Ride Drone Snowboard Bindings Review

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The Ride Drone reminded us a bit of snowboard bindings from yesteryear, but we loved the durability, simplicity, and excellent ride they provided. Photo: Will Sileo//The Inertia

In the days of quick-entry snowboard bindings, it’s easy for everyone but the diehards to overlook classic two-strap bindings. And sure, many of us at The Inertia have been riding for decades, but we don’t reject innovation when it meaningfully improves the experience. That said, the Ride Drone Snowboard Bindings ($360) are some of our favorites this year, precisely due to the fact that they remind us a bit of the bindings we grew up riding, but better. The tried and true two-strap design paired with a mid-stiff aluminum chassis and a nylon highback feels familiar and elevated all at once. The Drone has quickly become my go-to all-around binding, and I’ve ridden it on about 10 different boards—it hasn’t let me down yet. I may drone on (had to) about this one, but trust me: It’s a great binding.

Bottom Line: Excellent adjustability and versatile simplicity combine to make the Ride Drone one of our favorite bindings this year. Bucking the trends of quick-entry competitors, Ride instead crafted a reliable two-strap binding that works for a ton of riders and a wide range of boards.

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The Drone is easy to like: Simple, adjustable, and reliable. Photo: Will Sileo//The Inertia

Testing The Ride Drone Bindings

At the tail end of last season and from the start of this one, I’ve ridden the Ride Drone all over the Western United States. This pair has helped me tackle a powder day at Arizona Snowbowl, some cold spring riding in Mammoth, and some slushy early-season stuff in Utah. Also, the rest of our team rode the Drone out at our annual board test in Mammoth. That collective input led this to be named our runner-up best snowboard binding of 2025/2026 in our full guide.

Who Is The Ride Drone For?

I always hesitate to label a pick the best all-arounder or tell readers that something suits everyone, but of the bindings we tested this year, the Ride Drone might just be the closest thing to a workhorse on our list. I tend to like my board and my boots to feature the most riding personality, and the Ride Drone perfectly pairs the two without drowning out either with how it rides. It’s mid-stiff, super adjustable, and can do a little of everything. Is the Drone for everyone? Probably not, but it’s as close as you’re gonna get.

Ride Drone ($360)

Best For: Every condition
Weight: 892g per binding
Underfoot: A-Series soft footbed
Highback Stiffness: 3/5
Strap adjustment: Tool-less toe

Pros: Great value for all-around performer, feel well-built and long-lasting
Cons: Toe strap didn’t fit every rider perfectly, lacks cutting-edge tech

Why You Should Check Out the Ride Drone (And Maybe Why You Shouldn’t)

Simple, Familiar Design

There’s something really clean about the design of the Ride Drone—the aluminum chassis gives this binding slimmer, straighter lines and a lower profile than a lot of the more plasticky designs. The strap ratchets are also flexier and easier to move around than some competitors, which reminds me of some of my earliest bindings (remember how floppy they used to be?). Don’t fret, though, the straps themselves are plenty structured, and the updated two-piece ankle straps provide a comfortable, locked-down fit. The foot bed is full-length, too, and the skeleton of this binding makes everything very easy and obvious as far as adjustments go.

Adjust At Will

One of the most frustrating things about bindings is when you can’t quite dial them in to suit your riding style or your boot size perfectly. The best snowboard bindings provide a good deal of adjustability, and the Drone is no exception. Beyond ease of adjustment, the Drone also makes things fairly straightforward, and I’m confident even a novice could set these up without issue. Highlights include boot size markings to move the heel cup to properly fit your boots, tool-less strap adjustments, different ankle strap positions, a simple highback lean adjuster, a highback rotation adjustment, and the ability to shift the footbed forward or backward. Oh, and the puck has an insane amount of holes, so you can fine-tune stance angles and width as well as fit pretty much any board with these bindings.

We love snowboard bindings that are easy to adjust on the fly. Photo: Will Sileo//The Inertia

Not For Everyone, Or Are They?

I think my one holdup with recommending the Ride Drone as the one-and-done binding for every rider on the mountain is the fact that they don’t specialize in any one area. Sure, that’s kinda the point, so I’ll tell you the type of riders I think this binding is perfect for. First, if you have a quiver of boards (even just two or three, maybe a powder board, a park board, and an all-mountain ripper), and you don’t want to fork over hundreds for a dedicated set of bindings on each, the Drone is perfectly capable of swapping among your decks. It’s not super stiff in the highback, but underfoot, there is plenty of structure to engage a big-mountain board. Another ideal rider is someone who wants a mid-flexing all-mountain binding for their quiver-killer board.

There are a few options out there that work well and remind us of the Drone. Photo: Nathan Lemin//The Inertia

Other Snowboard Bindings to Consider

I think the two most notable comparisons for the Ride Drone are the Union Force and Season Meld, both of which are also top picks in our full guide. The Force is a similar all-mountain beast that is as versatile as it is adjustable, and it pretty much works for any type of rider in any terrain. Compared with the Drone, the Force might absorb chatter slightly better, and its construction is a bit different (making it a touch beefier), but both are similar in price. The Season Meld is a great budget option, and while it lacks some of the adjustability and feels a bit more plasticky, the price is right, and it actually holds up really well in the versatility department.

The Ride Drone handled any line we took on. Photo: Will Sileo//The Inertia

Final Thoughts

It’s hard to imagine that most riders can’t find a place in their kit for the Ride Drone bindings. There’s something exciting to me about a simple, well-made snowboard binding that feels great when riding and is endlessly adjustable. It feels like, in the golden age of quick-entry technology, the Drone is a real win for folks who want a bit more simplicity and fewer moving parts. Bindings don’t really get much more adjustable than the Drone, so if you find yourself always struggling to achieve that super dialed fit, this is worth a look. And we don’t talk much about binding quivers, but if ever there was a one-binding-to-rule-them-all option, the Drone is it.

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This Simple Snowboard Binding is a Sneaky Favorite: The Ride Drone Review