Spot on review! I have one and they are awesome. Where I live we all use them on the ocean for sup foiling and down winding. Makes learning this discipline much easier!
As someone extremely new to this sport and who was immediately dismayed by the cost, I'm so excited to see these lower cost possibilities. I'm thinking this with a Lahoma inflatable setup, and I have a much more affordable efoil as well as a good regular hydrofoil to learn on. Thanks so much for spreading the word about the possibilities!!
@@WakeThief Thanks, just trying to find the best deal for the gear that is exactly what I need. Gee, that shouldn't be too hard! Ha! Too many choices! I have 3 wings (4, 5, & 6M) that are just waiting for a board and foil.
@@Pete_R63 Get the Axis 1150 - it's the perfect choice for both light and intermediate winds. Look for a board from this year that's suitable for your foil-level (take something larger than 120L if you're a beginner). Don't buy a board with concaves on the bottom (as they were built before this year). The industry is moving towards flat bottom shapes as those get you planing earlier.
@@stkl23 Thanks! I am looking for a bigger board since I weigh about 210. I used to windsurf in the 80s so I have some board experience (unless I can count snowboarding) but with knee surgeries and a hip replacement, it can get a bit difficult getting up from kneeling. I need to and want to lose 25-30 lbs.
Thank you for testing. I wish you tried in the waves in choppy water, im not sure it has enough power for water start? Is the prop folding? Can you pump without power? How does remote looks? Battery looks scary diy, how well it’s waterproofed from salty water?
Im a huge fan of your channel!!!! We also tried in choppy water. On a 24L board, I don’t think I could get it going in choppy water or a strong headwind but with a bigger board, no problem. Folding prop yes. Yes. I can pump for 40s without power (you can see a few seconds in video) but it’s also possible to pump easily because this is a much better pumping foil than any efoil front wing. Remote worked well. In my 10 uses, I never found water in the battery compartment. Water bad whether salt or fresh. Great questions!
@@WakeThief @Wake Thief thank you!! Looking forward to part 2 where you try in chop and waves in future and maybe compare different sizes of boards, folding prop and remote features
I own both Fliteboard Ultra and Foildrive and also (mainly) wingding - yes the Foildrive is a tad DIY especially compared to Flite's world class design/production. But...Flite and all efoils are *heavy* so if your primary interest is wave riding its a less than fully satisfying experience, not to mention far more costly if you already own foiling gear. Foildrive customer service and responsiveness on the Foildrive Owners facebook group is first rate (Flite also has good customer service in my experience). Flite has massive power reserves but I rarely get beyond level 4 (of 20!) and with their high aspect Flow wing I can fly on level 1 ... its hugely over engineered if wave riding is your primary interest. Of course if you want to fly fast on flat water for 90 mins straight, or have a longer journey to wave riding (avoiding beach break as I do getting to San Francisco's Ocean Beach) Flite is in a class of its own.
Just keep in mind the Assist and Assist PLUS are designed for larger, SUP style, positively buoyant boards. People are making it work on these smaller boards as you can see but it does require more effort and time to get it going. Can't wait to see what else you've got instore Devon!
Will do. No. Just regular water start. It’s not easy though. You need to get your chest in front of the board and adjust the thrust accordingly to ensure the board stays pretty flat.
Great product i hope. Only time will tell. I love the fact that you dont have to buy the whole system, only whats needed. The battery, control, motor and installation products. My only question is reliability over time. Will it last a year or two?
I haven’t used it enough to comment on long term battery life. I’d recommend reaching out to Foil Drive or joining the Foil Drive Facebook group and asking them.
Where can I get a wake thief shirt from? Finally got my dock starts down and can pump away!!!! So stoked... thank you wake thief for all the help and email support to foil... love from nc!
Great question. Tape matters a lot. I learned a hard lesson using tape that left behind sticky residue when I removed it. Took a long time to get my mast shiny and new again. A link to the exact tape is on the description. It’s plumbers tape and amazingly even sticks to moist surfaces! It’s been working well.
If I knew about it before I sold my Cabrinha "hollow" mast and foils, now I regret in way, but the battery cannot be sent via plane making it somewhat close to hoverboards restriction, most airlines dont take them.
Hi Claudio! I understand the situation. Foil drive is sending these all around the world. The shipping cost includes shipping a battery. I’d recommend reaching out to them to see if they can ship to you. I don’t see why not.
I have another question: on the ocean, with wind and a small swell, are you able to use the foil drive + to stand up and cruise? Let's suppose you're 195 pounds, 6'2 and have a 55 liter Axis foil board.
I would say this is close to the limit, but what you can always do is get up with the wind at your back and then turn back out and efoil out ... this is what I did when there was a 20 knot wind and large swell on the lake.
The setup was too heavy to sit in my dock starter. I didn’t try to dock start it. The approach I’d do would be to sit the board in water. Run and jump onto it and pull the trigger a second before landing … I wouldn’t recommend others try it though! 😂
Please email me. I’m sorry I didn’t include the whole clip. Note the battery box was at the nose. I found it easier than the lift 4’2 Pro and the Flite 4’ Ultra, likely because the entire foil weighed less and we didn’t need to reach as high of speeds to take off because the axis 1150 flew at a slower speed. Same technique. Stomach while you speed up, scoot forward. Eventually chest in front of the battery box while the board planes. Then to knees and to feet
Great video! Hoe beginner friendly is the wake thief axis foil (with a bigger board)? And can a beginner practise for 30 minutes with one battery? Thanks!
With a foil drive and a high volume board, the wake thief edition will be an easy to learn on. Behind a boat or jet ski, it’s not the easiest foil to learn on with a small board and we only recommend it to those with past board sports experience. Learning this sport isn’t easy, no matter the foil but with patience and some passion / motivation, it can be done! With the large battery in continuous use we can go for 30min. When learning with the foil drive, you can probably get a session more like an hour, including down time.
@@WakeThief thank you! Might it be also a good idea to go for the bsc series (1120, 1060 or 970)? Or are they not easier as an efoil because of too much performance loss. What would be the difference for efoiling? Thx in advance!
Lift to drag is most important metric. 1060 is quite similar to 1150 from a lift / drag perspective so will be fine. 112” as well. 970 is getting a bit low in area so speed needs to be faster. I’m confident it will be fine if you have an 80L board. Don’t think it will work with 24L. I’d guess 1120 and 1060 do work.
@@WakeThief I have a 135L board and am 65 kg. I am just getting the basics of wing foiling (a couple of meters on the foil) and want to learn efoiling as well for progress and fun. I am doing lake foiling and want to use the foil to teach others as well. I really like and want the 1150 with foildrive. Should I be oké if I start learning efoil on it and than switch to wing and do the same with friends who want to learn it? Or will the 1060 bsc (or other) be better? Windspeed is normally between 10-15 knots and sometimes 20.
All of these disciplines are related. The 1150 is a great light wing winging foil. I was using it last week on a windy lake near us. It’s a great foil in terms of lift to drag ratio … lots of lift for low drag and ideal at lower speeds. As such, it also pairs with foil drive … doesn’t need as much power as other foils to keep flying. You have many good questions. Please don’t hesitate to email me if you have more! Devon Wakethief@icloud.com
2m. If you want to mount at the back of your board, go shorter and measure the distance from where you want to situate it in your mast and where you want to place it on your board. 2m was the longest foil drive would let me go due to resistive losses from a long cable.
This is very cool. Could you kite on an in-land lake with it? My area has lots of lulls so this would allow me to keep the kite flying until the wind returns. Maybe mount the motor fairly high on the mast so during "kite mode" it is out of the water and not causing drag?
Yes. You can mount the pod/motor where you like on the mast (you need to specify length of cable to ensure you have enough). Please check out our first foil drive video from last year. You'll see we have it halfway up the mast.
Efoil heavier (harder to maneuver at dock), faster, longer flight time … foil drive more fluid in carving due to light weight and cheaper (particularly if you already have another foil).
Correct. If container is submerged it won't work for a moment. I forgot about it completely. Haven't experienced it yet this year with the Assist Plus. I noticed it last year with the Assist. Low volume board is not easy. Start on stomach, speed up, and keep moving your board forward as you speed up. Get to knees and stand.
Spot on review! I have one and they are awesome. Where I live we all use them on the ocean for sup foiling and down winding. Makes learning this discipline much easier!
Thanks for sharing!
Great for learning to downwind and/or SUP/prome foil in waves. Just speeds up the learning curve so much.
As someone extremely new to this sport and who was immediately dismayed by the cost, I'm so excited to see these lower cost possibilities. I'm thinking this with a Lahoma inflatable setup, and I have a much more affordable efoil as well as a good regular hydrofoil to learn on. Thanks so much for spreading the word about the possibilities!!
Thanks! Happy to help. Please email me if I can.
Glad to see some new video from you! I have been consulting older ones lately as I try to decide which foil and board to get for winging.
I'm here if you need me, Pete! Thanks.
@@WakeThief Thanks, just trying to find the best deal for the gear that is exactly what I need. Gee, that shouldn't be too hard! Ha! Too many choices! I have 3 wings (4, 5, & 6M) that are just waiting for a board and foil.
@@Pete_R63 Get the Axis 1150 - it's the perfect choice for both light and intermediate winds. Look for a board from this year that's suitable for your foil-level (take something larger than 120L if you're a beginner). Don't buy a board with concaves on the bottom (as they were built before this year). The industry is moving towards flat bottom shapes as those get you planing earlier.
@@stkl23 Thanks! I am looking for a bigger board since I weigh about 210. I used to windsurf in the 80s so I have some board experience (unless I can count snowboarding) but with knee surgeries and a hip replacement, it can get a bit difficult getting up from kneeling. I need to and want to lose 25-30 lbs.
Best of luck buddy! You can do it!
Thanks for your insights Devon - love the reference too!
Ha! Thank you, FD team!
Great review!! Looks unreal 🤩
Right on review!!! I have both an eFoil, a Foil Drive setup, as well as a couple of “acoustic/analogue” foil boards, and I fully second your review…
Thank you for taking the time to leave such a nice comment! I appreciate it!
Thank you for testing. I wish you tried in the waves in choppy water, im not sure it has enough power for water start? Is the prop folding? Can you pump without power? How does remote looks? Battery looks scary diy, how well it’s waterproofed from salty water?
Im a huge fan of your channel!!!! We also tried in choppy water. On a 24L board, I don’t think I could get it going in choppy water or a strong headwind but with a bigger board, no problem. Folding prop yes. Yes. I can pump for 40s without power (you can see a few seconds in video) but it’s also possible to pump easily because this is a much better pumping foil than any efoil front wing. Remote worked well. In my 10 uses, I never found water in the battery compartment. Water bad whether salt or fresh. Great questions!
@@WakeThief @Wake Thief thank you!! Looking forward to part 2 where you try in chop and waves in future and maybe compare different sizes of boards, folding prop and remote features
I own both Fliteboard Ultra and Foildrive and also (mainly) wingding - yes the Foildrive is a tad DIY especially compared to Flite's world class design/production. But...Flite and all efoils are *heavy* so if your primary interest is wave riding its a less than fully satisfying experience, not to mention far more costly if you already own foiling gear. Foildrive customer service and responsiveness on the Foildrive Owners facebook group is first rate (Flite also has good customer service in my experience). Flite has massive power reserves but I rarely get beyond level 4 (of 20!) and with their high aspect Flow wing I can fly on level 1 ... its hugely over engineered if wave riding is your primary interest. Of course if you want to fly fast on flat water for 90 mins straight, or have a longer journey to wave riding (avoiding beach break as I do getting to San Francisco's Ocean Beach) Flite is in a class of its own.
Super thoughtful comment, thank you David!
Just keep in mind the Assist and Assist PLUS are designed for larger, SUP style, positively buoyant boards. People are making it work on these smaller boards as you can see but it does require more effort and time to get it going. Can't wait to see what else you've got instore Devon!
Can you throw in some vids of how you started with that tiny board (or did you dock start on that one ;)? Excellent video !!
Will do. No. Just regular water start. It’s not easy though. You need to get your chest in front of the board and adjust the thrust accordingly to ensure the board stays pretty flat.
Great suggestion David!
Great product i hope. Only time will tell. I love the fact that you dont have to buy the whole system, only whats needed. The battery, control, motor and installation products. My only question is reliability over time. Will it last a year or two?
I haven’t used it enough to comment on long term battery life. I’d recommend reaching out to Foil Drive or joining the Foil Drive Facebook group and asking them.
@@WakeThief thanks good leads
You’re welcome!
Where can I get a wake thief shirt from?
Finally got my dock starts down and can pump away!!!! So stoked... thank you wake thief for all the help and email support to foil... love from nc!
Please email me at wakethief@icloud.com!
Sweet review! Pls do a video on choosing an impact vest. Any with tech that stands out?
Thank you! I can look into that. I have a few but need a few more to try before I’d even listen to my own opinion!!! 😂
What tapes are you using on mast and board? Thx
Great question. Tape matters a lot. I learned a hard lesson using tape that left behind sticky residue when I removed it. Took a long time to get my mast shiny and new again. A link to the exact tape is on the description. It’s plumbers tape and amazingly even sticks to moist surfaces! It’s been working well.
@@WakeThief thank you! FYI the Amazon link does not seem to work
Christy’s pipe wrap tape
Nice video interesting concept
Thanks, Mike!
thats so cool
If I knew about it before I sold my Cabrinha "hollow" mast and foils, now I regret in way, but the battery cannot be sent via plane making it somewhat close to hoverboards restriction, most airlines dont take them.
Hi Claudio! I understand the situation. Foil drive is sending these all around the world. The shipping cost includes shipping a battery. I’d recommend reaching out to them to see if they can ship to you. I don’t see why not.
I have another question: on the ocean, with wind and a small swell, are you able to use the foil drive + to stand up and cruise? Let's suppose you're 195 pounds, 6'2 and have a 55 liter Axis foil board.
I would say this is close to the limit, but what you can always do is get up with the wind at your back and then turn back out and efoil out ... this is what I did when there was a 20 knot wind and large swell on the lake.
Have you also tested the 1310 and 1300 with the foildrive? How do they work as an efoil? Thanks a lot!
Both work great. 1310 takes off at even a lower speed than 1150. 1300 requires a bit more.
Which Wing do you use with the 24l Board in the Video and ist the best for this small Board?
I like this setup … www.mackiteboarding.com/axis-wake-thief-edition-complete-foil/
OK, I am going to watch back to the future.
You mean you’ve never seen BTTF?!?!? My 8 and 10yr old love it even more than I did … as a kid from the eighties!
@@WakeThief Oh, I watched it a couple of times during the decades, just seeing the clip made want to watch it again.
Awesome!
Can you dock-start this setup or is it too heavy because of the battery pack?
The setup was too heavy to sit in my dock starter. I didn’t try to dock start it. The approach I’d do would be to sit the board in water. Run and jump onto it and pull the trigger a second before landing … I wouldn’t recommend others try it though! 😂
Be great to see a video of how you got to your feet without submerging the box
Please email me. I’m sorry I didn’t include the whole clip. Note the battery box was at the nose. I found it easier than the lift 4’2 Pro and the Flite 4’ Ultra, likely because the entire foil weighed less and we didn’t need to reach as high of speeds to take off because the axis 1150 flew at a slower speed. Same technique. Stomach while you speed up, scoot forward. Eventually chest in front of the battery box while the board planes. Then to knees and to feet
Great video! Hoe beginner friendly is the wake thief axis foil (with a bigger board)? And can a beginner practise for 30 minutes with one battery? Thanks!
With a foil drive and a high volume board, the wake thief edition will be an easy to learn on. Behind a boat or jet ski, it’s not the easiest foil to learn on with a small board and we only recommend it to those with past board sports experience. Learning this sport isn’t easy, no matter the foil but with patience and some passion / motivation, it can be done! With the large battery in continuous use we can go for 30min. When learning with the foil drive, you can probably get a session more like an hour, including down time.
@@WakeThief thank you! Might it be also a good idea to go for the bsc series (1120, 1060 or 970)? Or are they not easier as an efoil because of too much performance loss. What would be the difference for efoiling? Thx in advance!
Lift to drag is most important metric. 1060 is quite similar to 1150 from a lift / drag perspective so will be fine. 112” as well. 970 is getting a bit low in area so speed needs to be faster. I’m confident it will be fine if you have an 80L board. Don’t think it will work with 24L. I’d guess 1120 and 1060 do work.
@@WakeThief I have a 135L board and am 65 kg. I am just getting the basics of wing foiling (a couple of meters on the foil) and want to learn efoiling as well for progress and fun. I am doing lake foiling and want to use the foil to teach others as well. I really like and want the 1150 with foildrive. Should I be oké if I start learning efoil on it and than switch to wing and do the same with friends who want to learn it? Or will the 1060 bsc (or other) be better? Windspeed is normally between 10-15 knots and sometimes 20.
All of these disciplines are related. The 1150 is a great light wing winging foil. I was using it last week on a windy lake near us. It’s a great foil in terms of lift to drag ratio … lots of lift for low drag and ideal at lower speeds. As such, it also pairs with foil drive … doesn’t need as much power as other foils to keep flying. You have many good questions. Please don’t hesitate to email me if you have more! Devon Wakethief@icloud.com
What cable length did you use on your setup?
2m. If you want to mount at the back of your board, go shorter and measure the distance from where you want to situate it in your mast and where you want to place it on your board. 2m was the longest foil drive would let me go due to resistive losses from a long cable.
@@WakeThief Thanks
I was just watching your other videos on this!
Awesome! We enjoyed the enhancements quite a bit. Still dreaming about that 24L board flying around the lake with me on it!
This is very cool. Could you kite on an in-land lake with it? My area has lots of lulls so this would allow me to keep the kite flying until the wind returns. Maybe mount the motor fairly high on the mast so during "kite mode" it is out of the water and not causing drag?
Yes. You can mount the pod/motor where you like on the mast (you need to specify length of cable to ensure you have enough). Please check out our first foil drive video from last year. You'll see we have it halfway up the mast.
Need a armstrong 1525 review!
Yes I do! Working on it.
Oops I figured you had!
Compared to e-foil ?
Efoil heavier (harder to maneuver at dock), faster, longer flight time … foil drive more fluid in carving due to light weight and cheaper (particularly if you already have another foil).
Thank you!
How do you take off with such low volume? Does that work and have you some Videos?
Is the remote working, if the board is under water?
Correct. If container is submerged it won't work for a moment. I forgot about it completely. Haven't experienced it yet this year with the Assist Plus. I noticed it last year with the Assist. Low volume board is not easy. Start on stomach, speed up, and keep moving your board forward as you speed up. Get to knees and stand.
@@WakeThief Yes, that is how it should work especially with the Batterpack/Reciever at the nose.
3500$??