Gong released their new Team wings, Neutra and Droid UPE Aramid. This is updated material technology compared to their previous UPE 200. They are only carbon boom wings now, not the interchangeable handle system as the rest of their newer wings.Seems like they've made huge improvements both on design and material, without charging an arm and a leg!

Also, it seems they have decided to give another run of their double profile Pulse UPE Aramaid wing :-)
Anyone tried any of their UPE 200 or UPE Aramid wings?

www.gong-galaxy.com/en/magazine/news-en/news-production-on-demand-of-our-team-series-wings/

www.gong-galaxy.com/en/magazine/news-en/news-new-droid-and-neutra-in-upe-aramid/

Looking forward to receiving my Droid UPE Aramid 5.0 :-)

I have 4.5 & 5.5 Neutra UPE, very happy with them, nice and light, stiff and durable so far (6 months use). I pump up to 9.5 psi, seems to be plenty stiff. They don't have the tractor low end that my reedin wings had, but are way lighter and a bit more efficient all around plus better flagging

Hey There! Im looking to grab a few Gong team wings. Curious on your opinions. I'm a little torn between the droid and Neutra. Especially in the team wing, it seems like the droid also surfs really well. I've never used a boom, but aside from the slight angle of individual handles, I like a longer front handle for 1 handed riding so I am confident in the new boom. Basically, where I live and travel, I ride wind swell and some flat water so I like to ride swell but also tack around, 360's, behind the back tacks etc. I'm an experienced 38 year old winger but I'm never going to do a backflip with a twist like every droid video, so I'm sort of struggling to decide between the 2 styles. Droid has more low end, Neutra maybe a bit more top end and gust comfort. I'm sure both tack pretty well, maybe the droid is crazy fast because of how narrow it is. Sounds like Neutra maybe better upwind?
anyway, if you've had both and are just more of a normal solid winger, curious on what you chose and why? Thanks!

No reviews on the Gong site on these new Aramid wings. I was interested on how the new Aramid Droid compared to the old UPE Droids. I understand they are lighter and stiffer, but how they differ in performance would be nice to know. I like my 2023 Slicks but I need a 5.5 and these Droids have my attention.

It looks like Zephyr's new Dilemma canopy wing is also using the 85g "Aramid" stuff under a different name.

Fishdude said..
No reviews on the Gong site on these new Aramid wings. I was interested on how the new Aramid Droid compared to the old UPE Droids. I understand they are lighter and stiffer, but how they differ in performance would be nice to know. I like my 2023 Slicks but I need a 5.5 and these Droids have my attention.

It looks like Zephyr's new Dilemma canopy wing is also using the 85g "Aramid" stuff under a different name.

I am in the exact same boat - thinking of getting a 5.5 Droid Aramid and then smaller 2024 Slicks or maybe Neutras... Had a chat with Gong about the Aramids - they say same profile/design and grunt as the normal UPE's, just better materials stiffer and lighter. First batch should arrive soon filling the retail orders so hopefully we can get some independent feedback.

Hey everyone! Love all the comments, but I'm curious on any real world feedback of the 2023 and newer Neutra vs Droid as far as similarities and differences. If the compact droid drifts really well, especially in high end construction, why go Neutra? It sounds like maybe the Neutra is a bit more "comfortable", maybe better upwind, droid more low end, etc. Considering going 5.5 Droid for the grunt and compact in lighter wind, then maybe just a quicker switch to a 4.5 Neutra if the wind is better? But I guess the question is, is that the move, or just all Droid? They sure are mainly riding the droid in all the videos, but I basically only compare myself to the main Gong guy with the beard, too many massive flips out of all the others to really compare! Haha.

Gong video presentation of the new upe aramid wings.

FYI, here is the first user review of these new UPE on the Gong Facebook group (by "Hugo Boy" translated from French by DeepL and me)


=========================

First feedback on this Aramid UPE ("team series") droid (4m) after 3 hours in the water this afternoon.
(Sorry Fanto, I'm beating you on this race aha)

Conditions: 20 to 35 knots of side-on mistral, quite irregular. 1m50-2m waves. High wing beach.

Setup: 4'6 55l, Mat HM 92, HypraS-S, FluidH38 and therefore the 4m UPE Aramide.
First impression: light. Very light indeed. Much lighter than the UPE 200. I'd only had this feeling once before with another well-known brand. Surprising. It feels just as well-balanced.
When it hits the water, it goes fast, pulls forward, and you can tell it wants it. Very promising for the low range! To be confirmed on another session!

Then the magic of the boom... much freer hand placement.

At the start of the session, I was clearly overtaxed. The fact that you can move your back hand wherever you like means you can really balance the forces without having to put your wing at the zenith and wait for it to pass! Very comfortable, and in the end, it allows you to really increase the high range and hold it much further!
(As an aside on the boom, I found myself doing waterstarts just like on a board ?? Quite funny and useful! I must say, it was tugging on some of the slaps... )

Big wind at the start, so I took the opportunity to test it in jumps. Well, I scared myself on the first two... I couldn't give a height but I had time to think about the different options for the receiver ?? !
VS UPE200 It's still a notch above.... Just pull on the rear hand, it goes up and stays there. On the way back down, there's not a hint of wing deformation - it's smooth! The UPE 200s were already top-notch in this respect, but now they're perfect!

Surfing: this new semi-rigid freefly handle is a dream! No more latency, the wing follows the movement.
Well-balanced, it doesn't flinch behind in freefly or more committed surfing! What a surprise!
I was amazed at the way it held up in the wind, because I wasn't overpowered! It held on without any problem! It doesn't bend a millimeter. It evacuates very well, and when you launch it, you really get the sensation of the air flowing through the wing. There's a little on/off side with the rear hand that's particularly pleasant, allowing you to always have some reserve and to be able to dose as you please.
Once the wind died down a little, this stability was confirmed! Acceleration is lightning fast, as is Vmax. It's unrolling.
When it comes to maneuvering, I used to have a lot of trouble with the HypraS-S on tacks. The boom allows better hand placement and induces more power on transitions.

The wing passes very well from one side to the other (much better than the UPE 200).
You can imagine yourself as a majorette with the boom. ??

If I had to make a small reservation, I had the impression of having to fetch the boom further under the wing on my first starts. This was quickly forgotten on subsequent starts and was not a penalty at all.
In short, my first impression on this first test is that the high range and stability are amazing.

This is an extremely stiff wing, but it's not uncomfortable compared to others!

The power is perfectly balanced.

It will appeal to everyone and is not at all exclusive. Those who want to get the most out of it in jumping/freestyle or surfing will be delighted.

Those who want to do lots of turns will be satisfied.

Those who want to improve their surfing/maneuvering skills and have a blast freeriding will progress even faster.

A perfect offering in my eyes for the moment.

Let's see how it fares in lighter conditions this weekend.
Sorry for the long post, there's a lot more to say!
Thanks to the Gong team for this jewel! ??

===========================================

His wing as received:

Sounds sweet, I already ordered a 3.5 and 4.5 Neutra, and going to order a 5.5 Droid. Makes me want to get aggressive and order a 4M Droid just in case I like the Droid more than the Neutra? Haha. If it flags well and really isn't to rough in the gusts and upper range, then who doesn't love power on the low end!?!

Fishdude said..
? How much of DeepL did you have to correct?

Not much, DeepL does a very good job.It can stumble on idioms or when people use slang of make mistakes or use abbreviations.
It also helps that half of the English vocabulary is actually French (England was conquered by the French William the Conqueror at some time and the elite spoke French), and technical French surf/foil/wing terms are just the English ones.

To complement DeepL, I suggest using also AIs such as ChatGPT and Perplexity for parts that seem strange, they are surprisingly good at "understanding" context and finding idiom equivalents. The other translators (Google Translate, Bing Translate) are quite good also but very close to DeepL so in my experience they make the same mistakes as DeepL, so I use Google Translate only for languages DeepL does not cover. I use DeepL because it has a very good web interface, and you can click on a word to choose among all the possible alternative translations of it.

An example of mistake would be "La planche a de bonnes d?rives" that DeepL translates as "The board has good drifts" because the French surfers wrongly use the term meaning "centerboard" for fins, but all the rest (Windsurfers, kiters, ...) use the proper "ailerons" which means fins.
But Perplexity and ChatGPT correctly translates into "The board has good fins."
The only problem with the AIs is that they are more limited in their free version in the amount of text translatable per request.
PS: I use Perplexity more than Google nowadays.

I have the Neutra 4.5 UPE Aramid. Delivered in June just days before the new Atamid X was released which was a bummer. I waited for months and wen i received it it was already the old model. I was hoping to get a boom wing which was lighter and better than my Vayu Aura II. The wing is nice especially the thin strut. I like it that the boom is the only option with no useless attachment points for handles. The boom is not as nice as the Vayu one but that is personal taste. I do not use the pistol grip and it makes the boom stand further from the strut.
I was dissapionted in the handling . It is a lot more unstable than the Vayu. When sailing powered up the power keeps shifting. It is because of this very hard to control with one hand like the Vayu. it makes sense that the designer loves his harness to control the power. For me it is to much. It does behave very well flagged and you even notice it less than the Vayu.
So good product but not good enough for me. I keep the Aura II and look foreward to their new versions.

socal said..

Hwy1North said..
Review of the 4.5 Gong Nuetra Aramid X.

I've tried a lot of different wings this year and was really disappointed in that the feel that I'm used to from gen 2 wings of 2021 was either totally gone, or not improved upon. I took a gamble due to Jonah L.'s good word and ignored my prejudice that booms are a bad. So far only ridden a few days in gusty winds 15-30mph and am 88kg,

Booms on a the right wing are awesome! The only negatives is that there is a hard curved end that should be padded for waterstarting, and the wing won't fit in a small car trunk. The positives are the exceptional feel and power modulation especially in transitions and going frome powered to depowered. The wing has a decent low end for getting going but I'd say takes intermediate skills for that. It goes upwind very well and power is very easy to modulate by changing grip on boom. On a broad reach, it is capable of some suprisingly fast speeds when locked in, or easy riding of swells lifted overhead. On a wave and straight into the wind )which typically overpowers a wing,) it totally disapears and makes offshore riding fun. This is exaclty the wing I've been waiting and hoping for. Now I just need to decide on a 4m or 3.5 for next Spring to handle days that are 20-35...

FYI, ordering into USA was a bit of a hastle from DHL who wanted my SSN because the package said "made in China." Just responded to the request that the item was of a value that makes for an "informal entry" and that seemed to do the trick.

Hi - How does the Nuetra perform in gusty winds? I'm trying to decide between the Neutra and Droid. I'm thinking the Neutra will be better in gust. Although, not sure after reading aman's post. I just cruise around so I'm not looking for a surf or freestyle specific wing.

I haven't tried the Droid, so can't compare directly.

As the wing wears in, I've found both the 4.5 and 5.5 to have much more low end than first reported. This is really noticeable going upwind hard where there is a lot of back hand pressure. On a reach though, the hand pressure is very light. Overpowered, I just move my hands slightly forward on the boom. In gusty winds where I am actively ridng swells with the wing at my hip, or pinching hard upwind, or riding as fast as I can on a broad reach, I find the Nuetra exceptional for gusty winds.

I hate the F-one v4 Strike as it is really unstable, flopping around on the water after a crash, riding up and over swells and through jibes, pulls even harder from the back hand, yet has very little low end. Ironically, the only time the V4 felt good was riding flat water, something I have only done once as my riding is mostly waves and or onshore swell and wind chop. And it felt really good! So the point is that what works for one type of condition vs another may be more important than something that is good for gusty conditions or doesn't pull as hard (Droid vs. Nuetra.)

I'm less a fan of the 5.5 than the 4.5 for all around use (it's fantastic in waves though,) so if I were riding bigger wings, or just cruising flatter water, I'd probably go less powered up and a Droid. But as I said, that's not based on a test.