Salomon District Pro Bindings Review

Hello and welcome to my Salomon District Pro bindings review.

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

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

Overall Rating

Who is the District Pro Most Suited To?

The District Pro is best suited to someone who wants a binding that's stiffer than medium, but not ultra stiff, but doesn't want to or can't pay the typical price for that much stiffness (stiffer typically means more expensive). 

The District Pro in More Detail

Bindings angles: +15/-15

Stance Width: 555mm (22”)

Board tested with: Lib Tech Terrain Wrecker

Boots tested with: Adidas Response ADV, size US9.5

Footbed length: 25.7cm (10.1”) 

Footbed Length Fully Extended: 27.3cm (10.8”) 

Baseplate Length (underside):  24cm (9.5")

Highback Height: 17.9cm (7.1”)

Weight: 940 grams (2lbs, 1oz)

* for one binding, including screws and disc. The average weight of a small sample size of around 80 bindings (2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 & 2024 models) I have weighed is 920 grams (2lbs).  So, the District Pro are really close to average and they felt normal weight on snow too. 

Mounting and Boot Fit

Note this is relative to my boots - Adidas Response ADV size 9.5 and was in the Medium District Pros. 

Highback lean: You can adjust it, but need a tool. It's not super convenient, particularly if you want to experiment with it. But no real issue if you know what you like as you'll only have to set it once. 

Ankle straps: In my boots I used about ¾ of the length of the ankle strap. 

Toe straps: About 3/5^ths of strap length used. They fit over my boot really well. 

Footbed: I had the toe ramp/gas pedal nearly fully extended but not quite. Gas pedal/toe ramp ramps up quite a bit - so that should help with boot drag, if you're on a board that's borderline too narrow. 

I found I was able to get good boot-to-board centering with pretty even overhang. 

Heel Cup Fit: It was a little tight getting the heel of my boot right into heel cup. In my Malavitas I've had some boots with a wider heel than mine be a tight fit in them but my current boots aren't a tight fit in the Malavitas, but they were in the District Pro. That could be a problem for wider 9.5s and 10s in these bindings, if you were to go Medium. 

Mounting

When mounting the 4 screw connector was a little awkward. When it works it's good but can be a bit awkward.

Flex

In Hand: The highback twist flex on the District Pro was a bit stiffer than Salomon's Hologram but not as stiff as on my control bindings (Burton Malavita). On a twist the District Pros highback was noticeably more flexible on the medial (inside - i.e. right side of left binding and left side of right binding) side than it was on the lateral side. 

There was some very subtle give when pulling straight back on the highback but next to nothing. 

The ankle straps were softer than they were on the Hologram and Malavita, but very close to the Hologram. The toe straps were a little stiffer than on the Hologram, but a little softer than on my control bindings. 

Note that flex of straps and highback isn't necessarily telling to how stiff a binding might feel on snow, as this doesn't take into account base plate flex, which in my experience actually has the most influence on overall flex feel on snow. 

On Snow: The District Pro felt right around a 7/10 to me on snow. Certainly stiffer than both the Malavita and Hologram overall, but nothing super stiff. Right in the middle of that mid-stiff bracket. 

Responsiveness

I felt that I could get my board carving better and more stable at higher speeds on the District Pro than I could with the Malavita and Hologram. Which isn't surprising as this is typical of stiffer bindings. 

At slower speeds, they didn't feel as good as the Malavita's but were about the same as the Hologram. 

Board Feel/Butterability

Not bad board feel at all. Not to the level of the Malavita's or other bindings that have really good board feel, but still really decent. If I had to say, then I'd say the Hologram's board feel was a touch better, but really close between them. 

Pop/Ollie Power

For total power felt about the same as the Malavita and Hologram, but took a little bit more effort to load them up. 

Adjustability

Heel Cup: No

Stance Width: You can run disc horizontally and it has a full size disc, so there's a good amount of stance width micro-adjustability.  

Highback Lean: You can adjust the forward lean, but it's not obvious at first how to do it. You have to loosen the bolts near the base of the highback and then can adjust forward lean and highback rotation at the same time. It's not tool-less though.  

Ankle Strap Position: No

Toe Strap Position: No

Ankle and toe strap length: Tool-less 

Gas pedal/toe ramp extension: Yes

Highback Rotation: Yes

Compatible with: 2x4 | 4x4 | Channel

Shock Absorption

They absorbed shock and chatter really well. Very similar to the Hologram. Not quite as good as the Malavita's but not far off. 

Entry/Exit

Ratchets released easily when unstrapping on the move and overall felt pretty  smooth. Not as smooth as the Malavita's, but they have some of the smoother ratchets going around, in my experience. 

I found I had to move the ankle strap behind the highback to get it out of way, when getting in or it tries to sneak under your foot. But that's easy - and it's the case for a lot of bindings. 

Comfort

Overall not quite as comfortable as my control bindings, but still nice and comfortable. 

Ankle Strap: Ankle straps conformed well to my boots and didn't produce any pressure points. 

Toe Strap: Toe straps fit really well on my boots and again no pressure points. 

Canted Footbed: Yes. It's not obvious looking at them or measuring them, but they are supposed to have it. I wonder if they achieve the canting through a softer cushioning on one side - again, I didn't detect this, but they are supposed to have a 2.5 degree cant. 

Padded Footbed: They have decent padding in the footbed and most importantly on snow they did a decent job of absorbing shock and chatter. 

Highback: More padding than I'm used to seeing on a highback and covered most of the highback too. But most importantly I didn't get any calf-bite.

Ankle Support

Ankle support felt good. Nothing more or less than what I've found to be typical. There isn't a way to change the ankle strap position for if you like the strap higher or lower on your ankle, but I liked the feel of the position it was in. 

Score Breakdown and Final Verdict

While the District Pro didn't wow me in any way and didn't spur me into sprinting to the store to buy them, they are the cheapest binding in this flex range that we've tested - and they're actually pretty decent across all the factors we test for.

So, if you need this level of flex but you don't have or aren't willing to spend the amount that you'd typically have to for this kind of stiffness, then the District Pro might be a good bet for you.