G3 Onyx Beta User Program Announced
G3 Onyx Binding
G3 in Vancouver, BC says they’ll begin selling their new ONYX alpine touring binding later this month through select retail locations. This limited run of ONYX bindings will be sold at MSRP price as part of a beta program in which consumers will be requested to participate in a streamlined feedback process. As incentive, participants will receive G3 swag once the beta feedback process is complete. G3’s ONYX design and development team will track and respond accordingly to all shared feedback.
In addition, G3 will remain committed to ensuring that ONYX bindings enrolled in the Beta Program receive any adopted upgrades free of charge until December of 2009 (after this time period, G3’s standard product warranty will apply).
Consumers will be requested to enroll in the ONYX beta program via www.g3onyx.com, where they will be able to electronically complete and submit bimonthly feedback forms.
To discover where Onyx bindings will be available, please contact G3 customer service at 604-924-9048. More about ONYX.
More details from G3:
Beta program Onyx bindings have a unique serial number that can be used to access G3’s beta program feedback site. As a beta program participant, we will request that you submit feedback reports on your ONYX binding’s performance every two weeks. Each participant of the beta program who successfully submits no less than 4 feedback reports before July 1, 2009 will be rewarded with a free pair of Alpinist Climbing Skins. A very easy to use feedback form can be found on www.g3onyx.com, under the beta program bar. The submission of a feedback form will act as your formal registration into the program as well as your portal for sharing performance feedback. Once you have signed in by submitting your first feedback form, you will receive a letter acknowledging your successful joining of the program. At this point we will begin tracking your feedback. After submitting the required feedback in a timely manner you will be contacted to arrange for Alpinist Skins to be sent to you.
G3’s Design and Development Team
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9 Responses to “G3 Onyx Beta User Program Announced”
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pay full retail to be in their beta program? and then you get free schwag? They should be giving out free schwag anyway to get their name out, that’s always a good idea. But if i’m in a Beta Program, i’m going to assume there are issues still unresolved in the product, or not enough testing has been done to know if everything is a-ok. Therefore i would never pay to be in a program like that.
Maybe charge half retail as a deposit and you can opt to pay the second half upon completion, or return if not satisfied.
of course its not completely tested … thats what they want you to do
Rainey did the same kind of thing with the original Hammer Head tele binding ,both the program and the binding turned out to be a sucess ,they are doing the same thing this year with their new freepivot tele binding the Axl
If I was in the market for such a binding I would consider being a tester
Of course microsoft is a good argument for beta test programs NOT working
I think alpinist skins is more than a “swag”, you’ve always wanted to be involved and you think your smarter well then…no one is twisting your arm for the beta testing. It just seems like the thing to do these day. I think it’s a good deal…and you’ve got nothing to loose.
I bought the first round of dynafit comfort bindings at full retail, tested them for free, got told I was incompetent by warranty, then had to buy new (old) toe pieces! And dynafit knows how to make bindings….
Mick, you probably refer to the Tri-Step debacle? Jut for the record, those were not Comfort model Dynafits, and yes, the toe units had a defective design. Good example of how a manufactured and publicly released product can go awry.
See:
http://www.wildsnow.com/articles/dynafit_faq/tri-step_faq.html
was the Tri-step was part of a formal beta test program ?
Lou, right – tri-step it was. I was trying to block the memory.
Nope, Tri-Step was not part of a formal beta test program, and Mick, yes, a good memory to block. It was a pain in the neck dealing with that thing as a journalist. It worked well enough for just enough people to make saying it was “defective” the wrong term, but it didn’t work for so many people it was obviously a huge problem. When they discontinued it, things got a lot easier all the way around, and the Comfort model was a huge success.
I’m with dave. I don’t like even paying full retail for a product I know functions well. Plus, I have little respect for G3 skins. I am very interested in the bindings, but they will have to sweeten the deal before I’d do that