Neo vs other wave kites

[lobodomar]

Hey Cleepa, keep on charging with the Clouds, they are really in a class of its own when it comes to drifting and resistance to hinderburg/frontstall

I envy your quiver, if I had a 5 6 8 12 cloud quiver I probably would not complain about the sweet spot either

[Onda]

The Reo, Drifter, Cloud, Solo are all not convincing in 10+ m²...

Interesting you didn't like the Cloud, it's the only kite that works for me above 10m. Light, reactive& amazing drift, the only negative is the narrow sweetspot cause when depowered it turns too slow and with too much bar pressure. But if sized correctly, it smokes any other wave kite IMO, specially in the bigger sizes.

I agree. A little while back, I had a couple of wave sessions on my 12m Cloud C2. I was really happy - I think the kite is more than responsive enough for wave riding. I am more commonly on my 8, 6 or 5m C1s, and I think they are beyond awesome for waves.

I didn't really notice the sweet spot problem you describe, because the Cloud C1 is so much faster turning than my previous kites (Wainmans). But I don't have that problem anymore anyway, because I modded my bar to have a huge throw and no depower. Now when I want the kite to turn, I sheet in to a certain point to get a certain turning speed. Because I'm almost always in the waves, I much prefer sheeting to a given point to give me consistent turning speed as opposed to consistent power that you get from depowering.

I had the 10 m² C1 and still use the 17 m² C1 Cloud.
The 10 m² is really perfect in almost any aspect for wave riding. The only thing which really, really annoyed me is its very limited depower range, no matter how long the depower throw might be. It ripped me aboard regularly during fast turns. Depowering only causes flutter of the canopy, but no decrease in pull. My experience, with various bar systems and lots of trimming trials.
Turning is super duper fast and that kite is so heavenly nimble in its handling. Perfect lowend as well, unmatched by any other tube kite. But the depower issue finally made me selling it again.
The LF Solo behaves very similarly (1 strut). I finally returned to 3-strut kites.

[ciscokitesurfer]

I like my 10 meter 2015 NEO. I Iike how it turns, drifts and pulls. I also want to buy a used Pivot to find out how good it is after reading so many positive comments. I have the Solo and it is not a wave kites because no matter how hard you pump the kite when it kits hits the water and the canopy is full of water the kite shapes deforms and it has to much pull for surfing. I also have 10 Naish Ride, 8 BWS and 12 REO from 2012 year. No complains about any of these kites but I like NEO.

[juandesooka]

I had the 10 m² C1 and still use the 17 m² C1 Cloud.
The 10 m² is really perfect in almost any aspect for wave riding. The only thing which really, really annoyed me is its very limited depower range, no matter how long the depower throw might be. It ripped me aboard regularly during fast turns. Depowering only causes flutter of the canopy, but no decrease in pull. My experience, with various bar systems and lots of trimming trials.
Turning is super duper fast and that kite is so heavenly nimble in its handling. Perfect lowend as well, unmatched by any other tube kite. But the depower issue finally made me selling it again.

That is my experience with Cloud as well. They can fly in an amazing wind range, blown away by how low they can stay in the air. I have flown my 8m in 12kts and up to 30kts. But at either end of wind range, their performance gets weird, especially at high end. Probably would be good if you had a quiver and could better match the wind. I am going to sell mine.

This thread has been quite interesting, thanks for all the input. I have a BWS quiver that I lucked into 3 years ago....crazy good deal I will never match. They are starting to age and I have to consider some replacing, especially my 10m, but not too keen on the prices new. So I am beginning to look around. Sounds like North Neo and Naish Pivot are the leaders so far, with Cabrinha Drifter liked too. What about Best Cabo, Epic Surf, others? Anyone demo these against Ocean Rodeo Prodigy? (not really a wave kite but closest thing in OR lineup)

One of my main concerns is bar pressure, with vicious tennis elbow on both sides now.

[IanNJ]

I like Ozone Reo's and the GTS3. Both very similar with fast turning and good drift. The Ozone has more bar pressure and a manual swivel. The GTS3 will have less low end power. Either kite you will be very happy with. Both loop very fast with good pull through the turn

[shane1]

Most days I use the Best Cabo V3. The kite has an great drift pretty good wind range and does not pull you of the board when turning. The kite can turn fast and pivotal, which does not generate power and allows your positioning. At the same time it is direct and its position is always clear to feel. This combination I really like.
I tried a couple of the kites listed and would say the bar pressure sits somewhere in the middle, but with less bar travel/movement compared to some of the other kites due to not needing a pulley at the connecting point.

[Manuel V]

I have been riding Neo 2015 size 9 for 8 months and decided to sell my all around quiver to a dedicate wave kite quiver, I'm riding surfboards 90% of the time.
Neo is the only wave kite I have used, and I have read many posts about ss wave, noise,naish pivot, cabrinha drifter end core gts3. Could someone tell me the main difference between them and Neo.
My only complaints about Neo are the bar weight and the turn speed.

If turning speed is important for you go with REO's
I try both and REO's are faster than NEO's size by size.
REO's have more pivotal turn.

For free ride the 12M REO's is much faster than a lot of all around 12M kites.

I agree with the comments of other members above 10M and up wave kites.

[madworld]

I like the Ocean Rodeo Prodigy for waves, it is very user friendly with a lot of range . I love the feeling of this kite.

[flyingfishza]

I dont normally offer advise on kites because I can usually only tell you what bugs me about a kite,but since I got the Pivots I have been very quiet on the beach.
there are no annoying traits , it jumps better than you would expect , even if you expect alot, I dont think about the kite at all when waveriding , which is what you want , right?
I ride 90% waves trsapless , TT kiteloops can be more grunty than expected if you dont yank it hard.

but it seems I am not alone in singing the praises of the pivot , just dont get that stupid bar with the BTB depower and ATB swivel, what were they thinking

[silversurfer_no]

I won't comment on my personal experience here as I have not tried enough other 2014-2015 wave kites. All I can say is that at my local spot (Gran Canaria) we had a total mix of all types of wave kites two years ago. Then the 2014 Neo arrived (earlier Neos suck, they are a totally different kite) and now I would say more than 50% are on the Neo, by far the most used kite. I had sessions side by side with other buddies and what really makes the Neo excel is that besides being a most excellent waveriding kite it can also take you upwind.

Can't really comment if this goes for all sizes as we very seldom use kites bigger than 7m2 here, but the 4, 5 and 6 are surely a dream in the wave.