Hydrofoil board for beginner, cheaper VS expensive

[Archer77]

Hi All guys!

I have read 3/4 discussion about beginner foil request before posting

I have read more than a time that cheaper beginner hydrofoil boards could discourage foiling and most experienced (and expensive) brands are a better choice

What are the best for beginner but good for progression HF boards in the high end(and so expensive) range? (but with very good quality/price ratio sure not looking for luxury or exceedingly expensive material with no real sense)

Which could be the most experienced brands where I can search?

Thank you again to share every time your experience!

[tegirinenashi]

Being beginner friendly has nothing to do with price.

[tmcfarla]

I don’t think the board matters all that much. Better to use a board designed for foiling instead of trying to adapt something else (surfboard, etc.). If you are reasonably crafty, you can build your own board pretty easily.

For the hydrofoil itself, definitely use something made by an established company instead of trying a home-build or Chinese knock-off. Some are more beginner friendly than others, but the key thing is to learn with a hydrofoil that you know works.

Zeeko, slingshot, and lift are all generally considered to be quality foils that are easy to learn on. There are plenty of other options as well, but that is a reasonable starting point.

Note that there are increasingly more foils designed for sports other than kiting (windsurf, sup, etc.). Probably don’t start with one of those.

[Mossy 757]

I think a LOT of the learning curve flattened out when foil manufacturers figured out how to make boards. There was a generation there for a while where there were only foils on the market and people were putting them on boards they had or bought for that reason. Once you could buy a foil/board combo that worked based on engineered geometry between foot placement/box placement/strut placement on fuselage/etc. things got a LOT easier.

So that being said, if you buy a foil get the board that goes with it and try to get one that's 1 year old or less as you'll be within that "generation" of gear that accounted well for this.

To answer your specific question, there are a lot of foils that are easy to ride and you'll never ever ever outgrow. You have to spend an extra buck or two to get one versus a model that's very easy to learn on but also easy to outgrow. So if you want to get easily into foiling and have equipment that can scale with your riding ability, you have to pay more.

From what I've seen the Levitaz products are really good at this because they're highly modular, you can buy 1 strut/board setup and then switch out wings if you want more/different performance, up to and including a setup that could win you a Hydrofoil Pro Tour championship if you got serious about racing.

People report good success with Slingshot, but I picked up just the foil once and almost threw my back out, and I HATE HATE HATE heavy gear and it felt like it was made out of enriched uranium.

Many have very good luck with the Ketos line of products, again because they're highly modular and suit many different riding styles.

The other option I'd recommend if you're in the US is the Delta Hydrofoil. It's a lot of money and it's a race foil, it's designed to go as fast as any foil on the market (and has beaten Mike's Lab foils in a few back to back tests with expert riders). The current iteration is as easy to ride as any foil you'll find out there and is pretty much impossible to grow out of. I think it's the kind of foil anyone could learn on. I might be mistaken in saying this, but I believe this is the foil design that was selected by Neil Pryde to be the model for their FR:X one design foil series.

[Peter_Frank]

Hi All guys!

I have read 3/4 discussion about beginner foil request before posting

I have read more than a time that cheaper beginner hydrofoil boards could discourage foiling and most experienced (and expensive) brands are a better choice

What are the best for beginner but good for progression HF boards in the high end(and so expensive) range? (but with very good quality/price ratio sure not looking for luxury or exceedingly expensive material with no real sense)

Which could be the most experienced brands where I can search?

Thank you again to share every time your experience!

You are right, the cheaper hydrofoils most often dont leave room for progression and a wider range of wings and stuff, and definitely not any high end ones available.
Fine if you just want to learn and then sell, like some do, but you seem to want to go to something that you can grow with, which is another good choice.

Zeeko has a wide range of foils and wings, both cheaper alu foils, and the expensive carbon - and several wings for most products.

Ketos is high end carbon all over, both foils and boards, and they got a big range of wings, all of them fully interchangable.

Price for the high end is about the same for these, and can recommend both as I have ridden many of above - use Ketos myself now as I am willing to pay for the high end products and they aim for the overall rider with many wings available for everything you want.
But the cheaper alu foils from Zeeko can only be recommended too, lots of experience and good products.

Whereas LF and Slingshot etc, are the ones you want to avoid - as you will get a cheap beginnerfoil yes, but no room for advancing or progressing to much better wings.

There are other high end brands, would just mention the two I know really well (and many others do too) and can recommend because of the versatility and wide range of products.

Most likely some will list other versatile brands in this thread too

Peter

[irwe]

My favourite beginner Hydrofoil board is the Slinghshot Alien Air (2015, 2016). Decent volume (some say volume is not necessary but I like it for beginners), standard plate box (adaptable to many brands), option of 3, 2 or 1 footstraps.
I learn't on it and still use it as my light wind KBH. I have recommended it to four other kitesurfers who
were all happy to use it to learn to KBH.
Unfortunately SS stopped making it. However, you can find used ones or ones on sale. Can't go wrong as a beginner KBH.

[abel]

Given that hydrofoiling is a long term strategic decision, I would recommend buying the equipment under the same strategy.
During the initial learning looong phases the board does have a relative significant importance, so that's why a special purpose, floaty and forgiving one is preferred.
Regarding the mast (strut) and wings, I would recommend opting for a versatile light weight set (it feels less threatening, and is easier to carry and control).
Of course this implies higher costs..., but as stated before, if you are strategically committed, the advantages on the long range will be higher.

[revhed]

I think a LOT of the learning curve flattened out when foil manufacturers figured out how to make boards. there are a lot of foils that are easy to ride and you'll never ever ever outgrow. You have to spend an extra buck or two to get one versus a model that's very easy to learn on but also easy to outgrow. So if you want to get easily into foiling and have equipment that can scale with your riding ability, you have to pay more.

I HATE HATE HATE heavy gear and it felt like it was made out of enriched uranium.

Many have very good luck with the Ketos line of products, again because they're highly modular and suit many different riding styles.

The other option I'd recommend if you're in the US is the Delta Hydrofoil. It's a lot of money and it's a race foil, it's designed to go as fast as any foil on the market (and has beaten Mike's Lab foils in a few back to back tests with expert riders). The current iteration is as easy to ride as any foil you'll find out there and is pretty much impossible to grow out of. I think it's the kind of foil anyone could learn on.

R H

[revhed]

You are right, the cheaper hydrofoils most often dont leave room for progression and a wider range of wings and stuff, and definitely not any high end ones available.

Zeeko has a wide range of foils and wings, both cheaper alu foils, and the expensive carbon - and several wings for most products.

Ketos is high end carbon all over, both foils and boards, and they got a big range of wings, all of them fully interchangable.

Price for the high end is about the same for these, and can recommend both as I have ridden many of above - use Ketos myself now as I am willing to pay for the high end products and they aim for the overall rider with many wings available for everything you want.
But the cheaper alu foils from Zeeko can only be recommended too, lots of experience and good products.

Whereas LF and Slingshot etc, are the ones you want to avoid - as you will get a cheap beginner foil yes, but no room for advancing or progressing to much better wings.

Peter

If by any chance you have access to a spot where there are some confirmed riders ask their advise and maybe if really cool and sharing will let you test fly their rigs knowing that YOU know and respect KBHF rule NUMBER ONE do not bottom out, run aground!
R H
Although the Sling shot does weigh a TON it does seem to work well for nubies, but as noted maybe not for long depending ones progression rate.
Interchangeable DIFFERENT wings is SO nice!

[bigwave]

Hi All guys!

I have read 3/4 discussion about beginner foil request before posting

I have read more than a time that cheaper beginner hydrofoil boards could discourage foiling and most experienced (and expensive) brands are a better choice

What are the best for beginner but good for progression HF boards in the high end(and so expensive) range? (but with very good quality/price ratio sure not looking for luxury or exceedingly expensive material with no real sense)

Which could be the most experienced brands where I can search?

Thank you again to share every time your experience!

Some things you should consider. Do you want a dedicated HF Board or a dual purpose board that you can ride without the foil? Do you want a volume style board or a no volume style board? A board that is travel friendly? A manufacturer that has a graduated mast system?

Those above questions will help you make an educated purchase .

Im not sure what you mean by cheaper beginner HF Boards. Liquid Force brought affordable HF to the masses. There are several companies that offer excellent inexpensive packages tailored to you needs (see those questions).

Don't believe everything you read. Slingshot has the most extension HF program among the major kite companies. There NF2 Foil is heavy, big deal. Super stable, quick lift and reasonably fast. You won't out grow it anytime soon. They have a great selection of boards too. If you want High end they have it , Ghost Whisper made by Moses .

I could go on and on but do some research and see what you narrow it down to and then see if anyone here has ridden the product for more than 15min to give you an idea what your getting.