I received my order of a 5.5m x2 and a 4.5m aura iii. Intend to keep my 3m Ozone Flow in the quiver, but depending on how I like the Aura and what I find for the wind range on the 4.5, I might add a 3.5 aura iii. TBD. I will be riding these wings next week and will report back with my experience.
I bought these wings without demo (there are barely any US dealers and no opportunity to demo), but they came highly recommended by other riders, the online reviews were very positive, and I like the innovative use of materials. To some extent I feel like a test dummy, since the info available is very sparse. Vayu's website is very thin on details and even the manual linked for the wings is for a 3 year old product. I reached out to Vayu with questions, but didn't hear back for three weeks (after I had bought the product), and the US dealers don't have a lot of knowledge around the product either. Slightly concerning and I just hope that if there is ever a warranty issue or if I need replacement parts it isn't a total headache. They could really improve the details provided on their site and their communication with the market.
The good news is that the wings are aesthetically beautiful and seem extremely well built and designed. The seams are very clean and the details are excellent.
Each wing came a bag, leash, repair kit, and two sets of handles (of course no manual). The bags are identical between the wings and both very nice although the x2 came in a Cordura material bag and the Aura 3 comes in a lighter nylon bag (which I prefer). The bags are kind of heavy and I may use more minimalist bags to keep weight down while travelling. The bags are quite large, have multiple pockets, and extend further to accommodate a boom. The second set of handles are a firmer soft handle, almost like the Fone hybrid handles. Not sure I'll ever use them, but I may experiment with a soft handle in back as I found this worked quite well on a previous setup I used (I liked the control of the front handle, but the soft rear handle dampened gusts). The repair kit is very basic (more basic than I've seen from other manufacturers). The leash itself seems pretty good, although it is attached to the wrist cuff. I attach my leash to my harness and I prefer leashes that allow me to detach the wrist cuff. As such, I probably won't end up using this leash.
The hard handles come mounted on the wings. The handles are identical between the x2 and Aura III, and the front and rear handle are the same. Both handles are quite long, TBD whether it will be long enough to fly one handed from the front handle. They are very lightweight, nice diameter and have a grippy padding. Assuming the positioning is good, I think I'm really going to like these. Each handle detaches with a 4 bolt system (2 bolts in front and two in back of each handle - 8 bolts total per wing). It takes 5 mins to detach both handles and is very intuitive although keeping track of the smaller bolts and washers is not a job for the beach.
The luff handles on each wing are identical and they seem perfect. Very firm, enough space to grab and I expect they will provide very good control. 100% perfect.
The wings themselves are beautiful. The wings use the FOne style pin valve / Sup valve, but you need to twist the pin before opening or closing it. Could be hard to do with gloves or cold fatigued hands, but overall no problem. The x2 has two of these valves, but it also functions as a one pump system with the strut and LE bladders attached. The Aura iii has one of these valves on the LE, which is connected to the strut. The Aura iii does NOT have a strut valve, but has a simple dump valve on the strut. The hose connection between the bladders includes a clamp. My preference would be to keep the bladders disconnected from eachother as the connection hose just offers another place of failure, adds weight, and makes a bladder replacement slightly more of a headache. Having two full valves as well as the connection seems like overkill on the x2, and I would rather have the ability to pressurize the valve and LE separately on the Aura iii, which isn't possible. Minor complaint, but not a big deal.
The materials all seem great, but the x2 is clearly the premium wing (also shows up in the pricetag). I like how the Aura iii uses Aluula Aeris X at the critical point on the LE, which should add stiffness, but keeps the price down. The rest of the Aura iii frame appears to be a pretty standard dacron. The x2 has full aluula strut and LE although they use both Aeris X (front of the leading edge) and Aeris X (wingtips and strut). Having experience with Aluula gold (and some delamination issues) These materials feel quite a bit different. The Aeris is more supple than Gold, and the Aeris X is stiffer with reinforcements. I'll reserve judgment on how effective and durable the materials are until I ride the wings, but everything is clean and well integrated. There are nice kevlar reinforced bumpers throughout.
The canopy on both wings appears to be identical and has pretty standard and very lightweight 2x2 ripstop for 95% of the material. The only place I could find the 5x5 is the last couple inches of the trailing edge. Overall the canopies for both wings are light, but nothing particularly innovative. The Xply windows seem really nice and the fabric at least feels like it will offer a similar stiffness to the rest of the canopy. I think this material feels a lot nicer than what most other brands are using. I like how the battens are well integrated into the canopy (vs Ozone where the battens feel like a flimsy afterthought).
I also received the click boom although I'm not sure whether I'm going to keep it or not. The boom won't work for my 5.5m x2 (slightly too short), although I suspect it MIGHT work for a 5m. The boom itself is very nice diameter, and the same grippy padding as the handles. The clip posts feel a bit like "prototypes" rather than a finished product, but very functional. It doesn't click in seamlessly, you need to wiggle and force it slightly, but that might not be a bad thing. I had concerns that it could unclip while riding, but I don't think that is likely based on playing around with it. It seems very stiff and secure. As others have stated, it is a little cramped to use in a pistol style grip. One concern I have is how it will hold up to sand. Time will tell. FYI, multiple sources had alluded to the fact that the next generation x2 (x3?) will be compatible with the click boom. The major flaw of the boom is that it does NOT come with covers for the exposed strut bolts that would have been holding the removed handles. These stick out and seem like they would easily bloody my knuckles. My understanding is that the fixed boom includes these covers, but the click boom doesn't for some reason? I also don't see these for sale anywhere which seems like a big oversight. I could easily imagine a 3D printed piece that would cover these bolts, although I don't have any knowledge of 3D printing myself. No information on this, but I would bet they come up with a more refined v2 version of this product as it lacks some polish.
As the prior poster said (thank you), the x2 is intended for 8 psi on ALL sizes, although some riders are riding it up to 9.5. The Aura iii has pressure instructions on the valve (not sure if they differ from size to size).
I took the time to write this for others who may be considering these wings, as the information generally available was really bad. Hopefully this is helpful. I can address other questions that come up, and will provide my impressions of performance sometime soon. Not sure I'll have time to weigh the wings before riding, but maybe.
Velocicraptor
> 9 months ago, 23 Feb 2025
