Core nexus or xr6

[DeanM]

Im 215lbs riding a quiver of XR5s and 4s and spending more time foiling recently on a slingshot infinity 76 wing. It’s doable on XRs though it’s more fun on smaller kites.

The XRs generate more pull as they turn or down loop which destabilizes you or pulls you off your foil. They also don’t turn as fast and don’t drift as well. Ultimately I just bought a 9m Nexus 2 and am about to get a 12m and potentially an Xlite.

As for light wind on a 12m, I can ride when it starts to hit 11 to 12mph. It’s touchy and I’ve had the kite fall out of the sky on lulls which resulted in some long swims. It’s also hard to relaunch in those winds unless you get lucky and get a gust. I’ve foiled on my 15m XR in those lighter winds to get through lulls too. I can’t speak to whether the nexus does better in the light conditions because I only have the 9m at the moment and have only ridden it a bit powered.

Would love to hear your feedback on Nexus 9m after you had it for couple months

[bkkite]

The 9m Nexus 2 drifts better and turns much faster than my 9m XR. It doesn’t handle huge gusts quite as well. It rides a bit smaller than an XR, you don’t get as much power for the same size kite. On jumps it requires more technique to get as much air as the XR, but for landings in particular it requires a bit more active flying to land softly. It’s not like the XR where it just floats forever.

My take away is that it’s a more versatile kite that’s perfect for someone progressing into foiling or wave riding. It’s way better for those disciplines than the XR, and the things you give up you can make up for in technique / skill

[SolarSet]

The 9m Nexus 2 drifts better and turns much faster than my 9m XR. It doesn’t handle huge gusts quite as well. It rides a bit smaller than an XR, you don’t get as much power for the same size kite. On jumps it requires more technique to get as much air as the XR, but for landings in particular it requires a bit more active flying to land softly. It’s not like the XR where it just floats forever.

My take away is that it’s a more versatile kite that’s perfect for someone progressing into foiling or wave riding. It’s way better for those disciplines than the XR, and the things you give up you can make up for in technique / skill

Are you using XR for foiling at all? I'm on the fence with my current XR6s I like them for boosting but I would love to progress more foiling and I'm still debating adding 1-strut 10m kite to my quiver or switch completely to 3strut all round kite like Reach/Nexus/Supermodel to improve foiling and make kiteloops on TT easier.
Just bought large carbon surf foil wing from Nobile 1300cm with their wave split foil board and I'm hoping to progress foil maneuvers.

[nothing2seehere]

The 9m Nexus 2 drifts better and turns much faster than my 9m XR. It doesn’t handle huge gusts quite as well. It rides a bit smaller than an XR, you don’t get as much power for the same size kite. On jumps it requires more technique to get as much air as the XR, but for landings in particular it requires a bit more active flying to land softly. It’s not like the XR where it just floats forever.

My take away is that it’s a more versatile kite that’s perfect for someone progressing into foiling or wave riding. It’s way better for those disciplines than the XR, and the things you give up you can make up for in technique / skill

Are you using XR for foiling at all? I'm on the fence with my current XR6s I like them for boosting but I would love to progress more foiling and I'm still debating adding 1-strut 10m kite to my quiver or switch completely to 3strut all round kite like Reach/Nexus/Supermodel to improve foiling and make kiteloops on TT easier.
Just bought large carbon surf foil wing from Nobile 1300cm with their wave split foil board and I'm hoping to progress foil maneuvers.

I've been using my 7m XR6 for foiling in higher winds (15-22 knots) a little. Its alright at best. I've been using the wave setting on the kite. I haven't tried the freeride setting much for hydrofoiling. I can't quite put my finger on the difference but I find it way harder to learn new moves on the XR6 in comparison to my single strut kite. Its fine for a little bit of coast line touring though. I think weirdly its lacking a little lift compared to the wave style single strut kites but this might be the lighter wind conditions?

For my money, a second hand single strut would be a worth while addition. I tried a blade trigger 3 strut kite (like Mark Shinn used to use to show off his foils in the promo videos) and hated it. I used to have a 7m Airush union v1 and that worked really nicely with a foil. The nice thing about the single strut kites is that they generally live an easier life so you can get good value for an older one without getting something trashed. My single strut kite is probably 4 years old but looks pristine because it rarely touches water and goes out in light wind that doesn't stretch out the fabric the same so there isn't the flapping on the beach. I've tried it in higher winds but it isn't as good for freeride as a specific freeride kite.

[SolarSet]

I've been using my 7m XR6 for foiling in higher winds (15-22 knots) a little. Its alright at best. I've been using the wave setting on the kite. I haven't tried the freeride setting much for hydrofoiling. I can't quite put my finger on the difference but I find it way harder to learn new moves on the XR6 in comparison to my single strut kite. Its fine for a little bit of coast line touring though. I think weirdly its lacking a little lift compared to the wave style single strut kites but this might be the lighter wind conditions?

I have learnt or maybe better to put attempted number of successful gybes and ridden in switch on my XR6 8m in 14-20kts. I never changed any settings on XR but maybe should try next time. I found it have not enough power during turn when lines get slack, key was to make tight turn and keep them tensioned.
I'm kinda disappointed with turning speed on TT while trying to learn kiteloops hence I want to kill two birds with one stone and have something looping well on TT and drift nice on foil.

[nothing2seehere]

I've been using my 7m XR6 for foiling in higher winds (15-22 knots) a little. Its alright at best. I've been using the wave setting on the kite. I haven't tried the freeride setting much for hydrofoiling. I can't quite put my finger on the difference but I find it way harder to learn new moves on the XR6 in comparison to my single strut kite. Its fine for a little bit of coast line touring though. I think weirdly its lacking a little lift compared to the wave style single strut kites but this might be the lighter wind conditions?

I have learnt or maybe better to put attempted number of successful gybes and ridden in switch on my XR6 8m in 14-20kts. I never changed any settings on XR but maybe should try next time. I found it have not enough power during turn when lines get slack, key was to make tight turn and keep them tensioned.
I'm kinda disappointed with turning speed on TT while trying to learn kiteloops hence I want to kill two birds with one stone and have something looping well on TT and drift nice on foil.

I'm surprised the 8m doesn't loop fast enough. My 7m is excellent fun precisely because it sits in my personal sweetspot for looping (loops fast with bar fish poled and also slow enough that its not a buzzy wasp in the air). I guess it depends how far down your journey of kiteloops you want to progress though?

I think the thing about the XR6 is that it needs a little more force to push it to the edge of the window. That's probably why it doesn't shine on a foil in the same way that it does on a twin tip where you can really load up the lines. I still think the money spent on a used single strut will pay back. I tried a flysurfer soul for foiling and going back to the nimble nature of a single strut afterwards felt like cheating in comparison even though I appreciate that the soul was a more sophisticated wing. I've got an Airush ultra. I've heard good things about the other big brands too (Alpha, boxer, xlite). The biggest payoff when learning foiling was the drift. Crashes where the lines go slack no longer result in a relaunch of the kite.

On paper, the Duotone Evo matches your wish list (Boosts, loops, works alright on a foil) though I gather they don't feel as exciting as some of the other options. Nexus might be a bit wasted if you aren't looking to do a bit of freestyle or don't want to ride a surfboard? I hear the XR7 is a bit more lively too so..... might be worth a demo?

[bkkite]

The 9m Nexus 2 drifts better and turns much faster than my 9m XR. It doesn’t handle huge gusts quite as well. It rides a bit smaller than an XR, you don’t get as much power for the same size kite. On jumps it requires more technique to get as much air as the XR, but for landings in particular it requires a bit more active flying to land softly. It’s not like the XR where it just floats forever.

My take away is that it’s a more versatile kite that’s perfect for someone progressing into foiling or wave riding. It’s way better for those disciplines than the XR, and the things you give up you can make up for in technique / skill

Are you using XR for foiling at all? I'm on the fence with my current XR6s I like them for boosting but I would love to progress more foiling and I'm still debating adding 1-strut 10m kite to my quiver or switch completely to 3strut all round kite like Reach/Nexus/Supermodel to improve foiling and make kiteloops on TT easier.
Just bought large carbon surf foil wing from Nobile 1300cm with their wave split foil board and I'm hoping to progress foil maneuvers.

I used my XR4 15m and 12m to learn to foil at the start, before buying a 12m Xlite. Now I only use the XR5 7m when the winds up. In the small 7m size, I don't mind it at all. It turns fast enough, and keeps up with you enough that I don't notice my frustrations with the XR as much.

On the bigger size XRs like the 12m or even the 9m, it was hard to do downloops without getting ripped off the kite, and it was noticeable that they wouldn't drift well. They also fall out of the sky in lighter winds. Obviously the Xlite is a totally different animal, it flies well in really light winds, it relaunches really well too. I haven't tried to ride it on a surfboard or anything, but thats the weakness, it's too specialized...

So, my recommendation... If you're in a super light wind area, like I am, and you're going to end up foiling on your light wind kite, then I would get a single strut in that particular size (in my case it was a 12m, some people can get away with a 10m or even a 9m, I'm just not that good yet). After that, I think the 3-strut all around kite is the way to go, and thats the direction I'm going with my quiver and the Nexus 2. On the reddit kite forum, there's this guy named AxTheAxMan and he was riding similar setups as me and in the process of moving to Nexus kites, but he got frustrated that the Nexus wasn't great for light winds. He ended up jumping to the Evo SLS in 7m, 9m, 12m. He thinks it's the first kite that can really do all the things we want to be able to do (foil, potentially surf, ride twin tip, etc). It's got me tempted... and at the very least its got me hoping that they'll make a lighter weight Nexus 3... cause that way I wouldn't have to get specialized single strut kites.