Slingshot Sentry V1 Bar

The first time I used this bar I was really surprised at how great it is. The quick release system makes sense and is easy to use. It is nice that you have the ability to change the chicken loop for different disciplines as well.

The auto swivel feature of the bar is a game changer. If you are coming from a bar that does not have this feature, you can forget about having to untwist your center lines while riding. Next to this, the bar and depower system are very comfortable and ergonomic.

The only changes I would like to see on this bar are thinner lines as the current lines tend to vibrate due to the thickness. Additionally, the floats are a little excessive and the build quality of the swivel (above the QR) could be improved.

The new Slingshot Sentry bar improves upon the already trusted Slingshot bar.

I’d recommend the medium bar (20in) for kites 9m-12m. The 17in bar is best for unhooking if you want your kite to stay still, works well with small kites. The 23in bar best for 15m, 17m kites.

The bar is very easy to eject and reset, also easy to depower. The depower line does not get caught in the bar the way the older one would. Also the addition of the split in the front lines allows the lines to untwist every time you sheet in. You must make sure you have it rigged with no twists to begin your session.

After each session, it is wise to untwist your flag line or at least check it before wrapping the lines, as too many twists on one individual line will cause it to weaken and stretch, making your bar eventually out of tune.

One thing that is missing is the ability to shorten the bar throw if you have short arms. Slingshot could offer a kid friendly bar.

This bar has a low split of the front lines, where a core or duotone bar has a higher split. This low split makes it easier to bar juggle if you get a line inversion.

Overall I really like this bar, it has a good solid feel to it and a durable grip that won’t peel off like other brands. I like to do everything from foiling to unhooking, and this bar can do it all. After kiting for 15 years, I have seen bars come a long way, and this one checks all the boxes in what I’m looking for in a bar.

I wanted to love this bar so much but there are still 4 big design flaws IMO (only 2 if you never unhook):

1) the unswivel mechanism works super well for the bar itself but the flagline does not unswivel. Either you have to do the same amount of kiteloops/downloops or frontrolls/backrolls or your line will snap quickly. Mine broke in 7 or 8 months and the bar doesn't come w replacement. SS replaced it for free.

2) the chickenloop is too small/rigid to make it easy to unhook/hook back in with Mystic harness. No large wakestyle loop is available from SS but you can replace it with one from Ozone or Duotone.

3) there is no mechanism to keep the leash ring up high close to the top of the chicken loop in suicide mode when depowered so when you are depowered and hook back in, the flag ring always gets caught in the kite hook. Duotone, North and a few others have a suicide speciality solution for this but Sentry does not.

4) the knot where flagline and front line connect grinds against a piece of black plastic with kind of sharp edges. This for sure contributed to my flagline snapping (point 1) because it tore in the knot itself.

Besides these 4 points the bar is super solid. If you don't unhook, it's almost perfect. The auto unswivel when sheeting out is amazing. However, I feel like for a company that has been in the game this long, they should have done better.

If you look closely at pictures of their pro riders, they a few have made custom modifications to fix the issues.