Uni Evolution vs Progression

[Biggiegt]

Hey folks. I got to ride the Unifoil evolution 175 and compared it back to back with my Progression 170. I did this using a foil drive gen 1 in small waves with a 10-12kt onshore breeze. I changed nothing except the front wing and didn’t move the mast at all either. Outtakes

Evolution has more lift that than progression but once going also has that feeling of easy high on the mast glide and speed. The progression has less lift but more easy to control on the propeller. The evolution required a bit more management with the lift and also wider span whereas the progression is very user friendly.

On the wave and bumps the evolution glide was awesome it picked up swell and rode for ages, and up and overs were easy it turned really well but sometimes required more commitment from knees and hips - the 170 progression being narrower is easier to turn and can be done from the ankles even. The evolution is as stated it glides and carves and stays high on foil, but the pump is awesome too - for me at that size far easier than progression.

As it’s wider you can feel the tips if you are off balance. Given the conditions after being on my p170 I raced back to the beach to get the evolution back on - the overall lift, glide and carve was just way more fun and I could keep it going for ages. The progression in those conditions felt boggy (relatively speaking) by comparison.

My conclusion size wise is as Unifoil states that the evolution 155 is more comparative to the progression 170 - as the span and aspect of the evolution 170 makes it a much bigger but more efficient foil. I loved it and the pumping was very good and I couldn’t really find the low end - it just glided to the water.

I’m looking to use the evolution 175 for harbour downwinders and small days prone or lighter wind wing. Originally I was thinking the 205 for downwind, but the 175 seemed to keep going on small stuff and pumped well.

[Biggiegt]

As a side note. I pump and connect waves using my own steam so I only use foil drive to get flying

[Steve]

I’ve spend a lot of time on the p170 and just SUP surfed the 175 on my dw board. in terms of pump and ease of use, it’s definitely closer to the p170 but The 155 definitely turns a lot better than the 175. 175 feels faster than the p170 and if you have good technique and keep it high it’s a more effortless pump, it also didn’t dig out quite as well but that’s expected for a higher aspect wing. I liked it a lot and it paddles up super easy, I’m excited to dw on it.

[Biggiegt]

I’m tossing up a 155 vs 135 as a possible p140 upgrade. It’s hard to know which one. Gut says 135 would be the go. The all around balance between glide, turn and pump on these evolutions is great.

[dillionaire]

The 155 and 170 are VERY similar. 155 may even have slightly more lift

[Biggiegt]

A
@dillionaire surely the 155 would be faster? I feel like the 175e is faster at least it feels it

[mgudwin]

135 definitely has low end closer to the 140, and the 155 has what feels like tons of lift for my 75kg. The 155 feels like it’s as fast as the 125–just got my first surf on it and I was consistently doing about 20kph on knee high waves. For my weight and skill, the 135 is a one wing quiver, just have to work it a little more on the weak stuff. If you live in a low energy area or want to have things easier, the 155 will be fine. 155 glide and speed is insane, significantly more glide** than the 135 feels.

[Darripah]

The 155 has more speed than the 135?

[mgudwin]

I’ve only gotten 1 sesh on the 155 but it feels really fast, but definitely not faster than the 135. Both feel like they’re faster than the 125 but only data I have DWing the 125 was a bit faster than the 135 DW.

I meant to say in my post the “155 feels like it has significantly more glide than the 135” not speed

[dillionaire]

@Biggiegt

@dillionaire surely the 155 would be faster? I feel like the 175e is faster at least it feels it

I got a couple of waves on the 155 EVO in VERY low-energy, thigh-high surf. For context, I’d say I’m an intermediate to advanced prone rider. I’m 6’3” and 200 lbs.

Setups tested:

• 155 EVO: Progression mast, 13” tail, short fuse, 4’3” Flyline board (Pedigo).

• 170 P: Katana mast, 13.5 P tail, medium fuse, 4’4” Proper board.

I was literally swapping back and forth in the water with a buddy between the 170 P and the 155 EVO.

Impressions:

• The 155 EVO has slightly better low-end performance than the 170 P.

• When riding higher in the water column, the 155 had slightly better pump efficiency.

• It was hard to judge top-end performance due to the weak conditions. Most take-offs involved “grave digging” to even get going, barely avoiding overpowering and stuffing the foil. The top end felt better, but I can’t confidently comment on the extent.

• Turning on the 155 felt good. It’s slightly different from the 170 P, but both feel great overall. You can tell you’re on a different foil, though describing the difference is tough for me. Evo feels flatter, but rolls and banks well. The 170p feels like you’re standing on a wooden barrel and rolls and banks well . I know that’s a terrible description.

On the 170 P:

I love this wing, but it can feel corky at times, particularly with sudden collapses in lift at higher speeds. During hard banking turns, sometimes I’ll get tons of lift, and other times none at all—especially with the short fuse. That could be user error rather than the foil itself, but it’s worth noting.

My take on the EVO 155:

I suspect the temperamental drop seen in the 170 P is eliminated with the EVO 155, but I couldn’t fully test this in the weak conditions.

If I could only have one wing, I’d pick the EVO 155. That’s a big statement because I love the 170 P for my size and typical conditions. That said, if you’re struggling with something (e.g., pumping, turning, staying high on the mast, or efficiency), switching between these two wings likely won’t make a massive difference. Your problems will be waiting for you on the new foil.

A broader observation on foil tech:

I feel like the days of radical improvements in foil technology are behind us. Moving forward, I expect progress to come in incremental refinements, and that’s how I’d describe the EVO 155—a step forward, but not a giant leap.

Final thoughts:

We had 14 prone riders out that day using foils from Uni, Code, Armstrong, KT, Lift, F-One, Kujira2, Axis (and probably a few others I’m forgetting). There was a lot of switching going on between the higher-skill riders. The new gear across brands is all excellent and getting closer in performance. Ultimately, the “best” foil comes down to what you’re optimizing for based on your size, skill set, conditions, and disciplines.

[321-foiler]

Can anyone comment on how the Evo compares to the new Armstrong HAs for pump/size, turning, and breach?

I enjoy my progression foils but the performance/size of the Armstrong HAs was pretty eye opening when I tried them. They turn well and pump so easily they feel like have a pump assist. And they breach tips incredibly easily. I was playing with tip breaches a bunch in my last try which was really fun.

Negatives of the Armstrong HA I would say are per size they seem slower then other foils due to their foil section and they feel like if you got in good size surf they might start to need a lot of front foot pressure to keep down.

From the reviews above the evo sounds like scaled up version of the p125 which is cool, but I am not sure that’s what I am looking for in my next foil. I do love my p125 but it’s has a ton of span that you feel when it gets big and you want to crank a hard turn.

[andiabel]

how do you tune the evo compared to the progression, eg 135 to 140?
mast position?

i am yet to try my 135, not much wind and freezing at the moment…for the smaller progressions i am on med fuse and 12.5’’ prog stab… i used to always ride 0.5° shim but recently realized how much drag just the 0.5° difference make, so tried 0° and do like it, more neutral when overpowered and faster…i have also changed my mast position a bit, but funnily more backwards (140) where i would have normally ridden my 125, but could have been the conditions, mediterranean decent fetch windswell vs my usual tiny fetch lake waves…

[mgudwin]

I’ve been riding the 135 in the same position I would ride the 140. I put the 155 in this same location and felt like I needed to put it 1cm back…gonna test that out today. I’ve yet to have a clean condition session on the 155.

[mgudwin]

I got my first downwind with the 155 evo yesterday and it is really really really good for downwinding. It was ~ 20-30 knots without much secondary swell, so it was good conditions, but the added glide is insane, more then the 135 and significantly more than any of the progressions. I never once felt like I was reaching the maximum speed even though I was peaking over 30 kph and was doing pretty consistently in the 2:30-2:45 per km pace.

IMHO the 155 is the one-wing-quiver as it surfs well and downwinds amazing.

[FSM]

Do you know Fletch in the 321 area? If you do, talk to him. He has the Progression and Evolution. He was wishing for the turning of the Progression and pump and glide of the Evolution, so he demoed another brand and found it. I’d rather you ask him in person, than reveal it here.

[321-foiler]

Yeah I know Fletch, thanks for the heads up.

[Darripah]

What about the rest of us?

[bdavis]

I agree!!!

[321-foiler]

Haha, he tried code and liked it. Really just comes down to it’s good to try what you can. He hasn’t decided to switch…yet.

[andiabel]

Maybe check if he’s aware stringy makes code adapters for uni masts. flush, the uni mast top just sits fully inside a metal head then going into the wider code fuse. I haven’t used it yet, but Mike Pedigo likes it, apart from sometimes being hard to disassemble.