My take on the Duotone Float ....

I demoed the 5.5m Float and immediately liked it for its ease of use and bottom end. The 5.5m does flap a bit when over powered however, I was really wanting the 4.5m which I now own.
The 4.5m is excellent, no flapping when over powered and no bad behaviour as stated in the above review. Infact it eats gusty turbulent conditions way better than any other wing I've owned including the Unit and North Mode.
I have ordered a 3.5m as I think it will even be better and not suffer the on/off power these smaller wings have when there are lulls and there are always lulls in my area.

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warwickl said..
I have ordered a 3.5m as I think it will even be better and not suffer the on/off power these smaller wings have when there are lulls and there are always lulls in my area.

i've used my 3.5m Float just once and though i'm not exactly sure what you mean by the 'on/off power' thing, i did struggle a bit with it when the lulls hit. but wouldn't that be true of any small wings in lulls? a 3.5m wing is tiny for me and i found it twitchy, but again, first time on it and winds were 15-35 mph. A nice thing was how light it felt when i was up and running, like having nothing in my hands at all.

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beached57 said..

warwickl said..
I have ordered a 3.5m as I think it will even be better and not suffer the on/off power these smaller wings have when there are lulls and there are always lulls in my area.

i've used my 3.5m Float just once and though i'm not exactly sure what you mean by the 'on/off power' thing, i did struggle a bit with it when the lulls hit. but wouldn't that be true of any small wings in lulls? a 3.5m wing is tiny for me and i found it twitchy, but again, first time on it and winds were 15-35 mph. A nice thing was how light it felt when i was up and running, like having nothing in my hands at all.

He's talking about small wings in general and that when a lull hits they tend to be more affected than larger wings. I don't know if the Float would be any better than other wings in that regard as I've always felt this is just the nature of smaller wings, they need power and when the wind drops then any amount of pumping isn't going to save you.

I have one day on the Float 3.5 in good conditions. My normal everyday wing is the D/LAB Unit 3.5.

Float 3.5 exceeded my expectations. Being used to a high end-end, light and stiff wing, I was wondering how a more basic wing was going to perform given the speed and upwind ability limitations advertised vs the Unit.

Feels very light in hand and very smooth in sailing. I generally sail small wings and prefer not to be super lit. Day I was out I was quite comfortably powered on the 3.5 Float. Just a very easy, well controlled wing that disappears when you flag it. I've used other wings that flag well but don't roll over well in tacks, but the Float seemed to steer well through tacks, and I didn't have to make any adjustments. Upwind and speed felt good to me... actually I was tracking about .5kt faster on the Float than my Units the two days prior (although different conditions and was breaking in the new Glide 620, so I was also the most dialed on the new foil by the time I got on the Float).

tl;dr... just feels like a great wing. wish it had some small windows.

will get a 3.0 for the big days here. Power vs. Unit DLAB same size... the float seems to have some pull but less low end "snap" or "pop" when pumping. I def get more low end out of the DLAB. I think the 4.0 would be more of an everyday size for me, but we will see. The last two days have been lighter wind... so I've opted for the Unit D/LAB 3.5 which is also a magical wing

got out yesterday in 25-40 mph conditions on 3.5m float. i was really overpowered on it and had troubles out there. not sure what the wind range is for this wing, but i think i exceeded it, or at least, the conditions exceeded me. i'm around 90kgs and thought i could hold this down, but i got tossed frequently. i have a 4.2m North Mode and think these are very similar in overall power.

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sunsetsailboards said..
I have one day on the Float 3.5 in good conditions. My normal everyday wing is the D/LAB Unit 3.5.

Float 3.5 exceeded my expectations. Being used to a high end-end, light and stiff wing, I was wondering how a more basic wing was going to perform given the speed and upwind ability limitations advertised vs the Unit.

Feels very light in hand and very smooth in sailing. I generally sail small wings and prefer not to be super lit. Day I was out I was quite comfortably powered on the 3.5 Float. Just a very easy, well controlled wing that disappears when you flag it. I've used other wings that flag well but don't roll over well in tacks, but the Float seemed to steer well through tacks, and I didn't have to make any adjustments. Upwind and speed felt good to me... actually I was tracking about .5kt faster on the Float than my Units the two days prior (although different conditions and was breaking in the new Glide 620, so I was also the most dialed on the new foil by the time I got on the Float).

tl;dr... just feels like a great wing. wish it had some small windows.

will get a 3.0 for the big days here. Power vs. Unit DLAB same size... the float seems to have some pull but less low end "snap" or "pop" when pumping. I def get more low end out of the DLAB. I think the 4.0 would be more of an everyday size for me, but we will see. The last two days have been lighter wind... so I've opted for the Unit D/LAB 3.5 which is also a magical wing

Thanks for your review. I too prefer a smaller wing and to not be too lit as got a bung shoulder. I have a 2024 4.5m Dlab Slick that I use for light conditions and just sold my original 3.5m Slick. Looking for a wing from 18 knots up and want a 3.0m wing.

I ride in mostly flat water in a bay with a bit of chop and now and then in swell/surf up to chest height. I like to do freestyle tricks, not jumping but spinning the wing around etc. while gybing/tacking.

Would you recommend the Unit or Float? I am leaning towards the Float as reviews have seemed very positive. I have a midlength board so low end power isn't a massive need as get going pretty easily.

Thanks