Dragonfly wings - any thoughts?

[supmmmm]

Hi guys n girls - I was on the forum a while ago but forgot my login so just been lurking occasionally. Just back from a month in the DR, tried the wing thing n I’m totally in! Now need to get me some gear.

Looking at the Manta inflatable boards from another thread i noticed they made wings which were licensed from dragonfly kite boarding, two companies that I’m not familiar with. Gear looks decent. N I like this boom they are releasing for 2020.

https://dragonflykiteboarding.com/freewing-boom/#more-2435

Thoughts? Heading back down in March- hope to have some gear to take with me. Already picked up a naish thrust sup foil. Just need a wing n board and I’m good to go 😀

[Wetstuff]

mmmm...  My 2c: it's pretty much a crapshoot if you step outside the 'known unknowns'. There's plenty of examples of people's experience with major brands, even accepting their biases or commercial attachments. 

The only thing that I questioned about these particular wings... in looking at the photos - none were flown using the stock handles - all used the boom.  The front, perpendicular, handles differed from every other brand I have seen.  One could speculate, production was complete and the new, optional boom was very welcome. 

I would also guess that the wing may want to wander in 'neutral' (holding the front-most handle) as the handle is placed below the C/L of the LE. I would guess there is still power in that position - without a backhand to damp the oscillations. I could be blowing pretty blue smoke from a bong... multiple videos could solve a lot of mysteries. 

...and why do they not identify themselves?  "Our international team of designers and testers" ...plus a Gmail address is the best I can get from your link?!   

I really like looking for small, talented brands that do not hire prodigious children to do demos to sell adults, but there has to be some clearly, demonstratable reasons why they are a viable option.

Jim

[PonoBill]

Nice looking wing in the mode of Gong low aspect. That's good in some respects--keeps the wingtips higher in the large sizes. The price is pretty aggressive though. The same or more than Fone, who is pretty aggressive. Comparable Gong wings, which look a lot like these, are at least a hundred bucks cheaper.

I like the idea of removable handles, and if there's a boom available no one would use the handles. I'm not sure about that boom configuration though. Having the boom curve so far away from the strut might compromise control a bit. You can get used to anything, but it's nice to start with something that works well.

Any competitor entering the game at this point is going to look like an also-ran. The folks who jumped in as soon as they could and slammed out something even if it sucked gained a real advantage that's hard to overcome. I still view all the current gear as version one though some stuff is more V0.8 than others. But I don't see anything groundbreaking here. It looks more like an accumulation of copied features, and certainly, there's nothing here that looks worth paying a premium for.