Jones Mercury FASE Snowboard Binding Review

A Detailed Breakdown Of How the Jones Mercury FASE Rides Review by The Good Ride

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How The Mercury FASE Was Tested:

It was sent to me as a promo from Jones but thinking of sending it back as it’s not a favorite.

Days: 4+
Conditions:  and an early morning slackountry time with Drift Boards & Union Rovers
Riders:  James (Size 9, 5’10”, 185-190lbs). I’ve tested and compared 800+ boards, over 180 bindings and 100+ boots
Boots: Nitro Team TLS
Redundancy: Strapins in case boots or bindings break.
Jacket:
Pant:
Helmet: Smith Method
Goggle: Smith 4D Mag
Gloves: Burton AK Clutch Mitt, Burton AK Tech Leather Glove, Drop Tahoma Mitt

Boards:
YES Standard Xtrm

Similar (but not the same) Bindings:
Union Force & Rome Katana FASE

Weight

The Jones Mercury FASE 2lbs 3oz which is on the lighter side of medium. In comparison to the Katana FASE, 2 pounds seven ounces. And in comparison to my Union Force, 2 pounds five ounces. So these are on the lighter side of medium.

Highback Flex

There is a little bit of twist in the Jonees Mercury FASE and felt like more than the regular Mercury which is good because you cannot rotate the highback. And there’s just a touch of give but not much. In comparison to the Katana, there’s a little twist, but not much. And a little give, but not that much either. In comparison to the Force, there’s a decent amount of twist and not much give, but a little give.

Adjustability

The Jones Mercury FASE is better than all the other Jones bindings when it comes to adjustability, but it’s still a loss in my opinion. You can adjust the gas pedal where you still can’t with all the other Jones bindings, and yes, formerly NOW bindings. In comparison to the Katana, you can slide the heel cup out and the gas pedal forward so you can fit your boot perfectly in the binding and therefore center it perfectly on the board. Unless you’re perfectly centered in it like a nine, like I was. And I was lucky for that. You have to turn these just the other way, slide them heel to toe to center your boot in the board. And the binding is going to be a little off center. It’s not a great solution, but at least it’s better than the old Jones’s.

And then you have tool straps. It doesn’t seem like there’s any forward lean, so you have limited adjustability. But strangely enough, it’s better than the regular Jones Mercury. So if you want FASE and you want a lot of adjustability, then it’s the Rome Katana and most likely the Battalion FASE. But they were going to send me one for this comparison and test; it didn’t arrive, so I don’t know what happened with them.

Flex Underfoot

When it comes to flex underfoot, the Jones Mercury FASE has all EVA foam here, and then a little extension to duplicate the bushings that the regular Jones and Mercury has. They’re not these rubber bushings that you have with the regular Mercury. But you have the same size disc and no contact other than that.

So I think the feel underfoot is actually a little easier than the regular Mercury, but definitely not quite as easy as the Rome Katana with this hybrid mini disc and thicker foam underneath that allows the board to flex and butter better underfoot. Even gives a little more twist if the board is not super stiff. Wear these, stiffen up the ride underfoot, but don’t feel dead. And it was a somewhat similar feel to my Force, which surprised me. And I liked the flex underfoot with these better than I did the regular Jones Mercury FASE.

Shock Absorption and Dampness

And when it comes to shock absorption, you have some plastic right here in the heel. But there’s a decent amount of EVA foam too, so it’s a pretty cush ride. And then you combine that with the foam that’s on the bottom. I thought it did a pretty good job, and it felt maybe just a touch behind the shock absorption on my Force. But it’s a pretty big step back in terms of shock absorption and dampness in comparison to the regular Mercury. And same goes for the Katana. This just has a lot more EVA foam. And then it has this plasticky gas pedal that gives you some pretty good response. That helps a little bit with dampening.

In comparisons where I took the same run, same boots, same insoles, same turns, the Jones Mercury FASE just didn’t feel as shock absorbent or damp as the Katanas. And going from memory, they feel a good bit behind the regular Mercury FASE.

Turn Initiation, Response, and Carving

When it comes to turn initiation and response, I like this new technology. I felt that it was medium, medium-fast, and it has much more instantaneous transfer edge to edge, so it initiates the turn faster. And while it doesn’t power through the turn as well as the regular Mercury FASE, it’s still very good. I really liked the response of the Jones Mercury FASE. It felt more similar to my Union Force. Now that has a more sharp response because it has a lot of leverage from the base plate that allows this board to transfer quickly. And that’s what I love about Union Force, is they initiate a turn quickly in a sharp, quick kind of way. This was a little closer to that.

And it doesn’t let off throughout the turn either. I will say, though, that the regular Mercury in uneven snow when your edge is wanting to buck, it helps that edge stay quieter and then allows you a stronger turn and carve with the regular Mercury versus the Jones Mercury FASE. But overall, I don’t think a lot of people are going to miss that Mercury Kingpin tech versus this. With the Katana, you can adjust the ankle strap angle to give you more support, but also more response. So this is more responsive if you want it to be, but you can dial it back to have the same response as this. And I think most people with most boards will not need more from any of these bindings.

Boot Support

When it comes to strap support, the Jones Mercury FASE straps aren’t as big as most normal bindings. They’re still not bad though, and I never felt like my ankle was exposed or lacking in uneven snow. With a Katana FASE, you could bring this up higher to give you more ankle support up high. But even when I was off piste with these and the conditions were uneven, I never felt like my ankle or my boot wanted to fold over.

And I like these toe straps. When I slid into these they did a pretty good job. I like them much better than these spongy toe straps on the Katana. And I did like the ankle straps on the Jones Mercury FASE a little better than the Katana as well, but these ankle straps are pretty good. Nothing beat my Union Forces though.

Ratchets

And the ratchets are pretty good. Same with the Katana. I like the Katana’s ratchet just a little bit better, and I like my Union Force ratchets a lot better. But they’re like the best in the industry in my opinion.

Stepping In and Out

So let’s talk about what you came for here. How easy are these in and out? Well, at first they sucked for me. I was slower than my traditional strap bindings. But I put some time on these and over time I got better at it. Soon it got to the point where I was stepping off the chair, putting my boot in here, and as I went ratcheting it down and it worked pretty well. There’s no difference between the Katana and the Jones Mercury FASE in terms of in and out.

But one of the problems was on powder days, I had to open this up and scrape it out with my boot because the powder would build up here. And I hate snow buildup on my footbed. I always try to keep it all with little to no snow on it. So it has a little bit of a learning curve, but other than powder, once you get used to it, it’s pretty fast. It’s not as fast as a Supermatics or Step On, but you don’t have to reach down to the side. And it’s a lot better than reaching into the back and pulling it up like you do with Flows, which I don’t like.

Vs. Regular Strap Bindings

I’ve really never had a problem ever strapping it on or strapping out. I never felt like too much of an inconvenience, and I still get so much more out of the Jones Mercury FASE binding than I do this binding in terms of adjustability and feel. But this is really close in terms of feel and just leaning down to do one strap instead of two and being able to step in and step out and having this little thing when you press down on it that brings this forward. I think it’s a pretty cool idea, and it definitely gives you that more traditional binding feel without that weird locked-in feel and limited boot options of Step On.

And then that heavier feel that’s a little stiff, a little bit dead underfoot with the Supermatics. And while this has limited adjustability like the Supermatics, you can get the Katana FASE and get a lot more adjustability. That’s my one complaint about this binding.

Final Thoughts

Now that they stepped away from the Kingpin technology, I wish they added design elements that would allow you better boot-to-binding adjustability, and that would make the Jones Mercury FASE an exceptional, easy-in, easy-out binding. So there’s my review. I hope this helped, and I’ll see you in the next one.