tomdiving - 25-1-2020 at 03:34 PM
the ebay snowfeet that i took a chance on, though listed as "original," certainly are not. i did have fun with them, while they lasted 3 sessions. an
ankle buckle has broken and i'm waffling whether or not to put decent bindings on them or take my loss.
when the buckle broke, i received the genuine pair on the previous day. i contacted snowfeet.com to see if i could get a buckle. they then told me
that the ebay feet were bogus and that replacement parts are not yet available. they also said that in the last couple of years of testing their only
failure was a toe strap.
my ebay feet have PLASTIC buckle latches. they certainly look more robust than they actually are. these knockoffs do seem pretty sturdy, beyond the
not-so-sturdy bindings. the screws have no loctite or similar compound added to keep them from loosening. all of the screws have unthreaded and i was
very close to losing most of them. that isn't a big deal, because i can put thread lock on them myself. the genuine pair have loctite on the screws.
the genuine pair ski parts are also substantially thicker. i do not foresee the fakes breaking any time soon, though.
oh, and back to the actual buckle, it is riveted to the strap on the fakes. i'll need to drill that out if i replace it. the genuine's have a screw
and t-nut.
as for the edges, the genuine snowfeet have a definite steel outside edge. the steel in the fakes is embedded in plastic and the steel is not an
actual edge, nylon is. the steel on the fakes may just be for higher load bearing.
math-wise, my 63 buck snowfeet cost me 21 dollars per session. i can still use them as-is, but i can't rachet down one buckle. i can hand-tighten it
"good enough." was it worth it? i'll say yes. it was a hoot scooting around on them.
would i go the ebay route again? definitely not. not until the genuine models show up there, anyway.
tom
Ed Cline - 25-1-2020 at 07:17 PM
Thanks for the update. 
Good to snow :P
jeffnyc - 25-1-2020 at 07:52 PM
So wait... you have the real ones now, right?
That really sucks about the knock offs. Did you know when you bought them, or did you think you were buying the real thing?
tomdiving - 25-1-2020 at 08:19 PM
i do have the real ones now. the ebay listing said "original." they used the same pics that snowfeet uses. since the genuine pair are being sold as
"snowfeet II" i had figured that i was getting older version 1's.
i purposely stayed away from the feet that were listed as coming from china, and went with a USA seller. obviously (now) he had gotten them from
china.
the guy from snowfeet that has been going back and forth with me on emails says that their company is fighting LOTS of chinese manufacturers over
these. i doubt that is a winnable battle. if they shut down one company, that owner will probably just sell the manufacturing equipment to someone
else that'll ramp up production again.
i've been duped before. i'll be duped again. such is life.
heeyyyyyy... anyone wanna buy some lightly used version 1 original snowfeet????
funny - when i went over to the school to fly a rage 2.5 today, in the melting snow/mud/grass - i went to put my stake in the ground and the broken
buckle was less than a foot away. that's amazing, because i had launched and skied from many places all around the field.
perhaps i shall make a necklace with it.
tom
Ed Cline - 25-1-2020 at 11:20 PM
Tom, I'm not sure where you are with the ebay seller, but the claim that you received counterfeit or not as described goods is an automatic refund.
There is a time limit to open a dispute though.
Even if the money is small, I try not to encourage the seller. They know it's not the real McCoy in many cases.
Anyway if you just want to be mad at them, I'll help :evil:
tomdiving - 27-1-2020 at 10:06 AM
ed - i will look into the refund approach. this morning i visited my local "play it again sports" shop and got a used strap with buckle for 4 bucks.
i looked at replacing both buckles with aluminum models. they were 11 bucks, but the shipping is over 8. i have a skateboard shop about 5 miles away
that carries snowboard stuff in the winter. went there today, too, but they don't open until noon.
you can now save your rage for another day and cause. no sense in getting ulcers over this!
tom