Eolo Evo2 8M

The new depower foil kite from Eolo for 2008 is the Evo2.  The kite is the second generation of the Evo, however takes on a completely different design.  The new Evo 2 is much higher aspect then the previous version, and the wing tips cut away.  The kite is aimed at landboarding and snowkiting mainly, however it's perfectly at home in a buggy.

Unpacking
The first thing about the new Evo 2 series from Eolo is the huge bag that it is provided with.  The bag is well made, and you could probably fit 3 of the kites in there comfortably!  It opens up with a zip all the way down the front to make packing and unpacking easy.

Lines
The lines on the kite are heavy duty lines, and quite thick.  After about 8 sessions on the kite they only showed minimal wear, so overall I was impressed with the durability of the lines showing that they would last quite a while.  Due to the direction I was mainly flying the top right line stretched slightly over time.

Bar & Safety
The chicken loop comes with a donkey dick that is a little to flexible to keep it in place.  The loop is also very very large and does not hold its shape, this makes it difficult if it slips out to hook back in.  The bar itself is comfortable and a good thickness that makes it easy to hold on to without getting sore hands.  However the inserts on the bar are plastic, and the line through the middle of the bar is nearly like rope.  The friction of the two already started to create signs of wear on both the bar and the inserts after two sessions.  The first safety is a mushroom top safety.  The second is on the chicken loop and is a pin & loop style safety, this is quite easy to release pulling on the red trigger.

Bridles
The bridles on the kite seem perfect, all stitched and sleeved to protect from damage.  They are all attached to sewn points on the kite, and run through Ronstan pulleys on the lines.  Overall it is as well built as the larger brands.

Kite Build
The kite overall is very very well built, equally as good as the more expensive brands.  The leading edge of the kites are sewn and reenforced, as is the trailing edge and the bridles are sleeved and sewn.  




Flight Characteristics
The way the kite responds to imput is very positive and immediate.  For its size the 8m flew like a much smaller kite in how it responded, turning responsively and responding to the sheeting of the bar.  The power was very sudden and responsive to how far you pulled in on the bar while the kite was moving.  The kite was also very lifty, due to the speed of the kite sending it through the upper half of the window and sheeting the bar in sent you skywards.  The kite had a good amount of float, however you had to bring the kite back over, leaving it to any side of the window would see you drop fairly quickly.  It definitely needs positive input when being flown, you can not just send it over you and forget about it.  For its size the power generated was more then a number of other similar sized depower foils, however a bit more throw on the bar would be great so you could kill the power a bit more when there was to much.

Conclusion
The kite is a very nice kite to fly, generally well behaved.  It did invert in extremely gusty winds, as would any kite.  However it was generally very stable and responsive of the multiple times I flew the kite.  If you are purchasing the kite you may want to look to replacing the depower cord through the middle of the bar, as it is corse and will wear out the plastic inserts very quickly.  There is also a few inches of travel left up at the kite when the bar is sheeted in or out, you could extend your depower throw on the bar to make use of this and increase the depower range of the kite.  Overall the kite represents excellent value for money, with attention and improvement needing to be paid to the bar setup.