Just a quick comparison of the F-One Strike v3 and Duotone Slick Dlab.
For reference I am 78kg on Unifoil Hyper 150 and came from a windsurfing background. I have no association whatsoever with either brand. Just thought I would help others make a decision, who may not have access to both wings.
Upwind
Whilst hard to compare, I felt the Slick was faster upwind.
Ground tricks
The boom on the Slick made tacking and gybing easier and riding one handed allows for one handed tricks.
Getting up
F-One are famous for their amazing low end grunt. The Strike was easier to pump and get up in light winds.
Stability
The Strike was more stable both in the water and flagging out. Better for beginners and wave riding.
Backwinding
The Strike was better in this respect. However, the Slick was more stable riding backwinded.
Lift for jumps
The Strike felt much easier to jump higher.
Fatigue
Couldn't ride the Slick for as long due to forearm fatigue. This is so crucial when learning, since time on the water helps progression. The Strike can be ridden for 6 hours without harness compared to 2 with the Slick.
Weight
The Strike felt much lighter.
Safety
The solid boom on the Slick made me nervous about getting hit or it damaging the board.
Summary
For racing/blasting, and some freestyle tricks, the Slick would be my choice. Overall though I would chose the Strike for beginners through to wave riding.
Select to expand quoteMarimu said..
Just a quick comparison of the F-One Strike v3 and Duotone Slick Dlab.
For reference I am 78kg on Unifoil Hyper 150 and came from a windsurfing background. I have no association whatsoever with either brand. Just thought I would help others make a decision, who may not have access to both wings.
Upwind
Whilst hard to compare, I felt the Slick was faster upwind.
Ground tricks
The boom on the Slick made tacking and gybing easier and riding one handed allows for one handed tricks.
Getting up
F-One are famous for their amazing low end grunt. The Strike was easier to pump and get up in light winds.
Stability
The Strike was more stable both in the water and flagging out. Better for beginners and wave riding.
Backwinding
The Strike was better in this respect. However, the Slick was more stable riding backwinded.
Lift for jumps
The Strike felt much easier to jump higher.
Fatigue
Couldn't ride the Slick for as long due to forearm fatigue. This is so crucial when learning, since time on the water helps progression. The Strike can be ridden for 6 hours without harness compared to 2 with the Slick.
Weight
The Strike felt much lighter.
Safety
The solid boom on the Slick made me nervous about getting hit or it damaging the board.
Summary
For racing/blasting, and some freestyle tricks, the Slick would be my choice. Overall though I would chose the Strike for beginners through to wave riding.
Nice review. This quote was very enlightening
"Fatigue
Couldn't ride the Slick for as long due to forearm fatigue. This is so crucial when learning, since time on the water helps progression. The Strike can be ridden for 6 hours without harness compared to 2 with the Slick."
Which boom did you use with that Slick? I've been using a paddle as a boom and finally got my hands on a platinum boom last week. I didn't like the larger diameter I much prefer the smaller diameter of my "paddle boom".
Select to expand quoteDWF said..
There are two platinum booms. The SLS is skinny grip.
Thanks for the clarification. I thought the new one was called just "SLS" which I haven't seen yet. Do you know the diameter of the SLS boom? The original Platinum boom I used was about 29MM. I wouldn't have thought a couple of mm would made much difference, but It does.
Select to expand quoteMarimu said..
Just a quick comparison of the F-One Strike v3 and Duotone Slick Dlab.
For reference I am 78kg on Unifoil Hyper 150 and came from a windsurfing background. I have no association whatsoever with either brand. Just thought I would help others make a decision, who may not have access to both wings.
Upwind
Whilst hard to compare, I felt the Slick was faster upwind.
Ground tricks
The boom on the Slick made tacking and gybing easier and riding one handed allows for one handed tricks.
Getting up
F-One are famous for their amazing low end grunt. The Strike was easier to pump and get up in light winds.
Stability
The Strike was more stable both in the water and flagging out. Better for beginners and wave riding.
Backwinding
The Strike was better in this respect. However, the Slick was more stable riding backwinded.
Lift for jumps
The Strike felt much easier to jump higher.
Fatigue
Couldn't ride the Slick for as long due to forearm fatigue. This is so crucial when learning, since time on the water helps progression. The Strike can be ridden for 6 hours without harness compared to 2 with the Slick.
Weight
The Strike felt much lighter.
Safety
The solid boom on the Slick made me nervous about getting hit or it damaging the board.
Summary
For racing/blasting, and some freestyle tricks, the Slick would be my choice. Overall though I would chose the Strike for beginners through to wave riding.
You forgot to mention dlab costs around 2200 euro! Big difference in price!
UPDATE: I wrote this review after a limited amount of riding on each wing. In terms of low end grunt for getting up in light wind, the F-One (and probably the Slick) requires a different technique from the older style wings. The stiffer canopy requires a faster pump (not such large pumps). It is harder to achieve the faster wing pump and sync it with the board pump but after some practice I can get up in equally light wind as the older fuller canopy.
In terms of booms, I am not entirely sure which boom I was riding - I just know it was the newly released version. Arm fatigue on booms and hard handles is well known by people in the industry. It is a particular problem in colder climates when having to grip with thicker gloves. Not an issue windsurfing due to the harness. It might be less of a problem in Australia ??
