When you purchase gear through links on our site, we may earn a small commission. Here’s why you can trust our tests and our affiliate partner.
Odo have recently released two new kites. The K1 slots itself into the performance freeride sector. It’s aimed at freeride, freestyle and wave disciplines, promising genre-spanning versatility. We found the K1 to have an even and linear pull throughout the power range. It has excellent low-end attributes and gets you up and riding confidently. Whatever your level, the K1 gives you the confidence to get up and riding, and its smooth and intuitive performance will meet your freestyle and freeride needs. Upwind performance is also excellent, so for kiters in the early stages the K1 would be a good option for staying upwind and building your confidence. For more experienced riders, unhooking on the K1 provides excellent pop and plenty of downwind travel, and for boosting the K1 can hold down a lot of power so if you ride it fully powered you can expect some serious hang time and Big Air potential. The top end is good and in lighter conditions you can really work the kite to get going and stay on the water when other riders are heading in to change up a size.
The K1 is direct and responsive on the bar making for a very involved flying experience overall. You can be quite assertive on the bar to initiate quick movements in the kite and once you have tuned into this it is a nice predictable kite to fly. Both kite models in the Odo range feature a low diameter efficient bridle material to minimize drag on the front of the kite. This is thinner and more minimal than anything we’ve seen for a while, but in terms of the breaking strain of the material, should not be a problem and reduces weight and windage. The K1 flies on Odo’s Quick Vario bar which enables adjustments between a 46 and 53cm width and incorporates titanium fittings to keep the weight low. Overall a well-designed, comfortable and functional bar – the bar ships with 22m lines and 3m extensions enabling you to adapt your set up depending on conditions or personal preference.
In a sentence: The K1 is a fun kite to fly, it ticks the ‘all round freeride’ box competently and offers some different materials and approaches to kite design which is great to see – an impressive start from Odo.
