2010 Slingshot Octane Review

2010 Slingshot Octane

The 2010 Octane is Slingshot's latest kite offering…a hybrid C kite, similar in concept to the REV's, but with enough difference to deserve a new (or old) name. The new Octane flies with relatively light bar pressure, providing quick turns and big floaty jumps. The jury is still out on the wind range, we've found it to have the nice wide wind range promised… others have commented that the low end lacks grunt, while some say there's plenty of it. We'll report back after riding some more.

The new bar is great, you can NOT tangle the center lines no matter how hard you try. The bar and kite setup provide the ability to ride in a very large wind range using just the bar throw without touching the depower line. I've spent almost all my riding time with the kite fully powered up. The depower cleat and adjustment lines are smaller than previous years, but I still scrape my knuckles every once in a while on the plastic end of the depower line when fully powered.

Before we received our own shipment of Octane kites, we searched the web for any information available. It's a new kite, so the reviews are few and far between. We've provided our first take on the Octane below and there are a couple links that follow which are good continuing sources of information. We've seen a wide range of reviews, some suggesting that this is a great kite for an advanced rider, others suggesting it's a great intermediate and teaching kite. We think this is a great kite for all levels, providing a stable flying platform, with easy re-launch and the high performance we expected. We'll report back as we spent more time on the kite, in the mean time get out and demo one for yourself.