteria go hand in hand. Somehow Spark R&D have walked the line to absolute perfection – no mean feat given just how lightweight the original Arc bindings are. Starting with a binding that weighed 626g and then shaving another 69g (nice) from it and making it tougher and more responsive? Chapeau, Spark. Chapeau.

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