Im riding a quiver of wings that are ~3 year old models. Some of the lesser used sizes have been used for 3 years, but most of them are only a year old and still in good shape (in fact I bought one new for VERY cheap this summer because I really needed a 2.5m for the first time). Ive also ridden a handful of the current generation. The current generation wings are better, but its not a huge difference and a lot of the difference can be attributed to just being new (vs changes in construction or design). The biggest design difference I can see is that some of the new wings have materially thinner leading edges (yet maintain their stiffness), which is more efficient going upwind and less draggy luffing. Im not really convinced there has been a lot of innovation in terms of longevity over the last several years, which would be the most meaningful improvement in my eyes. So are they better? yes, but not better enough to meaningfully impact the quality or fun in a session.

Bottom line is that my quiver is old, and I don't use it nearly as much as I used to (due to focusing more on parawing), but Im not longing for new wings for performance reasons vs parawings where the improvement has been pretty drastic in the last 2 years.

If I were replacing wings today I'd buy discounted 25 or 26 models with booms and I'm sure I'd be more happy with that budget quiver than if I spent a premium for a full price 27 model.

Hmm I feel on the foil front the changes have also been incremental for a while. F-one came out with the Sk8 V1 in 2022 or something and the V3 is very similar in feel and performance, only minor changes. And they say it themselves too, its just so good they dont want to change too much.

Ofcourse the past 2 years we've been seeing some more specialist foils come to market like 16AR downwinding race foils, but mainly its been tweaks and variations on whats already there.

Last years upgrade from Strike V4 to V5 was a massive upgrade btw, this years is also more incremental.