Nidecker Supermatic Binding Review

Hello and welcome to my Nidecker Supermatic review.

In this review I will take a look at the Supermatic as all-mountain-freeride snowboard bindings.

As per tradition here at SnowboardingProfiles.com I will give the Supermatic a score out of 100 (based on several factors) and see how they compare with other all-mountain-freeride bindings.

Overall Rating

Bindings: Nidecker Supermatic 2025

Price: $399 (USD recommended retail)

Style: All-Mountain-Freeride

Flex Rating: Mid-Stiff

Flex Feel: Medium-Stiff (7/10)

Rating Score: 85.6/100

Compared to other Men’s All-Mountain-Freeride Bindings

Of the 21 current model all-mountain freeride bindings that we tested:

❄️ The Supermatic ranked 8th out of 21

Overview of the Supermatic’s Specs

Check out the tables for the Supermatic’s specs and available sizes.

Specs

Who are the Supermatic Most Suited To?

The Supermatic are best suited to those looking for speed entry bindings and want something that's a bit stiffer than medium and a good balance between high speed riding/carving and more casual/slow speed riding. 

If you still want some decent board feel and really good shock absorption, then they are even more suited. 

Not for beginners - too stiff for that, IMO - and having the learning process of the Supermatic system, while also learning how to ride is more than is necessary. 

Best matched to boards in the 5/10 to 8/10 flex range and even better for those in the 6/10 to 7/10 flex range, IMO. 

Test/review details for the Supermatic

O.k. let’s take a more detailed look at what the Supermatic are capable of.

Demo Info

Binding: Nidecker Supermatic 2025, L

Date: May 8, 2024

Flex

Highback Twist Flex: The Supermatic has a good bit of twist flex and was the flexiest of the bindings I had from Nidecker (the others being the Carbon Supermatic, Flow NX2 and Flow Fuse), by a good stretch.

Slightly more flexible on the lateral (outside) side of highback vs the medial (inside) side.

Pullback flex: There's a little of flex when pulling back on the highback. Significantly more than the other 3. 

Ankle Strap Flex: Laterally the Supermatic was the softest, but the Carbon Supermatic was pretty close – just a hair stiffer. Then the Fuse and NX-2 are stiffer laterally than both the Supermatic and Carbon Supermatic. 

They were softer medially than they were laterally. As opposed to the Flow’s, which were the other way around, being softer laterally than they are medially. So they were even stiffer medially than the Supermatics than they were laterally (stiffer both laterally and medially but a bigger difference medially). 

Toe Strap Flex: The toe straps were quite stiff around the outsides but soft and malleable on the insides. They were overall softer than the Flow’s, but they have quite different straps, with the Fusion straps, and were very similar to the Carbon Supermatic's toe straps. 

Responsiveness

I found the Supermatic made my setup feel a little better on a carve and at higher speeds with my control bindings, but not quite as good as the Carbon Supermatic. 

They also managed to feel just as good as my control bindings for slow speed agility. And were a little better than the Carbon Supermatic for slow speed response. 

Board Feel/Butterability

While not quite providing as good a board feel as my control bindings, they were still really decent and just a touch better than the Carbon model - but not much in it there. 

Pop/Ollie Power

Couldn't really detect any difference between these and my control bindings or the Carbon Supermatic, in terms of pop/ollie power. Though these were easier to initiate ollies with vs the Carbon Supermatic - and similar to my control bindings for initiation. 

Adjustability

Heel Cup: No.

Stance Width: Disc runs horizontally and there are 3 hole spacing options – full size disc. Good stance width micro adjustability.

Highback Lean: Yes and tool-less. 

Ankle Strap Position: No

Toe Strap Position: No

Ankle and toe strap length: Tool-less.

Gas pedal/toe ramp extension: Yes, 3 positions, giving you roughly 1.2cm of extension total.

Highback Rotation: No

Compatible with: 2 x 4 | 4 x 4 | The Channel | 3 hole

* They also use an offset disc – so you can adjust boot centering even when you run the disc horizontally. You can run vertically if you want as well, if you need more adjustment for boot centering and don't need the stance width adjustment to be as precise. Running the disc horizontally gives you about 4mm (0.4cm) of space to help with boot centering. Running the disc vertically gives you around 13mm (1.3cm) of help with boot centering. So, still more toe/heel centering adjustability running vertically, but if you need just a little bit of an adjustment and still want that stance width adjustability of running the disc horizontally, then that offset disc allows you to do that. 

Shock Absorption

In-House inspection: A good amount of paddin/cush in the footbed. The heel piece has some decent padding and then just forward of that is good too. And then gets a bit harder under the forefoot and toes. Thought the underside (under the baseplate) at the toes, has more padding than anywhere else – just harder on top.

On-Snow: They did a great job of absorbing shock and chatter. At least as good as my control bindings, which are really good themselves. A little better than the Carbon Supermatic, though those were still good shock absorbers as well. 

Entry/Exit

Ankle/Toe Ratchet Smoothness: This isn't super relevant for Supermatic's, as, for most, you would be leaving the ratchets alone once they’re fully setup – however, sometimes in deeper snow, you might use the ratchets to get in and out. They’re fairly smooth, but not ultra smooth, but good enough. Ankle strap a little smoother than toe. They are harder than most to just place them in and push. I could do it on the toe strap, but on the ankle strap actually had to crank it a bit to get the ladder to grab – couldn’t just push it to get the initial grab. 

Process:

As part of the reason for getting these is their entry/exit capabilities and because the process is different to other bindings, I'll give this section more focus than usual.

If you haven't seen or heard how Supermatic works, these are rear entry step in bindings but work a little different to others. There is a floating heel that is loose when you open the binding up. It uses active strap technology, like Flow bindings do, so you get plenty of space to get your foot in.

So you set up the strap so that when you step on the floating heel that it will give you a good fit, snug enough for good response and ankle support, but keeping it loose enough to get your boot in easily. There is a sweet spot you can find here but can take a bit of trial and error, I have found.

There are 3 straps you can make adjustments to – the ankle strap and toe strap have a third part connecting them which has it’s own adjustment. I found the key to being able to get a good solid fit but still having enough space to easily get your foot in when opened was to make sure not to have that middle adjustment too tight.

Once set how you like it you can just step into it and click the heel piece in place. There is an audible click, but because of how easy it was, I found myself, the first couple of times I did it, lifting my foot up and down to make sure it was in place. After that I gained more confidence that they had locked in place securely.

While it was super easy to get in, I still found it a little awkward getting out of them. Would become easier with more practice and was already easier by the end of my session with them. I've tested a past model of the Supermatic and this year the new Supermatic and Supermatic Carbon, but that doesn't compare to if you were using these once a week, twice a week or a few days in a row, kind of thing. That would make the learning process much faster and more ingrained. 

Pros and Cons vs Burton Step Ons

For those who might be weighing up between these and Step Ons, I thought I would list what I saw as the advantages and disadvantages of these over Step Ons. 

Advantages:

• Can wear any boot with them. 
• You have the option of using the straps to get in and out, so if you’re on a fairly steep powdery slope, where it might be difficult using a step-in style entry, you have the option of using a more traditional strap entry (or exit).

Disadvantages:

• They are also significantly heavier than Step Ons. To the tune of the Step On EST Genesis I weighed this year being 700g vs 1280g on the Supermatic and 1260g on the Carbon Supermatic. The Step On Re:Flex Genesis I weighed was 820g. Not as light as the EST version, but still a significant weight difference to the Supermatic.
• Step-Ons are strapless, which is kind of nice – keeps things simple and unmessy and less bulk if you're transporting gear in a snowboard bag. 

Comfort

I didn't find them as comfortable as my control bindings, but still comfortable and nothing that would be a deal breaker in terms of comfort. 

Ankle Strap: Conformed well and was nice and malleable. 

Toe Strap: Ditto ankle strap. 

Canted Footbed: Yes.

Padded Footbed: Nicely padded and good dampening (see shock absorption section for more). 

Highback: The top half of the highback has some good cush yet springy padding. Nothing bottom half. No calf bite. 

Ankle Support 

I found it was a bit loose around the ankle to begin with, for my liking. But after doing more adjustments - and like I mentioned earlier, it takes a bit of trial and error to find that sweet spot - I was able to find a position that offered good ankle support, while maintaining easy entry. 

Score Breakdown and Final Verdict

Check out the breakdown of the score in the table below.

The Supermatic have more good things going for them than detractions, with a great mix of high speed/aggressive riding and slower speed/more mellow riding  performance, great shock absorption and really decent board feel. 

And as far as speed entry bindings are concerned, they are a system that seems to work well, so long as you are patient and happy to go through a bit of a trial and error process to find that sweet spot between performance/ankle support and easy in/out. 

Their biggest downfall, IMO, is their weight. They are the heaviest bindings I have weighed and come in 37% heavier than the average (of bindings we've weighed) .

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