jumptheshark wrote: ↑Fri Nov 22, 2019 3:16 pm
Almost all the one strut kites out are dual marketed as beginner friendly. Will take a while to fully convince people that they can take over the school role, but I bet the Evo is in its last couple seasons. There is just so much overlap in the design brief.
I know one school that uses neos exclusively for teaching. The mono, at least in the recent past, always reminded me of a lighter neo with less upper wind range.
The 2019 mono is different in the past and has a lower aspect ratio and sits farther back in the windows. The foil guys riding tell me it is has more power this year.
Since the evo outline stayed the same, there is actually less overlap between the evo and mono in my mind.
The evo, neo, and mono are listed as the entry easy relaunch/stability kites in that order.
I’d pick the mono or neo for those first lessons, drag, relaunch, get up and going. Mono in less gusty locations.
I think the evo is a better upwind kite, has good wind range, and has a lighter bar feel so once you do get up and riding and starting to stay upwind, I would pick that kite.
It will be interesting to see if kite design evolves and one strut kites become as rigid as three strut kites. We’ve already seen an evolution to 3 strut as the all around number and are there anymore seven strut kites?