Any feedback on switch wings? Looking at the 6m surf model. Not sure what version these are. Will be my light wind wing to compliment my 4.4 Vayu.
FYI not trying to spam the board with two similar posts. Just figured I might get a better response with individual posts by any particular brand advocates (I.e ga or switch).
Select to expand quoteQtwind said..
Any feedback on switch wings? Looking at the 6m surf model. Not sure what version these are. Will be my light wind wing to compliment my 4.4 Vayu.
FYI not trying to spam the board with two similar posts. Just figured I might get a better response with individual posts by any particular brand advocates (I.e ga or switch).
A buddy has a 6m and rode it in all winds...amazing. Never does the walk of shame, returns to launch while schlogging.
He finally broke down and purchased a 7 and a 4 :)
One of the local riders rips on his 4m in all conditions and it definitely seems to have a big wind range, looks pretty basic but from what I can see certainly works well .
I have 4 and 5m in the first generation and 6m in the second generation. I really like them. The range, especially at the top end, is phenomenal.
I notice no difference in performance and riding between me and people with much more expensive wings. The people doing better than me have more skill, not better gear.
The value for money is way ahead of other brands. You can buy most sizes for $800-900. Wait for the dollar to be strong and they have frequent 40% off sales.
The construction is a bit less elaborate than the name brands, but that doesn't seem to make any negative difference. Mine have lasted very well. There's a little bagging out in the most used sizes. That's only noticeable when riding extremely underpowered. My 4 and 5 have about 150 hours each and the 6m 50 hours. The 4 and 5 went through my learning phase so they got a lot of crashing. I don't crash all that much now so they get a much easier life.
Switch give a lifetime warranty and they honour it. I had a bit of a problem with the valves peeling off the 4 and 5m. Re-gluing the valves worked ok but I got sick of doing it. I mentioned it to Switch and they sent me a full set of bladders for both wings. This was a couple of years after buying them.
I have bought a couple of big name brand wings recently and I am less than impressed. True the construction on them is gorgeous, and the mini-booms have a lot to like about them. The range and handling at the edge of the wind range, not so great.
There is one negative about using Switch gear. Their kites and wings are really good and really cheap. Once you get used to paying not much money for very good gear it's hard to get enthused about paying 50% for very similar gear or 2,3,4 times the price for the swish stuff.
The other negative is I long ago decided that kites and stuff were consumable items. Use them, abuse them, wear them out, get new stuff. In an emergency I would happily ditch the gear to save myself. Since I've been using Switch kites they refuse to wear out, and fortunately I've had no emergencies that require ditching gear.
Awesome feedback thanks. Interesting what you say about range. Seems some wing design is going the way of windsurf sails very quickly. Optimised performance in a small window (I.e. wind range). The most fun I've had windsurfing tho has been sails with the biggest range, where constantly changing sizes wasn't needed. Yes there would have been faster/quicker handling sails, but you need 2 or 3 vs 1.
Fortunately for me winging is at this stage a fairly casual sport as I am still very much into high wind windsurfing. Hence the simplest gear with a bug range is my priority.
Got me leaning towards the switch now, atleast to decide if 6m winging is worth investing in.
Well I couldn't resist the black Friday sale in the end. Just a touch over $800 delivered for a new wing is sweet, wish I discovered them before the exchange rate dropped though.
Little note the newer window model has less range. Messaged the guys and they confirmed.
