Union Charger Pro Review

The Union Charger Pro is described by Union as their most advanced splitboard binding to date. The Charger Pro utilizes the Union Charger disk system, which was Union's upgrade to the Explorer system. It is a pinless binding system that actively joins the board together and rides similarly to a mini-disk on a solid board. Of all the bindings we have tested, the Charger most closely resembles the look and build of a resort binding. The baseplate is what they call “Duraflex CB,” which seems to be a plastic of some kind, potentially with some carbon. The heel cup is forged carbon, the highback seems to be plastic, and there is a lot of EVA foam padding on the baseplate. The Charger Pro comes with all the hardware you need to set up the touring and ride modes, and an “emergency kit” containing an extra disk, touring toe-piece, ski strap, and lots of spare screws. We thought that was a great addition and adds value to the binding.

The Charger binding itself has the same level of adjustability as Union's resort bindings. There is a sliding heel cup with several size options, and the straps have a wide range of adjustability. The Charger Disk, on the other hand, is less adjustable. It only offers stance angles up to 21 degrees, and we found that depending on your splitboard's hardware, the disk halves won't fit past each other unless the angle is 18 degrees or less. For width, they are only adjustable in 1-inch jumps along the insert pack.

Downhill Performance

The Union Charger Pro offers some of the best downhill performance of any binding we have tested. The Charger Pro doesn't just look like a resort binding; it actually rides similar to one. The downhill performance starts at the Charger disk, which pulls the board together and creates a more responsive ride by reducing play at the splitboard's seam. The baseplate on the Charger Pro is pretty stiff and responsive, yet it maintains good board feel and foot steering. The baseplate feels fairly natural in its flex, but it isn't necessarily surfy. The baseplate also has a lot of EVA foam both underfoot and under the binding. This is more than many other splitboard bindings, and it is quite noticeable. The ride on these bindings feels damp and comfortable.

The highbacks on the Charger Pro are stiff and responsive, but their narrower profile allows you to tweak and get some ankle mobility compared to a wider shape. The ankle strap is on the medium stiff side and is responsive without completely restricting mobility. These straps are also really comfortable and offer a pain-free experience. We think riders who value a responsive, comfortable ride as close to their resort bindings as possible will want to reach for the Charger Pro, especially those focused on freestyle riding.

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Uphill Performance

On the uphill, the Charger Pro offers a simple and comfortable interface, but it is limited. The overall touring comfort is exceptional, thanks to comfy straps and a padded baseplate that make for a plush walking experience. The riser on the Charger Pro is a single-height bar that swings out from under the baseplate. The single riser height is somewhere in between other bindings' low and high riser heights, making it a somewhat versatile height, but we think it generally feels a bit too steep for moderate skin tracks and a bit too low for steep tracks. The advantage of this bar is that it is wide, strong, and stable. When sidehilling, we found we could create a lot of edgehold with the riser up and were surprised by its performance here.

We couldn't find where Union lists the negative lean of the highback, but to us, it felt like it offered a bit less rearward movement than other bindings. Generally speaking, our boots are going to restrict our range of motion more than the highback will, as long as it can relax a bit past 0 degrees, but if you have boots with a lot of range of motion, this binding may be limiting. The forward lean lever also tends to fall back into place while walking, putting you back into an aggressive forward lean when you're not expecting it. Outside of these shortcomings, the touring experience is free of frills and will suffice for most general splitboarding needs.

Transitions

The transition experience with the Charger Pro is where we had the most trouble. Putting the binding into touring mode is straightforward: just set it perpendicular to the board, slide it onto the touring pins, then push it down. Some care is needed here because the pins are squared off on the ends. This shape is what locks the binding in place once it is folded down, but if you don't get the binding far enough onto the pin, and then you force it down, you could damage the touring bracket. If we encountered any resistance trying to push the binding down, we would use our hand to tap it into place until we could easily push the binding over. The majority of the time, we could easily get the binding in place here without that level of care, though.

The transition to ride mode is where we often had the most difficulty getting things to line up. The Charger Disk works by placing the binding down onto the disk, turning the binding to align the marks on the disk and the binding, then pushing down the locking lever on the baseplate, which pushes a bar into the disk to lock it in place. If there is ice on the disk, it can be challenging to get the binding onto the disk, and if there is snow or ice in the slot where the bar goes, we found it nearly impossible to get the locking lever to close unless we took the binding off and cleared the slot. Other systems with active locks like this that we have tested tend to self-clean as you lock the binding, but this system does not do this well.

We also found that, among all the binding interfaces we have used, we had to pay the most attention to screw tightness from day to day with the Charger Disk. If the screws loosened at all, which they would do often, the disk would go out of alignment and create problems for getting the binding into place. Even with Loctite on the screws, we had to check the tightness pretty often on these.

Weight

The Union Charger Pro is a bit on the heavy side, but not overly so. The binding interface is fairly simple and light on these, but Union took those weight savings and used them to justify beefing up the binding, it seems. The single binding weight of the Charger Pro is where a lot of weight is gained back into the system. Riders looking for a lightweight package for big days will likely look elsewhere, but riders doing shorter missions won't find these bindings overbearing.

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Should You Buy the Union Charger Pro?

If you are willing to sacrifice some efficiency on the uphill and at transitions for top-tier downhill performance, you will find the Charger Pros to be an exceptional binding. They are responsive without sacrificing maneuverability at slow speeds, are comfortable, and very damp. The Union Chargers gave us the closest to a solid snowboard turning experience we have had in a binding so far. For riders focused on creative riding, those closer to the trailhead, or those using mechanized access, the Charger Pro is a great choice.

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