And reply #1000 if people want to get technical.
$1800, i dont think i’m in that tax bracket to buy one.
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yeah, but the claim is that it has the range of 2 of the previous model iteration, which were over $1000 each. So on paper it is a real bargain!
(source: TrustMeBro®)
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I guess number of cells is the primary cost driver? Afterburner has a lot 24 and Gong has 6. Presume materials + time goes up with this quite dramatically
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Speaking of Gong, anyone have any opinions on their parawings? They recently dropped the new versions. The price is very good. I have the plus v1 and it’s not amazing, but since then parading have evolved a lot.
count the cells? only 8 on the most expensive one!
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The BRM S3 significantly increased the cell count without a dramatic price increase. AB has 2x the cells of a S3 but still. $1800 is double skin kite territory which are significantly more complicated. And not to far away from a paraglider canopy price. Seems pretty hard to justify.
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16 cells vs 24. Someone plot a cells per $ chart
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vote with your wallet!
i get a deal as an ozone dealer, I still cant afford one!! haha
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Hard to parse from the influencer reviews but it sounds like the AB is not super intuitive to fly and has technical flight characteristics like the S3. Not surprising given it’s an edge flyer like the S3 I just find it funny that the reviewers sort of dance around it and act like it’s no big deal. I have not found footage yet of an AB doing a normal dw jibe. Sounds like they may be challenging.
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This is a comment from one of Gav’s viewers:
“I personally fly 777 Hybrids. I’ve been lucky to test this 4,3m afterburner on a complete windy day.
IMHO :
The AfterBurner has a slightly better low range. The 777 Hybrid has a slightly better high range.
The Afterburner profile feels much stiffer, it’s more efficient in pumping on the bar.
The 777 Hybrid has less bar traction and filter the wind conditions a bit better.
The Afterburner is worst intuitive to steer during jibe when lines slack, so you have to master the downloop jibe.
The 777 Hybrid demands some time to drain the water out after falling in the water.”
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Our PRv1 quiver was sizes 1.9m through to 4.3m.
We’re hoping that the AB has a very high top-end, because our new quiver is going to be sizes 3m to 4.3m.
If that ends up being true, then it’s 2 less wings to buy 
Realistically I think it will just render the 2.4m irrelevant. Some days you just need a 1.9m…
The Afterburner pricing is the same as the Orbit and promises the same jump in VMG and top end, with superior low end / stowing / relaunch, without a trim system and an extra skin. I’m surprised to see the amount of snark for the Afterburner!
It only makes sense. Everyone already doesn’t like double skins. They also LOVE Ozone. So they immediately dismissed the PPC Orbit and were waiting for this. Now their dreams are crushed.
Maybe you are seeing different pricing? Every afterburner is more expensive than every Orbit other than the 6.5m from what I can see.
I’d venture a guess that there is just pushback against the Ozone hype model at this point. With this release there was a media blackout apparently? Then it’s released and there’s suddenly enough content for a full film. Expectations were really high for PRv2, it doesn’t seem to have delivered, so now people are pushing back on Afterburner. Makes sense to me.
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Hype blow back is justified from my perspective. Primary complaint I see on the S3 is the handling in light wind and challenges with jibing. That behavior looks no better on the AB. I think that’s OK to be clear and a good performance trade off if you want to maximize VMG. I just don’t think the hype machine should ignore the challenges that come with these higher aspect PWs. I just find it really odd that ALL the videos and there are lots, omit the typical dw jibe from the footage. Is there a media blackout on the standard transition? Weird to me. The S3 for as much as I love it slacks and drops on just about every light wind jibe. But I make 99% of them. The behavior disappears when your properly powered. I suspect the AB will do something similar. I did not find it hard to adjust but I know it has frustrated other riders. Better people know what they are getting into and can learn proper technique to handle these higher performance designs.
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Some ozone dealers and paid influencers have done the brand a disservice with this one. I’ve seen some un-named dealers here and on the parawing fb making such absurd claims that it makes me dismiss the whole brand as ‘overhyped’. In a world of incremental gains and the progress curve starting to flatten everyone here is sick of hearing about game changers.
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This reminds me of reviews of garage gym equipment. Inflooencers have to keep the channel going and they get sued if they say anything negative.
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On the Xfoils podcast explains the PR V2 pretty well.
Those that wanted more perfo from an already high perfo PR V1 are dissapointed.
This trend towards racy PW’s is not very interesting for me, and i guess lots of peole who want shorter lines, easy gybes and relaunches.
The PR v2 is a cross between the PR V1 and the PowerPack, but way closer to PR V1.
I think it is the main market in this game.
High perfo PW’s are a bit like double skin race inflatable wings, not for everybody.
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Yeah I hear you on the S3’s light wind traditional gybe technicalities, especially the 5.3M. I still need to dedicate a few attempts to learn the more appropriate light wind gybe - the behind the back or the Heineken style. Problem is I’m usually in pretty good sized bumps and just have froth-a-lot syndrome and can’t focus on anything but getting back upwind as fast as possible.
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