North Kiteboarding Evo 10m 2015
Reviews / Kites
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At A Glance
The North Evo has been in their line up for a number of years now, it’s arguably the unsung hero of the brand and one of our favourite kites on the market. It’s a freeride/freestyle machine favoured by the likes of Tom Hebert who got the record for the highest jump at the Red Bull King Of The Air last year!
It’s a 5 strut design with a progressive profile and a reasonable arc shape, there are hints of it’s Delta shape DNA in there too. The bridle is short and simple and the kite benefits from the adaptive tips that allow you to tune the feeling of the kite from a light pressure fast turn to a more positive pressure slower turn.
As usual the build quality is second to none, the canopy is the Techno Force D2 material that North have been championing for some time. The trailing edge features “Force Control” which is a panel that helps to distribute the forces on the canopy evenly. The fast inflation system has also been improved and is now even easier to use.
The kite can be flown on 4 or 5 lines depending on your style, the Evo is one of the kites in the line up designed to be flown on the 4-line Quad Control bar and that is the set up we used. The 5th line is on the kite ready to use with the 5th Element bar should you choose that set up.
Sizes: 6m, 7m, 8m, 9m, 10m, 11m, 12m, 13m, 14m
The Bar
The North Quad Control Trust Bar has been at the pinnacle of kite bar design for some time; there have been a few tweaks from last year resulting in the new 2015 version. The whole set-up is of a very high standard, clean and uncluttered and using quality Teufelberger lines.
It is very comfortable to hold due to the ergonomic bar grip and the chicken loop slots into the bar well when unhooked preventing the lines from twisting. Safety is one of the key aspects this bar boasts about and it is for good reason, the Iron Heart Quick Release is probably one of the best on the market.
This year you can buy the bar with different line length options, giving you the choice to opt for shorter lines and more handling/less power or longer lines less handling/more power. The bar ends themselves are integrated into the floats like last year giving a clean finish and you can also make the bar shorter or wider by unclipping and twisting the bar ends around.
North have improved the internals in this system for 2015 so it should prove more durable. You can also now easily tune your back line lengths by removing the red plastic covers, which gives you access to the rear lines. It is really easy to trim them and a nice tidy feature.
The mini 5th line safety system works exceedingly well at dumping power from the kite very quickly. The depower trim is catered for with an above-the-bar cleat system that allows you to tune the amount of depower throw you have on the kite. If you have small arms simply move the cleat further down towards the bar to make it easier to reach. It is a very well polished set up and we like the bold new colours for 2015 too.
In The Air
We’ve been long time fans of the Evo for a few years now, from the first incarnation with its insane boosting characteristics to last years more polished offering with a extreme wind range. This year the love affairs continues and with good reason.
The Evo is quite simply a fantastic all round kite! The low-end wind range is very impressive, but the high end on the 10m was also huge, we were riding the 10m in 15-16 knots with ease and still holding on to it without any issues when others had changed down to 7m kites.
The kite has a very short depower throw, which goes a long way to offering it’s confidence inspiring control. Just a short movement on the bar and you can dump all the power you need to which makes it a great kite to use in gusty conditions. We really enjoyed boosting on the Evo, especially when it is powered up at the top end of it’s wind range, the hangtime and pull off the water is insane.
A key characteristic that helps it gain those superb jumping credentials is the turning speed. The Evo is rapid, especially if you tune it to the fastest setting on the wing tip. This enables you to redirect it across the window aggressively fast and results in a fast boost of the water that delivers plenty of height. The Evo is an absolute jumping machine!
It behaves well unhooked too, it’s not as good as the Dice or the Vegas of last year at giving you slack lines, but it’s stable and well behaved to inspire those learning to unhook to do so. The area where the kite perhaps most surprised us was in the waves, it’s not a wave kite by nature, but its turning speed leant it well to this discipline.
It does drift on the wave, but not as well as the lighter Neo, we didn’t find the kite held us back on the wave face at all though. Upwind is also excellent and the kite really pulls forwards in the window allowing you to crank up the coast with ease. It is going to suit a really wide range of users, from intermediates to experts alike who are looking for a fast, stable all round machine.
For
Lightening quick with a short depower throw offering amazing amounts of control the Evo boosts huge and has lots of float. It performs well on the waves and is behaved unhooked making it appeal to a wide range of users. The build quality, bar and overall package is excellent too.
Against
It is really hard to find fault with this kite, it’s a great all-rounder, but perhaps a wave or freestyle rider would prefer the other offerings in the range.
Overall
If you are looking for a well built all rounder with all the modern trimmings in terms of design the Evo fits the bill perfectly, it will jump high, fly fast and turn on a dime. If you want one kite to do it all consider the Evo from the North Kiteboarding line up, you won’t be disappointed.
Videos
This review was in Issue 48 of IKSURFMAG.
For more information visit North KiteboardingRelated
By Rou Chater
Rou has been kiting since the sports inception and has been working as an editor and tester for magazines since 2004. He started IKSURFMAG with his brother in 2006 and has tested hundreds of different kites and travelled all over the world to kitesurf. He's a walking encyclopedia of all things kite and is just as passionate about the sport today as he was when he first started!
