Looks nice too, big upgrade from Ranger:
I can only comment as a beginner, with limited experience from other wings. Got the PT Skin in 3.0 and 5.3, and the Hybrid in 4.3.
I feel the Hybrid have very few drawbacks compared to the PT Skin. But gives a solid and good feeling going upwind in strong wind.
I need to pay a tiny little more attention to it before up on foil. But nothing like a double skin, that I have had some tries on.
Low end feels similar to PT Skin. Yesterday I went out with the 3.0, and there was no chance getting up. And I drifted downwind. Luckily I had the 4.3 in a back pack. Switched and got up right away, and made my way upwind. Later there were periods with 3.0 conditions, but I had no problem holding the 4.3.
Currently on a F4 Julitta 85l, and Orca 1050. 88kg pluss full gear to learn parawing in Norway in February/march.
Attached is the tracking from yesterday in S-SW gusty wind. Changed to 4.3 after drifting north.
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I recently sold off several of the PWs I had (Flysurfer POWs and BRM Kaāas) . I also had the PT Skin 5.4, but I was used to how other PWs flew more off the front of the bar (the PT Skin I had liked bar handling a notch back from the front - which wasnāt better or worse, just different from what I was used to) and sold that one also. In the review, Matt describes his feeling when flying the Hybrid - and it seems more like a front line oriented PW -
I had the Vayu Pyro on preorder, but canceled and I just bought a Hybrid 5.7 based on this review (and a few others) - looking forward to testing it out!!!
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Anyone try the Quest yet? Would love some feedback on it. Love the idea of short lines and clean bar setup, but very curious how much upwind tradeoff there is.
Iām surprised Iām not seeing any talk regarding the Duotone Stash V2.
Thereās been some reviews floating around on the net, and Iāve seen a few out in the real world. Seems solid!
Iāve tested the 3,5m Quest in slightly underpowered conditions and as expected it felt very refined. The whole experience was just very pleasant; the new bar is super ergonomic, the stow is effortless with the brilliant grab line, the leading edge accordions perfectly. I was able to grab it easily even without going downwind, that would be a struggle with the Frigate. The upwind angles were not as good as what Iām used to with the Frigate, though they were totally fine, especially for underpowered conditions. Supposedly it should have a very good top end, which I wasnāt able to test. Overall itās a very good parawing that Iād recommend especially for new parawingers, if you need to work on your bump reading skills or if you want to do wave riding. Many riders would probably regain more than the little loss of upwind performance from having less crashes during stowing/redeploying/being overpowered. The Frigate is in no way outdated, as the performance is still better, though it demands a little more skill from the rider. The Frigate v2 is coming this summer and if they manage to incorporate the bar and grab line of the Quest it will be epic!
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They are just showing up in stores in Oz now.
Iām in the market for a couple of parawings and the quest is at the top of the list.
Iāve accepted it wonāt have the upwind angles or ultimate manoeuvrability but from all the early snippets of reviews Iāve seen the theme seems to be āeasyā as in good low end, simple pack down and relaunch, nice bar and less lines resulting in less tangles. Which if Iām realistic about the level Iām at with parawinging could very well mean I progress quicker on these and then āupgradeā to the likes of the vayu, pr2, frigate 2.
Iāve been stuck in analysis paralysis picking out my parawings, I think no matter what you select at the moment within a couple of months thereāll be something ābetterā released but they all seem āgood enoughā at this stage.
At least down here there seems to have been issues supplying them to stores. In the ever changing parawing market they could miss the boat.
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You sound like me. I just donāt want to sacrifice too much upwind. Coming from Pocket Rockets which have very good upwind, but the short lines on the Quest just seem so appealing based on my struggles packing and redeploying the bigger pocket rockets without tangles. Trying to find the happy middle between ease/packability and upwind.
Very much so, With a trip to Hood booked in July I need to force myself to leave the wings in the car and commit to the PW. I also started on the PR but most sessions ended up in tangles, have since used a frigate and had a much better time.
I think the PR2 and Frigate2 which Iād guess would be similar canopies to what they currently have but with the upgraded bars/lines will be awesome but I may gain more by just putting in the hard yards on the water now than forever waiting for the āperfectā option.
Yeah it will suck to give up upwind angles but if the quest is easier to stay on foil, pack, redeploy, tack and jibe I think Iāll have more āfunā and likely to pick them up over my wings more often.
I do wish theyād used some brighter more visible colours for the canopy though, seems like such an easy safety feature.
My only fear is dropping the $$ on them in the next couple of days and then Gav releasing a scathing review, but if you watch his latest video of the omen board it seemed to be flying pretty well in that.
Let me know what you decide, I may even pull the trigger today..
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You knowā¦ I grew up on boatsā¦ My dad used to always say that the most visible color on the water is white. I guess I tend to disagree since orange and yellow contrast with the white caps. But I guess that for very long distances, white may still be the most visible one.
I think the lilac Quest looks really good.
That would be great if it was the case and I hope Iām wrong but so far Iāve found others with white or black wings/pw tend to disappear into the mess of the ocean pretty quickly whilst it could be placebo I feel the brighter hi-vis yellow, orange and especially pink guys I tend to be able to see from a distance.
Either way not a deal breaker for me
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I struggle to understand that people are willing to give up some upwind angle and some lovely sailing characteristics like efficiency through the air. I have rode pocket rockets since the beginning and they were very easy to learn on. If your looking for an easier to learn on PW then you might be disappointed. Yes you can find better stowing in something like the quest, or better still the power pack with its straight single lines, but you have to learn to sail first and you canāt get around the fact that there is some stuff to learn just to get off the water consistently. Just like when you learnt to wing you have to pay your dues sometime in the learning curve.
The most important characteristics in a PW to learn are.
The low end pump. (Not to be confused with something with big bar pressure that sits deep in the window on short lines.)
Front line control in gusts.
Range with comfort.
But the most important thing is actually your selection of board and foil.
Tangles take 30 seconds to sort out and just seem to stop happening with practice time.
No doubt both ozone and fone will come with PR and Frigate V2 in the next few months and the easy to pack wings like the PP and Quest will then only be used for wave riding like they were designed for
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Any sightings of Armieās wang prototypes in the wild?
Look around for some poor schmuck selling cheap v1 Pocket Rockets and just get a few to learn on. Then by the time youāre ready to upgrade there will be a whole bunch of new shit to buy.
In terms of all around performance, nothing really comes close to the PRs.
I think people buy different parawings because they think theyāre being edgy and alternative 
But on a serious note - Iād say if your regular sizes are going to be more than 4m, then the PR lines are a little long if you donāt have a massive ape-indexā¦
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Iām a short guy with a 5m PR and while it is awesome in so many ways and gets me going in light air, the downside is that itās crazy difficult to gybe when itās light and the lines are so long it is really hard to handle for me. It is constantly dragging in the water or getting run over. I am not so great at PW yet and the long lines are a big struggle with my poor kite handling. The difference in ease of use when I switch to my 3.2 Kanaha or 4.3m Power Pack is staggering. Iāll gladly give up a little upwind to be able to gybe and stow without ending up going through the lines or dragging it behind me. All that said, Iām still a huge PR fan and agree itās a great PW, just tough to handle in bigger sizes for short guys with no kite experience.
haha itās definitely the smart money choice atm itās crazy watching the 2nd hand PW market atm even ones as modern as Flow D-wing 2ās are cheap.
I should clarify Iām not totally beginner I can fly around and jibe I just put very very little time in on them vs my wings (I really like surfing waves and Iām not at that level on the PW yet)
PR lines I struggled with length and material, my wing span is pretty short 
Frigate I havenāt had a single issue with tangles itās just a tad too long for me still but a big improvement over the PR for that reason alone for me.
The PR has really held up well over time (sounds weird saying that when itās not that old) still one of the best hammer up wind options.
I want to arrive in hood confidently getting around and feeling good about packing down and redeploying easily and often (which again is leading me to the quest, short lines, 4 Aās seperated, easy redeploy, nice simple bar)
Iāve gone through the learning process of enough foil disciplines now to know 90% of this stuff is just technique and practice and Iām generally not a fan in bandaid fixing these things via gear, but as Iām in the market anyways for 2 PWās Iām just trying to find the one that will suit me best for where Iām at now.
has anyone tried the Ensis? tucker seemed to like it in his video. newbie and will be using them to learn. Thank You.
PRs larger than 3.6m are kind of pointless unless you want to deal with a 2 yank collapse.
People who have flown the Frigate will tell you itās clearly better than the PR (other than packability), but it also costs a bunch more. As a beginner the Frigate was the easiest path, itās now probably Quest. Iām no Fone fanboi either, and hate paying their prices, but they make a good parawing.
Both 777 parawings (skin and hybrid) are said to be on par with the PR or better (I havenāt personally tired either).
PR also surges forward in the window when trying to pump it and works better with DW boards where you can build up speed gradually than it does with ML boards where you can just muscle pump up on to foil with the wing deep in the window.
PR is also known for lines that tangle on redeploy.
PR is also known for durability issues on the wing tips and batten pockets.
Donāt get me wrong, the PR is a good parawing in 3.6m and below, but saying nothing comes close is pretty far off the mark.
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