Have you tried the 26 Carve? tI’s a better turning tail than the Marlin and you’re giving up almost nothing in glide over the Marlin un-shimmed. You might even like the 20 better.
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I have not tried the 26 Carve. The LIft tail wings break too easily. I often foil shallow spots with rock bottoms, so I stick with KDMaui tail wings which have been more durable. Besides the durability part, the 13" Marlin tail is about as turny as I want right now.
Guys that I’ve talked to that have tried the 20 tail said it felt too squirrely.
Wow. Exciting to hear you started getting tripples with the 150X. Thanks!
Can you elaborate on this. You mean you were pumping too quickly and too high above its stall speed making unnecessary effort. Kind of like sprinting when you could have been lightly running?
Check out this how to pump video,
At the 4min 54 sec mark he talks about waiting for the nose to pitch down before transitioning from LOAD to DRIVE phase.
From video analysis, I would start the drive phase with the board still nose up and often end the drive phase with the board being level, NOT pitched down to gain speed from gravity.
From slo mo video clips of sponsored foilers, I noticed they would shift their weight slightly over their front leg to get the nose to pitch down before starting the drive phase.
I misinterpreted previous pump tips of keeping the board level while pumping and NOT going into a dolphin motion. The nose up/down dolphin motion is definitely needed, just not exaggerated.
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What I’ve found thus far after 10 sessions on the Lift 150 ha X:
- The 150 ha X is awesome if the waves aren’t too small.
- It does not do that well if the waves are weak. I’ve found on the really small days I will pop up on foil and it will stall. Whereas with the 200ha or the 170ha I could get up on foil and float around. But I’m talking about super weak / mush / whitewash / no roller.
- The tips are more forgiving with breaches than the 170ha.
- Despite being more HA (10.1 vs 8.1 of the 170ha), it doesn’t feel super HA. It still turns fairly well (I’m just doing airplane turns and kicks off the back).
- Handles punchier sections and speed better than the 170.
- Pumping, as long as you are high up on foil and have speed this thing is super easy to pump. I’m surprised for how small it is (970cm) how far I can pump it (I’m 185 lbs and a new prone surfer). It doesn’t have the slower speed recovery of the bigger 170 or 200. It feels like a smaller wing when you start to lose speed. It does match or exceed the 170 in glide though. I think aside from the mega tiny days, it will pump enough to make distance connections.
Thus far the only downsides are the higher stall speed and its a little more touchy than the 170 or 200 has. For a beginner / intermediate prone foiler, it feels like in decent conditions this wing does well. For small, or closeouty I might be better off with something bigger.
Does this sound similar to other’s experience?
I’ve still not tried either the 150 or 110 / 26 Carve combo without the extender. For me they’re already turny enough. First time yesterday with the 20 Carve + ext. in some our most absurd conditions. big smooth head high+ and 50 knot gusts. The 150 was picking up too much lift in the water, even with the 20C at my 90Kg. Got used to it after a while but a smaller foil would have been better. It’s perfect for anything under 35 knots and shoulder high though.
A friend who works at Lift and a few other better riders have said the 150x likes the extender with the smaller tails / carve tails. Glide tails are fine.
My Lift buddy also said: “The the 150x has less surface area and less camber than the 170, so it definitely has less low end than the 170. That being said, if you’re using in small surf, the 150 should have plenty of lift, you have to ride it with more speed, but if you can keep you speed up slightly you’ll feel a lot more efficiency on the 150 vs 170.”
Hi @Coopsy . Out of curiosity did you get the 150HAX and what are your thoughts?
I have a 170 and a 150 and have still used the 170 more but love the 150. I am excited about the new 180 and 220.
Chers
I guess I am too, now (been hoping these were in the works)…heading over to the Lift website, as they are up there…
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I went ahead with the 150HA. It’s excellent on the wing 12-22knots and prone for small waves. When the wind is stronger or the waves are bigger I run the 90HA. Two excellent front wings right here.
Thanks for the details. I am 155 pounds do you think the 150 HAX will be too much for proning?
I’m 150lbs, my daily prone wing is the 120 or the 90 if it’s over stomach high. I use the 150 hax for downwinding but I have proned it once or twice. It’s not to much to handle as in it doesn’t over lift me or anything. I can stay up and pump around on it forever without spending much effort. The downside to me is the maneuverability. It’s a great wing but I’d much rather have the sensitivity and responsiveness of the 120 when I prone. I feel at my weight the 120 provides me with enough pump and glide. @sadorno
I’m keen on flicking my 170HA for a 150HAX as I progress with winging. I am wondering how the 150 goes with a classic mast? I’m running a 36” mast and feel the M2 is probably going to be a must have component. Hoping someone has some experience with this and can comment.
I have M2’s coming in 28”, 32” and 36”. I’ll let you know how they go. Very excited. Having the M2 in only the 32 just didn’t work for me, so happy they expanded the line. I’ve been running NoLimitz, which I am very happy with, but I can’t wait to compare. I’ll tell you that the 150 will be good with the classic, but a stiff mast makes a HUGE difference on every foil, and the 150s span would really appreciate the stiffness. Talk soon!
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What will you use the 28 / 36 for?
28” for downwind and 36” for towing large waves.
Three M2’s?.. so roughly the price of a decent used car 
Seriously though, what would be the attraction over the NL V2? No way will I give a Lift mast a second chance after my X2 experience. The NL V2 has been great so far though I’m getting some light pitting right through the ano on the adapter after three months (despite having tef-gel shmeared all over it the whole time). Just cosmetic of course but it’s been otherwise a “life changing” experience.
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Fair enough. I agree the NoLimitz foils were life changing for me too. I really think NoLimitz and Cedrus pushed the industry to get us the multitude of good masts we have now. 
. And now my guess is the upgraded carbon we have in these masts will be making their way into more foils resulting is stiffer and better stuff, especially in high aspect ratio downwind race foils!
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