Cabrinha Drifter vs North Neo - Who tried both of them?

[manoloterranova]

Cabrinha Drifter vs North Neo - Who tried both of them? What's the differences?
Thanks, 
Manolo

[thuffam]

I would be interested to know this too - can anyone comment? Either 2014 or 2015 models.
Thanks

[boardjockey]

The Drifter is great for strapless wave riding, but I'd rather fly a different kite for hooked in jumping on a twin tip.

The NEO is more multipurpose in my opinion.

[clint2070]

Ive never flown the neos but i owned drifters.
Pros- it does everything it claims it does drifts killer ! Turns fast !
Cons- cabrinhas have always had tons of bar pressure and the drifter is no expection. The bar pressure is too much to bare for a wave kite. After 2 consecutive days of kiting i couldnt even lift my right arm. I am 44 though. A younger rider might like the workout ! Haha. I also had dificulty jumping on them. This could be because of not giving myself time to get used to the kite. My wainmans took a few to get used to in the aspect of jumping too. Glad i didnt sell them to get the drifters because i sold the drifters ASAP ! Since moved on to the pivots. Best allround surf kites ive owned. Like ive said though. Ive never flown the Neo. Hope this helps you.

[heinzbush]

Ive never flown the neos but i owned drifters.
Pros- it does everything it claims it does drifts killer ! Turns fast !
Cons- cabrinhas have always had tons of bar pressure and the drifter is no expection. The bar pressure is too much to bare for a wave kite. After 2 consecutive days of kiting i couldnt even lift my right arm. I am 44 though. A younger rider might like the workout ! Haha. I also had dificulty jumping on them. This could be because of not giving myself time to get used to the kite. My wainmans took a few to get used to in the aspect of jumping too. Glad i didnt sell them to get the drifters because i sold the drifters ASAP ! Since moved on to the pivots. Best allround surf kites ive owned. Like ive said though. Ive never flown the Neo. Hope this helps you.

Interesting perception. I had wainman and drifters, but i had to get rid of the Wainmans since the bar pressure was too much for me! I am talking about Rabbit 2.0 versus Drifter 2014!

General statements like "Cabrina always had tons of bar pressure" are simply not true today. Their bar pressure are on par with other manufacturers, being it the Contra, switchblade or drifter (those are the ones that I had).

Therefore it makes me wonder what year model you were flying - it is true that older generations had "tons of bar pressure", however as I said and confirmed by many many tests and reviews, this is not true today anymore.

Drifter is a damn fine proven wave kite... If there is one kite that Cabrinha can do really well coming from Maui with guys like Pete, Reo Stevens or Keahi , it is a wave kite! Switchblade speaks it for itself...

[poldo]

not strictly related but I've tried a Cabrinha Vector 9m (first one) and fould quite light bar pressure

[blacktip]

Ive never flown the neos but i owned drifters.
Pros- it does everything it claims it does drifts killer ! Turns fast !
Cons- cabrinhas have always had tons of bar pressure and the drifter is no expection. The bar pressure is too much to bare for a wave kite.

Classic example of a faulty setup. Why is it setup faulty? Because the frontlines are overstretched, sometimes even prior to first usage.
Result: a very bad first impression. If the rider is not able to figure this out himself, he will always fly a faulty kite and end up selling the kite. Bad promo if you ask me.

The Drifter is not at fault, it flies perfecty fine with light barpressure. The problem is also NOT the stretching of the frontlines. The problem is the ignorance of the rider. And if I were Cabrinha I'd make sure my dealernetwork is pointing this out to the customer with every kite they sell.

[heinzbush]

Ive never flown the neos but i owned drifters.
Pros- it does everything it claims it does drifts killer ! Turns fast !
Cons- cabrinhas have always had tons of bar pressure and the drifter is no expection. The bar pressure is too much to bare for a wave kite.

Classic example of a faulty setup. Why is it setup faulty? Because the frontlines are overstretched, sometimes even prior to first usage.
Result: a very bad first impression. If the rider is not able to figure this out himself, he will always fly a faulty kite and end up selling the kite. Bad promo if you ask me.

The Drifter is not at fault, it flies perfecty fine with light barpressure. The problem is also NOT the stretching of the frontlines. The problem is the ignorance of the rider. And if I were Cabrinha I'd make sure my dealernetwork is pointing this out to the customer with every kite they sell.

True, on other kites u might notice it since the kite would start to backstall... But the drifter doesn't backstall so u might not notice it!

On several 2013 and 2014s I found that after the first flight, the lines need to be tuned, then they don't change for many many sessions and I never have to readjust. I'm not sure if it's stretch... Maybe it's just for all the knots to tighten perfectly that causes a few cms... They say the lines are pre-stretched, so I assume they pre-stretch and then put the knots in afterwards...

[clint2070]

Sounds like you guys are representing cabrinha. I know how to tune my bars and do it quite often. Every year cabrinha claims that "this year our kites no longer have heavy bar pressure " my drifters were the 2013 models. So now youre going to tell me that 2013 was the last year of heavy bar pressure right ? My wainmans were the 2.0. If you think they have more bar pressure than the 2013 drifters then youre wrong. I demoed the 2014 switchblade too. Same deal ! Im glad you guys are happy with your cabrinhas. Theyre just not for me ! Even if for some reason the front lines were a bit longer then the rears depowering the kite would take care of that problem. Im not bashing the kite ! It had good qualities just bad bar pressure !

[clint2070]

Off topic but I did try the 2014 velocity in the lightwind testing for the kiteboarder mag and gave it some of my best reviews. I even liked the bar and the bar pressure didnt bother me. I was in 9-13mph though.