Thanks for the insight regarding the more "clicked-in" feel of the newer looks. I've not noticed a rubbery feel on the turntable heels while skiing, however, occasionally I would have a sense of not feeling I was completely in the binding as it lacked a "click". I found myself often having to re-enter the heel after giving it a quick brush-off of snow. So, I feel like at times the heel of the binding was perhaps not in it's intended/optimal position while skiing. I've always relied on the "feeling" of being into the heel completely as apposed to an actually feedback sound like a click from the hardware. I never had any pre-release issue, though.
Now, I know this has been covered a bit in forums but I'm a little confused by the lifter and rail technologies. Is it easy enough to say that binding rails are fine for groomed, lots of carving skiing but not so hot for powder skiing? And the same true with lifters? I've heard of people mounting Look Lifter's without the lifter but I wonder if this unintended use is recommended.
The idea of being able to adjust fore/aft position via the rail is interesting but I don't want to compromise "snow feel" for this convenience, if I'm understanding this correctly, at the risk of over-thinking it.