I think there were a lot of delays in global shipping, so people haven't been able to get them. That's an easy way to kill any hype and prevent many of them from getting out on the water.Spoiler3000 wrote: ↑Tue Oct 08, 2019 8:34 pmIs it just me or what do you guys think...
For all the hype they generated the release of the first product line-up of the „new north Kiteboarding“ seems a bit like a crash-landing...?
I mean... there is no wow-effect at all, right?
Dont they look like average kites, with average materials?
Or did i miss something?!
Dont get me wrong... there are not many of their kites around at our spots... so i was wondering!?
I've seen quite a few of them (Orbits, couple Carves) out here. They "look" like normal kites. Quality doesn't appear to be any less than my Duotone kites, but I'm not microscope inspecting them. I will admit the light blue colour looks faded, used, and crap, especially out on the water. This may lead to downgrade of opinion. The red ones look absolutely mint though. A lack of defining colour/graphic design may put people off, but I like simple designs.
Anyway, I think we should be concentrating on performance and durability rather than looks. Durability is obviously yet to be tested as it's new. Performance - needs to be ridden. I have yet to ride any of them. From watching the Orbit on the water, it keeps the shape much better than my Evo when overpowered and has noticeably better hangtime. I watched a guy borrow one - going from a 9m Evo vs 9m Orbit. According to his Woo, he was immediately jumping the same 12-15m on a kite that flies/loads completely differently than what he's accustomed. That's pretty impressive. Apparently they have a little more power and stability in the loop. From what I've seen, I think they would likely suit my overpowered riding style better than my Evos. The Evo often deforms at the wings in larger gusts, even when it's pumped to 8-9psi. Again, this is watching the kites performance and asking questions about them. A couple of the guys here went out and bought Orbits after riding them (specifically for jumping/looping in 25kn+, going from Dice/Evo).
As for the boards, I've ridden the Atmos hybrid for about two hours. Good freeride/big air board. It was a little while now, but I remember being relatively impressed with it. Wasn't "wow I need to have that feeling" though. Pop was good, comfort in chop was good, speed was good, upwind was good, grip was good, tracking was good, turning was good, rail control good, etc. It wasn't amazing at anything, but did everything pretty well. Quality/durability I didn't notice any negatives, but they're a hard thing to judge with a new board. Footpads seemed a little cheap and didn't fit me well. I also have size 50 feet. Personally, I wouldn't buy one for myself for a few reasons:
1. Atmos sizing is too narrow for my taste. This is pure preference for the way I ride and the size of my feet.
2. Dull blue/green/black boards are a lost board waiting to happen. I spend about 5-10min almost every session looking for mine when it flips.
3. Premium price for a new untested product... and I'm cheap af.
Bar & lines:
Colour is a bit bland and dull, but I like the perceived quality and especially the bar shape. It looks top notch. When I crash, I just grab for the bar with whatever hand I can reach and hope it's the correct side. Since I usually can't see what I'm doing at this stage, this procedure doesn't always work well and I occasionally tomahawk or accidentally loop. The weird one-sided shape would likely help determine which way was which without me needing to see the bar colours. Line quality is better than what I'm used to on Duotone, but so isn't everything? . Also about the lines, they make a weird whining sound when under load on the water. It's really odd. It's handy for me when a North rider is behind me so I know where s/he is, but it may be slightly annoying as the rider having that constant noise. The best way I can describe it is being a really tight fishing line in high winds.
Hoping to have a go on an Orbit in the next couple weeks, depending on wind.