Duotone v3 Unit wing review 

you are very welcome bud, I wish you an awesome day!!!

Thanks bud! the weight of the Strikes are def the appeal, but the compromise are they rip easy and get blown out quick. but the pros def outweigh any cons, and I expect the new ones to be the same if not better. no hard handes, that's OK. no more one pump, I can deal. hopefully that's it. fingers crossed! I think 5m demos are coming any day now, I'm personally planning grabbing a 4.5 and a 5.5 Thanks for the note and I wish you a great weekend!

DUDE! I appreciate that from you more than almost anyone on here, I really appreciate it. Looking forward to Florida's windy season and seeing your progression!! Take care and I wish you an awesome weekend!!

I did change my mind on the upwind angle of the v3. Previously thought V2 was better, but measured a recent GPS track on 5.5m v3 in 18-20 knots. I was able to maintain 49 deg to the wind on two long tacks (at about 13mph). I think that is the best upwind performance I've measured on any wing.

hahaha yeah I tried to keep the F-bombs out of the video but that little clip summed it all up pretty well. It was both an awesome wave sesh and kinda a frustrating sesh cause of some of the wing tendencies, but lets not discount the fact that it was an awesome wave sesh!!! sounds like we are of similar mindset with the Unit's and Strikes. I also want them both, but not sure if I can afford that this year. Lets hope the V3 Strikes are the same as V2 or better! But I really really do love the Unit, I hope that still came out in this video and people don't focus on the negative. I can find faults in any wing.

@@DaveSails7 REAAAALLY?!?! thanks bud, that's great news. I was a little worried, and bummed I couldn't do a legit comparison. As I said, that's the biggest reason why I have them - for racing. everything else is just icing on the cake (but that is a delicious cake). So maybe I'll upgrade to the new 6.5m this Summer. My v2 isn't that blown out and I've had it out in some intense sessions, so I'm not super eager but Summer could be a good time. Thanks for this... really really great to hear the upwind has not been killed. Thanks again bud and I wish you an amazing weekend!

oh man, I totally hear you. it's a tough call at this point. if you already have a v3 Strike, then you know what you are getting into. I used the crap out of my 5.5m and it's literally falling apart and so bagged out. so it hasn't aged well IMO, at least not living up to their marketing for the reasons for the extra weight they added. I have a list of things I hope they fix for v4. I'm hopeful, and will prolly buy one no matter what but I may try them vs pre-order like I've done for the last few. so personally, for a lot of reasons, I'd prolly go for the Unit in your situation if you were going for a bigger size. smaller sizes, I could go either way. LMK what you end up doing!

⁠@@OCEANBOUND1I ordered a 5.5 V3 Strike today. Windance has it at 30% off which just seemed too good to sit on for such a great wing. I am surprised to hear that your 5.5 is so beat up as my 7 CWC V3 has held up very well but I suppose riding flat water hasn’t been all that tough on it compared to wave poundings. I think the canopy material is different as well but I didn’t expect by much. I’ll be interested to hear what you use to replace the 5.5 as it looks to log some serious miles.

@@snugkillsit sweet dude! That’s my wing right there! I really do love the v3’s… they came just at the right time in my progression. I def ride that 5.5 beyond 30mph so it’s taken a beating on the high end. And yeah, the CWCs have different materials and were actually made in different factories. I will get another FOne, not sure which yet. Last few years I pre ordered them and I’m prolly gonna test them first instead. I have a PPC M1 5m that should arrive in March, I expect that will be my go-to wing for a while so maybe I’ll get the Swing or the new Origin. I think my dealer is getting a Strike demo soon so it will be interesting for sure!

Hey thanks so much I really appreciate that!! I wish you an awesome week bud!

Awww thanks so much bud, hugely appreciated. Yeah I love a rock solid wing! came from my kiting days, but I feel like it applies even more to wings. And man, wings that constant flip over are the worst! I think it's LE shape, how the wingtips are, dihedral, and the length of the leash is a factor as well. So it could be one, some, or all of those things - possibly preventable, but totally noticeable on my first 2 sessions. Thanks for the comment bud and I wish you an awesome weekend!!

hey thanks so much bud!! I wish you an awesome week!!

Oh I hear you bud. I also love the boom, my buddy Brian makes it look so stylish. I haven’t spent a ton of time on a boom since the v1 Duotones. Demos here and there of the Slicks. But sliding my hand around that boom is so nice and easy and I love their like instant power. The one thing that bugged me was my wrists got tired quicker cause of the bigger diameter of the boom, but I know I’d get over that in a few sessions in a row. Thanks bud, I wish you an awesome day!!

Right on bud! I’m still keeping a 6.5 for racing the crew in the summer. And I do love it on flat water. But most of what I do on flatwater is training for wave riding so it’s nice to have the same stuff. I wish you an awesome week bud!!

Lol thanks for the props!! And your honesty about winging 😜👊👊 PBay today or will Nahant turn on??

@@OCEANBOUND1 on my way to pbay now! Let's goooo

@@JaredWilliams ok sick see you there!

Thanks bud! And I totally agree. If I can sell a wing at like 40% retail after a year to a new winger, I feel like I did a good thing. But at this point, my wings tend to feel blown out after a few sessions, definitely under 20, mostly cause I ride them lit 🔥. If this Mod3 is the answer, I’m stoked. But I’m a little doubtful. I’ve just surrendered to the fact that I need to buy 2 or 3 new wings a year, and I don’t see that changing any time soon. Thanks bud and I wish you an awesome day!!

Sweet bud! The Vayus are kind of in my peripheral but I haven’t seen one in the wild, no one cArries them around here that I know of. But that sounds like an interesting wing… I hope k get to try one someday! Thanks bud and I wish you an awesome weekend!

Awesome, thanks bud! Good to know the smaller Duotones are kinda similar. I often wondered if I had a smaller one if I could just pump it better cause it was smaller. They are great wings, for a lot of things! You on the new Cabs? I liked the new Mantis on first try, I look forward to riding it again!

@@OCEANBOUND1 I have last year’s Mantis 6.2m and that thing is the best wing I’ve ever flown. I haven’t flown the Vision or new Mantis, but definitely look forward to it.

Right on bud! Yeah they are noticeably different than other wings I’ve ridden. Interesting technique you mention, I’ll try to notice next time if that something I do. I’ve seen some guy in light wind getting up with a small Reedin, must have been the same thing. But I’m not sure if I remember him talking about that technique so I’ll have to look at it again or find this one. Have you ridden the non-dlabs too? They sound better on all fronts, including the drift. Thanks bud and I wish you an awesome weekend!!

What’s up Chris, always great to hear from you. Man I hope people start solving this bagging problem, BUT I’ve def surrendered to it and just expect I need to buy my most head wing sizes every year. The unit v2 and v3 have almost identical panels, the only difference being around the windows. I def talked about that making this vid but cut it out in the end. I think there will be some material innovations in the next few years, and we should see some improvements. 🤞 but who knows. Lol I’m glad we both pump our wings rock solid. Always feels better. Someone told me yesterday the creases on the new Unit are by design, an attempt to keep the wing right out to the wing tip. We didn’t get too into that but I’ve been thinking about that… maybe it is intentional and as wings get blown out it will adjust the tension. If that’s true, and it works, I’m kinda blown away at the idea. I wish I knew that when I made the video!

@OCEANBOUND1 interesting take on the creases have to see. I like the idea that airush use with the webbing in there kites and wings another interesting innovation. I do like the progression and tech news idea side love to learn about new ideas . I was lucky to demo some surf dek footstraps today first person to demo thought they where great even tried first jump lol I'll put a pic in next vid of the straps .keep safe brother and take it easy 🙏

Yes!! Thanks bud!! Yeah I keep hearing about this vision, and I dont even thinking rode the last Cab wings. I know my dealer has a ton of the old ones still, so maybe I can do a back-to-back of them, that’d be fun. I hear there are new v2 CWCs coming this year so I’m interested to try those. I’m not sure I’d do an 8m again but it so love it, I’m prolly looking at a 7m. For whatever it’s worth, I feel likely these Units don’t have a lot of grunt, so there may be better options for a bigger wing. That being said I love my 6.5m Unit for racing cause the upwind is great. Another commenter mentioned the v3 goes the same if not better upwind. So that’s great to hear. The Units really are great wings, they have a few quirks in waves but I think they are great on flat water. But🤞hopefully I’ll be able to try a Vision in the next few months!

​@@OCEANBOUND1 Great review. Thanks. I really want a light wind wing like the v1 CWC, but those are a generation or 2 behind at this point. The v1CWCs are so well loved, but the industry seems to be shifting to hard handles so I kind of want to wait for the v2 CWC. Do you know when those will be released? Do you think they'll come out around the normal strike v3?

@@__nathan___ I would wait a little if you can. I hear the new v3 is coming out in March, maybe they said the end of March. The CWCs as far as I know was only one version, the could have tweaked the stitching here and there through production but I believe the design is the same. Supposedly there is a v2 coming out this year of the CWC, not sure if that’s March or a little later. They will not be shifting to hard handles, I think they’ve made that pretty clear. I do like the soft handles. They are really nice. But the light wind wings I feel like the handles would suit them for that direct connection to your wing when pumping. But they still work fine, and the soft handles are nice in many ways. I prefer them in waves. Thanks bud, let me know what you get and I wish you an awesome rest of your week!

​@@OCEANBOUND1 Thanks for the great info. I'm a little out of the loop so I didn't know F-One had said they are sticking with the soft handles. Thanks

Sounds good bud! I’m stoked to try the v3 Strikes! I wish you an awesome day!!

The BRMs are nice. They have a good amount of power and I remember them flagging out well. And the handles are cool. The units may go upwind a little better but you have everything else with the cloud wings… might as well stick to them.

Stoked to hear you have noticed some of the same bud! The short pumps thing is def somethign I started doing with my 6.5m, and I started doing that cause I was watching another friend of mine have success with that technique. Still, it's not my main wing so I've never really got a solid feel for that, work in progress. About the pressure, I totally agree. They feel soo good when the panels are basically bulging a little, and that goes for all wings. I've popped a handful while pumping, and once you do that you always are a little more hesitant, but I still do it. Great to hear what Patrik says. I remember over 10 years ago with the Best Nemisis... they had a smaller bladder and someone from Best told us we could and should pump it to like 15psi and that blew our you-kiter minds, but he said they could take a ton of pressure and that forever changed my outlooks on bladder/LE pressure. I shot this whole video and then someone showed me that Ken Winner Blue planet video, I have it on my desktop at work and I'm only about 5min in but I should get to that today. I wish I knew about it before I did this video, but oh well. I look forward to it. Thanks for the comment bud and I wish you an awesome weekend!!

Thanks so much bud! I wish you an awesome week ahead!!

Thanks so much bud! I'm also looking forward to the V3's. All of mine are totally blown out, especially the 5.5m and 4.5m, so I'm looking forward to the upgrade cause it's been a year since I've starting using my 5.5m. I'm not expecting them to fix this, I know it will add more weight and they aren't into that. But maybe this Mod3 stuff will be the answer our industry needs and other brands will go tin this direction. Time will tell. If they give me a new 6m Unit I'd be happy to use it in my typical over-powered manner and give them real life feedback on the stretchiness. I've never tried the Mantis... it's on the top of my list and starting to be the most asked-about wing in comments. Hopefully soon, I'm pretty sure my wing dealer has some so I'll put the request in! Thanks again and I wish you an awesome weekend bud!!

Oh man I totally get that. And when I put the FOnes up as high as I do, I know it's always a possibility but I still do it. I've also blown out a wing while pumping, that loud explosion sound scares the sh!t out of you and then it sinks in what that wound was and your session is over before it starts. Another reason to have a quiver of wings that is closer in size so you have backups that crossover. BUT they should that that pressure and shoud def design their stitching and LE materials to hold to at least 10psi.

Ken Winner (duotone wing designer) talked about the pressure limits in recent interview. He said 4m can take 15-18psi: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-nUn5OXNWluY.html (but I pump mine to the recommended pressures)

@@DaveSails7 I've had 2 bladder failures on my f-one 8m cwc, the stitching starting come apart on the leading edge and I never pumped it up about the recommended PSI. F-One warrantied it both times but the dude who fixed it at Airtime thinks that, at least on the bigger wings, the recommended pressure is too high. I've been pumping my up 1psi below recommended ever since

Sick, I’m stoked to try that! It’s on my list for sure.

Yeah they usually can take more pressure, at least a few psi. But I have popped a few so just be careful. They will fail at either a weak point in the fabric or more likely a seam. But I usually inflate to the point they kinda bulge out a little on the middle of the panels, between the seams. Ive never had a wing that does not fly better at pressure! Good to hear from you as always, and I wish you an awesome weekend bud!

Sup bud! I was just watching Damian’s video on the new Mantis and Vision. I’m super interested in both! The new handles look nice - different. I wasn’t on a Mantis before that I can remember, but maybe I’ll get a v2 3m or 3.5m cheap and have it be my new crazy wind wing. But yeah, I figure it’s $2400 for new wings, maybe I can sell them for $1000-$1200, so it’s $1200 a year minimum to keep relatively new wings. I guess $100 a month isn’t bad, as long as you get like 4 sessions a month. But it’s still $25+ a sesh. Totally too much. But I do love this sport so we do what we do! Thanks for the comment bud, I wish you an awesome week ahead!

I hear you bud! I am a big fan of 6m wings, but I don’t need the CWC. So my go-to is the 5.5m. It actually can go upwind better than the 6m, I prefer it in all aspects except missing a little grunt. The Slick is a powerful wing so it’s hard to compare that to other wings. The 5.5m Strike and the 6m Slick will be waaaay off in terms of power, but if you can make the 5.5m work you’d love it.

Yes, which is annoying. Honestly I could feel my 8m was getting blown out after my 2nd session. They use light materials that obviously stretch easier than heavier materials with higher ripstops. My solution is just to make sure I upgrade every year. My current 5.5m is pretty blown out and I've had for almost exactly one year, so I'm totally stoked to get the new v3. replacing my 5.5 and 4.5 this year cause they are the most blown out and used.

@@OCEANBOUND1 interesting what you found out guys. It’s the first time that I noticed that my CWC 8.0 is fluttering a bit. seems like I have the same issue after about one year using it.

@@wingfoilingsimssee yeah it def happens more with bigger wings. For whatever it’s worth, the flapping creates stability when flagged out on a wave 😜👍 I tend to ride overpowered so that does it faster, and if you were a bigger dude I’m sure it happens way faster as well.

dude I LOVE hearing this. I do understand there is so much hype going on in this area. I hope it's not with bad intention... dudes in a dark back room scheming on how they can say they are saving the planet and marketing to that audience, just to make profit. I do think there are people in companies that do care that are driving decisions. but as far as carbon offsetting, yeah, I can believe it's way more bs than we want it to be. I hope this part gets better. I would actually love to hear more about it. if you have time, write me an email, you can find the address in the about section. I could do another video on that in the future. I'm not sure a lot of people want to hear about it, but I have young kids and I'm passionate about it and anything I can do to create awareness on what is real, what is worth looking at, and what is bs... I'm totally down. thanks bud, I wish you an awesome weekend!

@@OCEANBOUND1 thank you for your reply! I'll write you an email. Also get ready for the forthcoming biodiversity offsets (aka permits to destroy nature) markets coming this October, and water quality trading (aka permits do pollute rivers) also on the way :/

@@user-ph4zf5me3e stoked to hear more bud!

Awesome bud, stoked for you! I think the DLAB is def the superior wing. I hear they def drift better, being lighter all around. And they hold up really well in general. Super performance oriented… I’m jealous! I can’t wait to try a DLAB v3, I’m sure my buddy is gonna get one but he loves them so much it’s hard to get him to share, lol. Great to hear from you and let me know how that DLAB is!’

Nice, good tip! I do think there are a lot of factors, but leash length is def one of them. At this point my body is trained to minimize flipping by default, it’s just funny when one wing happens to change things up and totally has to keep you on your toes more. Thanks bud and I wish you an awesome weekend!!

Right on bud! But they should be able to take at least 1psi over the recommended. I’ve popped a few wings but it’s mostly from the seams cause a stitch failed. I feel like you could def go a little over and not have to be worried at all. Maybe try it on a day with less current! The wings def fly better and pump when they are solid. Good luck bud and I wish you an awesome day!

@@OCEANBOUND1 thanks man! love your vids - honest and entertaining!

@@OCEANBOUND1 would love your take on the new MA front and tails next

@@mcplaayer on it!! Just finished my 3rd sesh with my MA1000. I don’t think I’ll be doing a full review of these, at least not planning on it at this point. I may end up doing a comparison. But I will be giving some initial impressions and I’ll def be talking about them a lot for the next few sessions. Stay tuned 😜👍

oh man, that's such a bummer to hear! I do like the Slicks in theory - the boom is soo cool and give so may options, but when actually in my hands they gave my wrists a total workout from the different grip. Something I know I could get over with practice. They have so much power! I LOVE that. I've only ridden them back to back with other wings which were the same sizes, so I have always been LIT on the Slick. So I haven't had to pump them much, they just got me right on foil. I haven't ridden good waves with them so I've never experienced the swing. I want to try a 6m or a 7m this year in light winds, so good to know they pump bad. Thanks for the comments bud and I wish you an awesome weekend!

@@OCEANBOUND1 I've got a full quiver of first Slicks and as long as they are new and canopy not too much stretched out they are Ok'ish. I just got Mantis v1 4 and 5m, bloody hell! It pulls like a train, very stable and upwind is insane but my arms can't hold it for long without harness in overpowered conditions. I'm thinking of switching now to Mantis v2 or v3 quiver, it's game changer.

I know!!! HUGE dilemma here. I think they either just did or are just about to release the Strikes. I think I'm first in line at my local shop for a 5.5m so I'll let you know what I think! But I def want Strikes for waves, and that's def a priority for me. The question is, do I need 2 quivers?!?! lol. sounds expensive. Have an awesome weekend bud!!

@@OCEANBOUND1 I have slicks and seeing that unit bounce around just reminds me of my slicks, I bought the 8m Strike CWC and it just sits there for a massive wing. I like the rigidity of boom/handles better but the 8m seemed so stable, so it got me thinking. Have a great one as well, windy here today but bloody freezing for us 8C 🤪