Will my knees hate me?

yeah. if your a level 2 skier (like, actually) i wouldn't fuck with din, but as you progress, you can continue to bump it up a little.

im like 5/10 and i have sth 16s at 10 and they still come off when i need them too. and i was in your situation last year and i asked jenny from salomon if it was ok for me to have them and she said yes, so i would keep them if i were u.

Thanks for the reply, I think that the STH14 will suit me much better.  I am gonna send em back next week. 

Cheers to strong and healthy knees!

well shit.... maybe I will call up salomon and see what they have to say.  Im gonna give them a run on friday and see how it goes.

dude, don't fuck with your bindings.  if you can honestly say that you are a type 2 (thanks for the honesty)  don't crank your dins up.  just don't.  and there is no way you'll need a din above 14 for a few years.

my recomended setting is a 10.   and i have no need to go higher.  i don't hit jumps over 40 feet any more, and don't drop cliffs over 30 very often.

i weigh 180. ski skis from 183 to 191, and ski steep scary stuff.  if you don't do any of that, don't muck with your din settings.

odds are you need to crash when your skis come off.  the other thing kids don't understand is your bsl is huge.  much larger than most kids on here.  that warrants a very low din setting compared to theirs.

just return them before you ski on them so you don't hassle your shop.

when you're good and ready for a higher din, you'll know.

the other thing i would recoend in order to keep a lower din, is get a binding that has some elastic travel.  that means the binding has "suspension"  and won't pop out as easily.  salomon has almost none, and most salomon skier have to run higher dins to stay in.  since you are a heavier skier it would be good for you.

try a rossi/ look version or a marker jester or griffon.

yea i was using the salomon z10 ti last week. wow those things BLOW.  back to look/rossi for me

I am not sure I follow you bikerocker...  Since my bindings are already mounted I think I am going to stay with the Salomon STH so I can retain the same mounting holes. 

So if there is little elastic travel with them and they need to be set higher in order to keep the ski on, are you implying that my 9 DIN would actually rate lower?

no they rate the same.  when it comes to the twisting fall, the one that blows your knees out, they will release the same.

however when it comes to a gnarly ski compression, the binding has an easier time popping off because there is no travel, just a fixed point on the boot lug.  skis flex, and it can be easier to pop off.

so overall for your safety you need the twisting din range set well.  thats why a lot of skiers run their toes a lot lower then their heels.  because when you need to twist out, you need safety.  get that?

i run my toe pices at 10, and my heels at 11.  i've met people who run their toes at 6 and heels at 12.  the look rossi fks binding comes with a higher heel setting on the higher din versions.

so you need a safe toe setting until you get your legs under you.  trust me, i've been mounting skis for 6 years at shops.  you'll be a lot happier gettting the 14's and then turning your heels up later if you find yourself popping out too easy.

Very solid and useful advice that many people don't know/practice on here.

would the rossi or look bindings be able to mount onto my skiis now that they have already been mounted?  Or are the mounting points in similar locations?  I have never had to remount skiis

I guess it is also appropriate to ask if the STH14 has the same mount pattern as the STH16

I think that the toe pieces are pretty different.  The 16 has the driver toe which is much more durable and better I am told.  They make a 14 with a driver toe but it's Europe only as far as I know.

I think that durability comes hand in hand with din setting... more or less.  For now since I wont be bashing the total shit out of my bindings, I think I am going to focus on keeping my body durable and just step down to the 14.  It seems that the heel has the same mount points and the toe shares the two back holes and instead of two screw at the tip, it has one in the middle.  I think that I can plug the two front holes from the 16 and mount the 14s instead.

Thanks everyone for your help... I hope no ones looks down on me at the mountain now when they see I'm only sportin' the 14s. .... ha ha

If they look down on you for using a safe DIN just laugh at them when they are on a sled to the bottom to catch an ambulance to the hospital for a torn something or other.
14 should be fine for you.

im basically the same size (height, weight, and bsl) as you and i ride my fks 155s at 9-11 depending on what im skiing and the ski im using. this is my third season riding them and ive only fucked up my knee once. id definitely recommend them if u decide to get different bindings.