Is the 2023 Duotone Evo or Evo SLS the Best Kite for Every Wind Condition?

Aaron from MACkite is on the beach at King of the Great Lakes with Ben from Duotone to find out what makes the Evo SLS such a popular kite.

Aaron: Why is the Evo SLS Duotone's best-selling kite? What's the magic sauce there?

Ben: The Evo has always been the all-rounder kite in our lineup. It does everything great. It's not spectacular at one specific thing, but you can do everything on it. You can unhook on it, it's great for jumping, it does boost--not as good as the Rebel--but it's user-friendly and you can get some great air on it. It's three struts, so it's lightweight and a great teaching and learning kite. So again, it's an all-around kite.

Aaron: So it's a good travel kite, too. If you're taking off from your home beach, you know what the conditions are there, but if you're going to travel someplace abroad, you might not be sure exactly what you'll find, so with the Evo you're covered for surf, foil, freestyle, some boosting... Now, there's some overlap between some of the characteristics of the Rebel and the Evo, even though you've got two different designers, right? I felt like they're both such good freeriders. The exception might be in the surf category. I feel like if you have a preference for surf, then the Evo is definitely gonna fill the tanks there.

Ben: That's a good point, Aaron. Back in the day there used to be a lot more similarities between the Evo and Rebel. The biggest difference was that the Rebel was five line, and then the Evo got converted to a four line. Once we made the Rebel a four-line kite, then we basically had a four-line Rebel and a four-line Evo. They were both high-aspect kites, so we made the Evo a three-strut kite, and that really opened it up to being more of a freeride, chilled-out version of itself.

Aaron: Is it maybe a little deeper in the canopy?

Ben: It's still pretty high aspect. It's meant for being more of a playful kite, in a sense. What we're trying to encourage is for it to be the first kite that everybody gets and uses, and then they can figure out what they want to do in kiteboarding. The Evo helps them choose the next kite they want to use.

Aaron: I love that explanation. That makes perfect sense. And sometimes the Evo IS the one because you really like to do all of this. I feel like you can throw unhooked tricks, freestyle tricks, jumps, you can foil, you can surf, it has good relaunch, good power pound-per-pound, good upwind ability... But you hit that perfectly by saying that you start here and then, if you do niche out a little bit on something specific, whether you want to go surf or go wakestyle or go foil, you can branch out and go from there. That was great. I've never explained it that way, and I can totally appreciate it.

Ben: That is what we think and believe it does, but you also have the Evo SLS, which is the higher end model with the Penta TX frame. It also is a lot stiffer and a lot more reactive of a kite, and now it's starting to go towards more of a higher-performing model type.

Aaron: Yeah. The Penta TX SLS material may be hard to justify because the standard construction is good and it works fine, but once I got on an SLS for the first time--I think it was probably the Neo--I really appreciated the responsiveness. I pump those things up to 10 PSI no matter what. I know it says to do less, but I always pump those up really high, and that SLS construction can take the pressure, and then the responsiveness that you get out of the turns is just amazing. I don't want to sound like a snob about it, but the SLS is one upgrade that I can really appreciate. It's not marketing hype. The performance and responsiveness is something that I can really feel in the bar, and so the SLS is, in my mind, the new baseline. I know you can go into D/LAB and get lighter materials, but the SLS is so fun; that's a very worthy upgrade and I'm so stoked that you guys went to that tier system.

Ben: The performance vastly outweighs the markup. It's only a couple hundred bucks more than the original construction, and as you said, it is something that you instantly notice the moment you fly it. There's a lot stiffer frame, so it's reactive with instant feedback when you steer it.

Aaron: You're not dealing with much delay. Even in the bigger sizes like the Neo 12, I can loop that thing around and do downloop transitions in the surf, so it's super fun.

Ben: Yeah. When we're on the beach doing a demo with our products, I always encourage as many people as I can to try a normal kite, then try an SLS kite. This is why we're here and why we're doing this with you guys here on the beach today, though we're lacking one important thing right now. But once the wind comes up, this is what we get to do. People have to try the two. It's not only Duotone that's doing this with lighter constructions and different materials; we're seeing it with every other brand, and it's becoming the next stage in kiteboarding.

Aaron: It's a smart move. Back to the EVO and the Evo SLS, that is the Swiss army knife, the jack-of-all-trades. If you're looking to grab a quiver of one kite and know that you are going to be able to cover yourself in a wide range of conditions, that Evo SLS is an easy pick. If you have any other questions about that, feel free to reach out to us. We're always happy to help. The Evo SLS from Duotone is an easy win, and I hope you guys get a chance to check one out as well.

Duotone Evo SLS 2023 Product Clip

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