What's the thing with Duotone?

[marten87]

Hey guys,

I've been observing more and more Duotone/North kites on the spots and I just wonder if they are so good, or it's simply an effect of hype and clever advertisement. I didn't have a real opportunity to ride much on those kites and did only a few rounds on Juice 15, and Dice 10 - didn't see anything special about them (I've been riding RPMs so far). However, I'm not an expert and it was too short period to make an opinion. Therefore, I'd be glad to meet point of view of more experience kiters

Ah.. one thing I noticed immediately when jumping onto Duotone Kite was the quality of the lines... Comparing to my current Slingshot bar, they seem to be not really durable. Some googling made me even more convinced in this opinion.

Anyway, looking forward for an explanation, as it's a question, which intrigues me since some time

[Toby]

They changed the name but the gear only gets small changes.
They were good before, they are good now, that’s why you see many of them.

[Leon van Bergen]

I started with Best which was good stuff but after switching to North and later Duotone I immediately noticed a big quality difference. everything feels stronger and more durable. I also tested Naish kites at the time and had that same positive feeling too, I just moved to North purely because of the clickbar. I myself never had any problems with the lines but what a nice bar it is!

[Exal]

What did you notice about those lines? What year model where you using lines/kite?

[marten87]

What did you notice about those lines? What year model where you using lines/kite?

It was a Trust Bar, 4 lines, not sure what year, but something above 2016. Anyway, those lines look cheap. I also did some research and found some other complaints about them. One of them is here: https://www.wetestkites.com/2019/02/24/ ... -evo-2019/

Anyway, I don't want to discuss about the quality of the lines only, but more about the brand itselfs: why is it so popular, is it hype, advertisement, or pure quality?

[Leon van Bergen]

What did you notice about those lines? What year model where you using lines/kite?

It was a Trust Bar, 4 lines, not sure what year, but something above 2016. Anyway, those lines look cheap. I also did some research and found some other complaints about them. One of them is here: https://www.wetestkites.com/2019/02/24/ ... -evo-2019/

Anyway, I don't want to discuss about the quality of the lines only, but more about the brand itselfs: why is it so popular, is it hype, advertisement, or poor quality?

Popular due to poor quality?

[Havre]

They changed the name but the gear only gets small changes.
They were good before, they are good now, that’s why you see many of them.

First of all I agree with the OP. I have wondered about the same thing myself. And I guess this is also part of it, but is the gear that much better compared to Cabrinha, F-One, Core, Ozone etc.? And how many of us kiters are really capable of evaluating quality properly? I don´t think I would. I randomly ended up with Ozone (distribution) and haven´t had a reason to change since (never had an issue, but I don´t necessarily think Ozone is "better").

Very impressive what they have done from a marketing point of view. They are able to sell such high volumes, but still be considered a high-end brand. Quite rare for any brand in any business - as soon as you get "too popular" it usually becomes difficult to keep that high-end image.

I don´t know if this is true everywhere (Cabrinha seems to be strong in NA, Ozone in Australia etc.), but on the three last spots I have been to the distribution of North/Duotone has completely dominated any other brand. Obviously good distribution helps in terms of market share.

[Exal]

Yeah I am not biting, nice try tho

[marten87]

What did you notice about those lines? What year model where you using lines/kite?

It was a Trust Bar, 4 lines, not sure what year, but something above 2016. Anyway, those lines look cheap. I also did some research and found some other complaints about them. One of them is here: https://www.wetestkites.com/2019/02/24/ ... -evo-2019/

Anyway, I don't want to discuss about the quality of the lines only, but more about the brand itselfs: why is it so popular, is it hype, advertisement, or poor quality?

Popular due to poor quality?

Sorry, I meant pure

[windmaker]

Duotone make excellent stuff but so do few other top brands (Cabrinha, F-One, Naish, Ozone etc). Maybe their marketing is better but I can see things changing after their split with North sails. Very few on my spot anyway so it is probably country related?