As a crusading Dynafit Evangelist, I’m loathe to say anything bad about them, but will admit that many times the brakes hang up and don’t deploy. This happens often enough that some of my Dynafit buddies skip the brakes altogether as “they never work anyway.” It seems that this is more common with skis that are right at the brakes limits, like using a 92mm brake on a 91mm ski, which technically should work, but seldom does.
Rather than yarding on the brake legs, (which only makes matters worse as they require a certain geometry to retract and deploy well), I use a Dremel tool and grind off the inside of the plastic tabs.
In the above photo, the leg on the left is stock and the leg on the right has been ground down. This modification probably voids all sorts of warranties and will get you in trouble with the same authorities who come after people who cut warning labels off of mattresses, but if you enjoy dodging The Man, the modification works for me.
I use brakes on most of my skis mainly out of habit as I often drop my skis on the snow to step into them, and like having them stay in place. On some super phats, my racing skis and some mountaineering skis, I’ll skip the brakes for weight and simplicity.
