Duotone Foil Assist

I wonder how well it fits with various impact vests?

Managed to get a quick go over the weekend, initial impressions were pretty good, the product looked really refined and presented well, it all felt built well in the hands.
I have never used an e foil or foil assist before so didn't know what to expect but was pleasantly surprised how easy it was to get to my feet and be cruising around, I was in safety bay with a small bit of chop and a 10knot head wind. I thought that was pretty good considering I'm 95kg's and was cavitating the motor allot, the duotone rep was able to buzz around much faster than me, good technique and lighter weight definitely helps . The belt felt really comfortable, I forgot it was even there until I had to take it off, I did notice it was harder to pump than my standard prone setup but I'm sure this would be the same for any of the foil assists on the market with a motor on the mast.The remote is really nice, it felt super intuitive and I really liked I didn't need to learn a new pop up technique while holding a remote in my hands, you could use both hands relatively freely. The remote has like a watch like screen that goes around your wrist and shows you battery levels and speed setting, you have a little ring on your finger with a couple of buttons you click on for increasing or decreasing speed. The button is like a dead man switch so if you lift you finger off the motor shuts off, which is a good safety feature. After using this and going for a prone the next morning, you could definitely see if you had one your wave count would increase massively. I think this would be sweet for getting up early out the back, getting in early or catching waves coming through not breaking that you wouldn't have a chance of paddling into normally.
Great product I think I got the bug and want to try a few more brands so I have a base line to compare to but super excited to try more gear and make a decision. Good job duotone, you guys have made a really nice product here with quality meeting performance.

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TakeOffAus4 said..
i think its a pretty system but they missed the mark on battery size ,voltage and motor power

MANTA EVO AND FOILDRIVE HAVE FAR MORE VOLTAGE AND MOTOR POWER WITH BETTER BATTERIES
TO COMPLETE.
WITH THE USE OF MANTA BACKPACK SYSTEM ( BUILT IN FLOATATION) WITH ADAPTERS FOR FOILDRIVE MAX AND SLIM
YOU WOULD BE BETTER OFF

WITH MANTA EVO SYSTEM WITH BATTERIES CONFIGURATION FROM 197WH -1036WH
HIGH POWER INTERNALLY SEALED MAINTENANCE FREE MOTOR . INRUNNER MOTOR

BOTH SYSTEMS ARE BETTER THAN DUOTONE IN EVERYWAY

That's a lot of capital letters !!Saying one is BETTER than the other is a big call me thinks, I personally want weight saving assist over high power with extra weight.

Any update on the duotone assists release dates?

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Wingman WA said..I personally want weight saving assist over high power with extra weight.

Agree with Wingman or is that Pwingman now

Interesting development, battery life would be ok if you do not buzz around the line up like an efoil.

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hilly said..
The cable seems close to the prop. Is it secured to the bottom of the board?



The cable is secured to the bottom of the board. I have used it when we had a demo a few months ago goes very well. I have the 5'2" board I have been using with FD connection is a bit average but board is great, also got the Crest foils which are amazing. Can wait to get the motor system hopefully beginning November

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baldy123 said..
This is the AUD pricing I saw.
AL - $7790.00, D/LAB - $9799.00
Board another $1999

The alloy has adapters available for other brand gliders, but the carbon Dlab model is Duotone gliders only.

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toppleover said..
Hey, pardon my ignorance as I know absolutely nothing about foil assists. Is the Duotone integrated mast comparable in design to the new Armstrong & others integrated masts - (mini pod)? Or are they already behind the 8 ball?

The dlab carbon mast uses a moulded carbon pod integrated into the mast.

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TakeOffAus4 said..
i think its a pretty system but they missed the mark on battery size ,voltage and motor power

MANTA EVO AND FOILDRIVE HAVE FAR MORE VOLTAGE AND MOTOR POWER WITH BETTER BATTERIES
TO COMPLETE.
WITH THE USE OF MANTA BACKPACK SYSTEM ( BUILT IN FLOATATION) WITH ADAPTERS FOR FOILDRIVE MAX AND SLIM
YOU WOULD BE BETTER OFF

WITH MANTA EVO SYSTEM WITH BATTERIES CONFIGURATION FROM 197WH -1036WH
HIGH POWER INTERNALLY SEALED MAINTENANCE FREE MOTOR . INRUNNER MOTOR

BOTH SYSTEMS ARE BETTER THAN DUOTONE IN EVERYWAY

This new system is not even released yet, we're still waiting on the 1st shipment.
I doubt anyone who's actually seen one could declare they've missed the mark.
It's clearly a very thoroughly thought out and well made product. Only time will tell how good and reliable they are.
The watch controller is awesome, super clear for semi blind old people to see, and keeps your hands free. Initial thought on the harness as you pick it up is "there is a bit of weight in it!", but after you've put it on you honestly don't even notice it again. The motor runs really smooth, and plenty of power for me, 75kg, without using boost .
2 x 160WH 22.8V batteries connected in series is very similar to FD Sport's 40V 333WH, so comparisons will be very interesting.

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Launch day!

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Interested to see what real consumers have to say. Hard not to think this is the future of the assist category. Wonder if FoilDrive will jump on board the wearable bandwagon. Who will make first mod to adapt motor to any mast ?!? FoilDrive strap on style ?

$USD:

I saw a video of the prop with 3 blades, but the one i looked at in the flesh only had 2 blades, does the release coming out of 2 or 3 blades

disappointed that they kept that design for their remote. tried it a while back and thought it was a deal breaker. discrete steps for acceleration is not the way to go, and it all just seemed counterintuitive. maybe V2 they'll fix that...or maybe coming from the Foil Drive type of remote just made it seem worse. but liked just about everything else and really noticed the lack of weight on the board without feeling it on me.

Demo'd one at Merimbula

This is coming from someone that learnt to foil with a FDA+ mounted to a waist belt a few years ago (haven't really efoiled since) so I was interested in how duotone brought one to market.

Pros:
* The 40 something litre version that I demo'd was easy enough for me to get straight up on foil (I'm only 70kg) with their 800ish foil. It was also fairly thin which I like for feel.
* It definitely feels a little more like "real foiling" once up and going on the wave, kind of obviously removing a chunk of weight from the board helps! I was able to surf more naturally and pump around easier with a lighter setup (still nothing on a pure prone setup though)
*It was only a brief session but the dlab foil and mast rode and surfed well (footage of Will and Luke will prove this much more than anything I can say)

Cons:
* I found the remote system a very weird choice, I'm sure it gets better with muscle memory but having to quickly press 6 or so times before long pressing when kicking off a wave felt more difficult than it needed to be, not having finer quick adjustments of the throttle without a traditional trigger did feel a bit of a step back for me
* I only got about 20mins out of the battery. To be fair I don't know if it was fully charged when I went out and I spent most of the time with the throttle set to 6 as I didn't want to muck around with the remote while riding
* The cord did get tangled between my legs on a popup, not a deal breaker but something to be aware of
* I didn't seem to be able to get the belt tight enough on my 28" waist meaning the batteries had a bit of movement but it wasn't of huge concern