NOW Select Pro 2020 - 2019 Review by The Good Ride

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The NOW Select Pro has some deal breakers for some riders and some season makers for others that are looking for a ton of shock absorption and a smooth turning experience for easy turning boards.

Ethics Statement: We don’t get paid by the manufacturer to write these reviews.  We do make money from the “Where To Buy” links, but this is our best attempt at an honest and objective review from an average riders’ perspective.

How This Review Happened:  We borrowed this for an extended demo and then returned it.  We borrowed this for a day and then returned it. We had a couple of laps at a frantic manic demo day. We liked it so much we asked to keep it (we only do this with our favorites).  After a demo, we liked it so much we bought it.  We spent our precious Good Ride dollars to buy this and review it.

Days: 3
Riders:  James (Size 9, 5’10” 185-195lbs)
Boots: Adidas Tactical ADV
Insoles: Sandsole Custom Insoles
Boards: Gentemstick Mantaray 156, Yes Greats, YES Ghost.

Highback Flex: There is a pretty medium flex pulling back with a nice bit of give that I particularly liked and it also had a pretty easy twist to it compared to the Now Drive and even compared to the IPO.

Binding to Boot Adjustability: Nothing much happening here. The High Back is pre-rotated, the ankle/toe straps are adjustable but the footbed is not. So you have to use the disc if you don’t fit centered in the binding to center yourself better on the board.

Stance Width Adjustability: If you can center the boot/binding on board well then you can slide it a little bit tip to tail but not as much as most discs out there.

About the Kingpin Tool-Less Kit– Something I forgot to mention in the video is the fact these bindings have a way to switch out much easier between boards. So if your ratio of bindings to boards is off you can buy the Kingpin mount that comes with some discs and screw that in on another board. Then just unscrew in the middle and you can pop it on your board. This is a great idea and it’s a hell of a lot easier to mount it compared to unscrewing and screwing in on normal bindings. At $45 dollars per extra board that’s a pretty cool accessory.

Comfort: So this comfort is really hit or miss depending on your boot’s sole. If you have a soft sole as I do you could have pressure from the sway bar under the gas pedal like I did. This has happened with any soft sole boot I have used with NOW bindings . However, if you have stiff soles, the problem doesn’t usually happen as I didn’t feel it when I tried a stiffer soled boot on the same day. The width of the NOW Select Pro seems to be better than it used to be even for the hanger bed 1.0 that is narrower than the 2.0. I didn’t feel the boot pinch anywhere. The high backs are comfortable and didn’t bite into my calves the way they were rotated. The ankle straps are very comfortable too. So if your boots are stiff in the sole this is a very comfortable boot and if they aren’t it probably won’t be.

Boot Support: The NOW Select pro has decent boot support around the heel cup and a pretty balanced ankle strap that allows for some freedom without being too free.

Turn Initiation/Response: Very smooth response that was in the middle of the spectrum compared to most bindings in the industry when you had the stiff bushings and then it mellows out as you go softer. The overall turning experience is unique and pretty fun with this kingpin tech no matter what bushing you use.

Buttering: Not that easy to butter even with the softer stoppers/bushings on the bottom but it was a little better.

Ratchet System: After a few runs the ratchets smoothed out and they had a pretty smooth glide to them and seem like they will be pretty reliable.

Shock Absorption: The best of the best when it comes to shock absorption and we haven’t experienced any kind of snow that can get bast the rubber bushings on the bottom as well as EVA foam footbed. It’s just exceptional and makes for a great ride in uneven snow on or off piste.

So if this didn’t cause pressure on the arch of my foot I would probably want to own them but I don’t want to get a new boot to do so.