Airush Apex V7 vs Duotone Jaime 2021

[mountain_lake]

Dear all

I'm looking for a new board. I kind of narrowed it down to the Jaime 2021 or the Airush Apex V7. The Airush because it has a "Gold Award" from TheKiteMag. Even though I don't know how biased or unbiased their results are.

Does anyone know the Airush Apex and can tell me his experience or even compare it to the Jaime? I'm 75 kg and looking into the 136 sizes. One of the main reasons I want to change is, I currently ride an old 135x42 cm board, with no channels, and especially on my 12m kite, there seems only a small range where I can hold my edge properly. I hope this could improve with a smaller and grippier board. Looking forward to your thoughts.

Cheers
mountain_lake

[LePhasme]

I tried the apex team a couple of months ago (should be the same but in carbon) as I was on the market for a new big air board and I was hesitating between that board and the crazyfly raptor extreme.
I only tried it for about 1h in very choppy conditions so my opinion isn't worth much, but I found the board to be pretty good, I found it to be very light (maybe not the case for your version), didn't had any problem to hold my edge (but I wasn't really overpowered) or to go through the chop.
I would have been keen to buy it but at the time the crazyfly had a 30% discount on it while the apex didn't and as the boards had pretty similar performances (again, assessed only during short trials), I decided to go with the crazyfly (and it's bright red which help a bit to spot it when I lose it in the waves)

[leeuwen]

Does anyone know the Airush Apex and can tell me his experience or even compare it to the Jaime? I'm 75 kg and looking into the 136 sizes. One of the main reasons I want to change is, I currently ride an old 135x42 cm board, with no channels, and especially on my 12m kite, there seems only a small range where I can hold my edge properly. I hope this could improve with a smaller and grippier board. Looking forward to your thoughts.

If you go Duotone including entity straps: check if the straps are actually different/improved from last years model.
The entity straps have been plagued with quality/design issues since 2018 where the bindings will break (there is a whole thread about it here).
To me the design for 2022 still looks exactly the same to the troubled ones except for the colors but it is hard to judge from the photos that have been published.

Regarding boards in general: don't give it to much thought except for sizing. Your current board size seems totally ok its only a little bit wide.
That the problem only happens with a large kite suggests it might be more technique than board related.
Big kites are slow to get to 12 so you really need to handle them a bit different to not get pulled from your edge.

[decay]

Dear all

I'm looking for a new board. I kind of narrowed it down to the Jaime 2021 or the Airush Apex V7. The Airush because it has a "Gold Award" from TheKiteMag. Even though I don't know how biased or unbiased their results are.

Does anyone know the Airush Apex and can tell me his experience or even compare it to the Jaime? I'm 75 kg and looking into the 136 sizes. One of the main reasons I want to change is, I currently ride an old 135x42 cm board, with no channels, and especially on my 12m kite, there seems only a small range where I can hold my edge properly. I hope this could improve with a smaller and grippier board. Looking forward to your thoughts.

Cheers
mountain_lake

I'm about as bias as it possible to get - so I'll not be able to compare the two boards for you - but at 75kg the 136 is the size I would recommend to you.

The Apex is designed as a all-round performance ride, with a little bit of a leaning towards big air - if I only took one board, this is the go to for sure.

Cheers

DK

[elmarco]

I'm about as bias as it possible to get - so I'll not be able to compare the two boards for you - but at 75kg the 136 is the size I would recommend to you.

haha DK, I like your honesty about being biased!
Question - I'm on 2020 Apex & Livewire right now and barely touch the livewire these days. I come from a wakeboard background and spent my first 10 years on wake style boards. The 2018 Apex was the first board I rode that I loved that wasn't a dedicated wake style board. Skatey enough for my wake blood, cranks upwind, hold an edge in anything, and easy on the knees.
How would you say your new Apex compares to the previous gen? (I've got one on the way, but I'm curious which I'll like more)

Thanks!

[decay]

I'm about as bias as it possible to get - so I'll not be able to compare the two boards for you - but at 75kg the 136 is the size I would recommend to you.

haha DK, I like your honesty about being biased!
Question - I'm on 2020 Apex & Livewire right now and barely touch the livewire these days. I come from a wakeboard background and spent my first 10 years on wake style boards. The 2018 Apex was the first board I rode that I loved that wasn't a dedicated wake style board. Skatey enough for my wake blood, cranks upwind, hold an edge in anything, and easy on the knees.
How would you say your new Apex compares to the previous gen? (I've got one on the way, but I'm curious which I'll like more)

Thanks!

To be completely honest here I've moved the new Apex v7 further away from a wakestyle ride, with the 2020 Apex being both squarer and stiffer than the V7. However the Apex V7 design is perhaps more refined and faster reflexing with its double basalt lamination. Kyle, (one of our Cape Town based test riders) rides 100% full time in boots and splits his time between the LW and Apex V7 depending on conditions, you can see his media on:

https://www.instagram.com/as_the_dodo_do/

Cheers

DK

[elmarco]

I'm about as bias as it possible to get - so I'll not be able to compare the two boards for you - but at 75kg the 136 is the size I would recommend to you.

haha DK, I like your honesty about being biased!
Question - I'm on 2020 Apex & Livewire right now and barely touch the livewire these days. I come from a wakeboard background and spent my first 10 years on wake style boards. The 2018 Apex was the first board I rode that I loved that wasn't a dedicated wake style board. Skatey enough for my wake blood, cranks upwind, hold an edge in anything, and easy on the knees.
How would you say your new Apex compares to the previous gen? (I've got one on the way, but I'm curious which I'll like more)

Thanks!

To be completely honest here I've moved the new Apex v7 further away from a wakestyle ride, with the 2020 Apex being both squarer and stiffer than the V7. However the Apex V7 design is perhaps more refined and faster reflexing with its double basalt lamination. Kyle, (one of our Cape Town based test riders) rides 100% full time in boots and splits his time between the LW and Apex V7 depending on conditions, you can see his media on:

https://www.instagram.com/as_the_dodo_do/

Cheers

DK

Thanks DK. Kyle and I have very similar riding styles - hopefully get a v7 soon to try out.