I realize a lot of the original designs were total crap, but are step-ins ever going to make a return to the snowboard market? I am still rocking a pair of Switch Team X bindings (they have the high-back) with Northwave boots. Best system ever designed. It's such a solid connection to my board, and the high-back provides plenty of stiffness at the back of the calf. No sitting on my ass before every run. Super responsive, no slop.
Although sadly at the end of last season I broke one of the mounts for the high back and have been mucking about with a smaller pair of the same bindings trying to get parts to fit my large pair. Anyone have any spare parts? Ha. Fat chance.
I'll concede that many - most - step-in bindings were terrible. (I've tried them all.) However, I am absolutely convinced that the best - highest performing [HTML_REMOVED] most convenient - snowboard / boot interface ever designed is the SWITCH N-type binding. (The X-Type bindings are okay, too, but the 'highback' is really unnecessary.) The basis for my opinion is:
[HTML_REMOVED][HTML_REMOVED] 25+ years snowboarding
[HTML_REMOVED][HTML_REMOVED] 3 seasons teaching snowboarding at Timberline Ski Area (Mt. Hood, Oregon)
[HTML_REMOVED][HTML_REMOVED] B.S. [HTML_REMOVED] M.S. degrees in science and engineering
[HTML_REMOVED][HTML_REMOVED] 10+ years experience using SWITCH step-in bindings
I live within 30 minutes of major Tahoe ski resorts, so I still snowboard 40-50+ days each year. (Lucky me.) I'm also well into middle-age, so I didn't buy the propaganda presented in snowboarding magazines about how "lame" step-in bindings are.
So, what combination of market forces and ignorance killed Switch?
Vans bought Switch around 1998, and Vans was subsequently purchased by VF Corporation - who makes things like Lee and Wrangler Jeans. VFC didn't know anything about snowboarding boots, but they understood that Switch bindings - made in the U.S.A. - and Switch-compatible boots were too expensive and offered too little profit margin, so they demanded that Vans/Switch put an end to Switch step-in bindings. This included disseminating propaganda in the teen-mags that influence the market as part of the plan to move the Vans pros back to silly STRAP-in bindings, which would, in turn, move easily influenced young men to change back to the made-in-China-crap-in bindings that made lots and lots of money for VF Corp.
Anyway, don't take my word for it. Ask anyone you see using Switch bindings, and they'll confirm how well they function. (Note that you'll never find anyone under about 30 using Switch bindings, because they - or their cohorts - have read snowboarding magazines.)
So, yes, you can still find Switch step-in bindings and compatible boots, but you have to scrounge eBay. Try searching for "Switch" in snowboarding boots and bindings.
Good luck and keep the faith!