To be fair, they make durable products that last, but I think the point is no-one would pay full price for them considering they have not freshened up the product line. I don't see anyone on RPM's anymore at my local beaches and not for a no. of years. They used to be very popular.
The worst thing for me was ditching Pat and the 'Wave division', and Alex Fox describing the SB line as legacy products. No thanks.
Still, id like an asylum with 35% off
Let's hope they raised their game with the raptor.
Guess I just think outside of the norm. To me, a good kite is pretty much timeless since 2011 or so. No new innovation has hit the market in design since then. So all the "newest, fastest, turniest, driftiest, unhookiest," are just screwing up what worked for what can be marketed as innovative.
I actyally would like some of my old kites from 2011 remade with 2013 materials. Both were good years, but since then........
- Large, bayonet (nozzle-less) inflation valve
- pulley-less bridles
- above the bar clam cleat depower
- less struts
- better relaunching
- single inflation point
- demise of "C" and open-C
- smaller and lighter lightwind kites
- lightweight (instead of "bombproof") wave kites
Above three are pretty valuable improvements that are more widespread than in 2011
- Large, bayonet (nozzle-less) inflation valve Worth it for 17m and above, but too many issues with not sealing - became just another maintenance/defect issue
- pulley-less bridles Pulley's are still useful, pulleyless did not make them go away completely, I preferr at least 1 pulley toward wingtips
- above the bar clam cleat depower I grew up on this and did not know anyone other than naish or SlingShot was doing it exclusively back in the day
- less struts No struts to 5 struts - all useful for certain kite designs/feel.
- better relaunching 4line ckite, 5line ckite, bow kite, delta kite, then the "outside - opposite inside line launch" from worst to best, but we still do have 5 line C-kites
- single inflation point Adds weight to your "lightweight kites" below, along with more points for failure
- demise of "C" and open-C ckites are still used because openc could not mimic the performance of a ckite
- smaller and lighter lightwind kites Foil kites have been around for a long time, though closed cell is new
- lightweight (instead of "bombproof") wave kites not an improvement if you are trying new things at hectic breaks, sedate strapless - yes it is nice to have a lighter weight kite, but not when you are actually doing stuff that will put the kite down in the break
These are not significant innovation that made previous gear designs extinct.
Whatever it is called it is definitely behind others as its designer Jeff Logosz who designers all products for SS is just an old man who today can only fart into his designer armchair and be called revolutionary designer by his merchandisers. They forget to say about his revolutionery designs in early 2000-th, not nowadays.
That kite is developed long ago by others like Shy Man from Oregon said and can be just copied by Slingshot as they can't develop anything their own as it is an old fashioned brand in kiteboarding. Even in wingsurfing they were not the first but tried to be brave after Naish and others that spring.