Jones Apollo Snowboard Bindings Review

Who are the Apollo Most Suited To?

The Apollo are bindings for those who like their riding hard charging and want something stiff and powerful. And that want bindings that really help to make their ride damp and with minimal chatter when charging. 

Best suited to stiff/powerful boards that need something like this to drive them hard enough. 

Not for beginners or even most intermediate riders.

Bindings angles: +15/-15

Stance width: 550mm (21.7″)

Board demoed with: Rossignol One LF 2018, 159

Baseplate Length: 26cm (10.2”)*

*measured on the top side of the footbed - a little bit of angle down to underside of baseplate which was 25cm (9.8"). 

Baseplate (footbed) Length fully extended: not applicable (doesn't extend)

Highback Height: 22cm (8.7")*

* from bottom of heel cup to top of highback. From bottom of baseplate to top of highback is 30cm (11.8")

Weight: 1020g (2lbs 4oz)

* for one binding, including screws and disc. The average weight of a small sample size of around 30 bindings (2019, 2020 & 2021 models) I weighed, was 895 grams. The lightest was 760 grams and the heaviest was 1,020grams. The Apollo is the heaviest I have weighed, but a large majority of the bindings I've weighed have been medium, so I would say it's pretty normal for a large. 

Flex

Hardly any flex in the highback and overall feel very stiff. I rated them 8.5/10 just because they had just that slight bit more forgiveness over the NOW O-Drive that I rode the same day. But could have just as easily given them a 9/10. 

Responsiveness

The Apollo really brought out the carving abilities in my board - made it a better carver for sure vs my test bindings (Malavita). On the flip side it made my board less maneuverable at slower speeds. 

Board Feel/Butterability

Like most NOW and Jones bindings, there's not a lot of butterability with these bindings. 

Pop/Ollie Power

Just a little less in terms of pop/ollie power over my test bindings. 

Let's Break this Text Up with a Video

Adjustability

Like with other NOW/Jones bindings, there is minimal traditional adjustments you can make, but there are some unique things you can do with these bindings too. 

Heel Cup: no

Stance Width: You can run the disc horizontally if you want, assuming you can get good binding centering across the board when running horizontally. There's no guarantee of that though, given you can't adjust the heel cup or toe ramp.   

Highback Lean: You can have two different lean settings setup at once. Either 0mm and 12mm (which you can adjust between tool-lessly) or 4mm and 8mm (which you can adjust between tool-lessly). But once you have it set to either 0mm/12mm or 4mm/8mm that's what you're stuck with until you get to a screwdriver. Which isn't too big a deal though, as most people find a setting they like and don't change it once they do.  

Ankle Strap Position: not exactly but in different you can (see below)

Toe Strap Position: no

Ankle and toe strap length: Yes and tool-less 

Gas pedal/toe ramp extension: no

Highback Rotation: no

Compatible with: 2 x 4 & 4 x 4 - can get a channel disc but it's sold separately. 

There are a couple of unique things you can do though: 

1. "Flip-it" ankle straps allow you to put them in "freeride mode" for more ankle support or "surf mode" for more freesdom of movement
2. You have the choice between softer (surf mode) and harder (freeride mode) bushings. 

Shock Absorption

Next level shock absorption, typical of NOW/Jones bindings. Just made my board more damp - and my test bindings (Malavita) are pretty good for shock absorption as they are - and just very minimal chatter. 

The footbed is a good thickness and has a nice plush/springy feel to it. 

Add to that the skatetech and the way the bindings sit and the bushings, and it all just makes for a very damp ride. 

Entry/Exit

Really smooth ratchets. Nice and easy to get the straps on and off. 

Comfort

Overall a good level of comfort apart from a reasonable amount of calf bite. 

Ankle Strap: Not in love with the ankle straps, but I did slightly prefer them to the straps on the O-Drive

Toe Strap: Quite nice actually. Again preferred it to the toe strap on the O-Drive. 

Canted Footbed: No but it doesn't need it with that skate tech. 

Padded Footbed: Very well padded and overall very shock absorbing. 

Highback: There's padding there, but it's quite thin. Got a reasonable amount of calf bite. This tends to be more the case on stiffer bindings so that's part of it. Another part might also be that even on the zero lean setting of the highback it just felt like there was still some noticeable lean. I'm used to and prefer minimal lean, so that might have been part of it too. 

Ankle Support

The ankle support is really good in "freeride mode". Would be less so in "surf mode" but for these particular bindings, I think you'd want to ride them, for the type of riding you would want to be doing in them, freeride mode most of the time. 

Overall, I really liked the Apollo as a hard charging binding. The calf-bite was the biggest downside, but I think I would get used to that over time. 

For pairing with stiffer boards, if you are looking for a really damp ride, want to carve hard and aren't concerned with butterability/board feel, then the Apollo is a great match, IMO.