Hey wow, I must have blinked and missed a month or two...Hdip is back onto the wind chasing! Right on ... once you've got it down, will change your life to be STOKED when it gets blown-out
cstreet: my path has been kiting ... sup foil ... surf foil ... wing. The magic for winging is as a tool to help with surf foiling ... basically it's like a personal jet ski to tow you in, then once riding the wing can be luffed while you surf foil it. But as a wind vehicle, the wing is not as efficient as a kite or windsurfer, and this has led to some disappointing sessions in light wind. When the wind is cranking, it's easy-as, but when not quite enough wind it's a lot of work and can be frustrating. The solution: large foil, large wing, large board....and you can maybe cheat on one aspect at a time as the wind increases.
I had an early gen1 7m and it was floppy. The stiff frame 6m I got instead gave more low-end power, even though 1m smaller. I've not tried out the really big wings, but some brands have up to 9m. I have my doubts.
For me, 12kt is where it gets fun -- need to see some light whitecaps to be worthwhile. I can maybe get up at 10kt but it's a struggle and not too exciting. I'd try it if there's surf to play in, but probably wouldn't bother if flat water, kinda like gutless surf, you can stand up but can't do the things that make it fun. The related problem: surf foiling doesn't matter that much if a little windy (compared to sup foil), so the light wind winging and surf foiling compete somewhat for the wave resources.
Anyways, my advice is get a 6m for sure. An older used v1 is ok as long as it's one of the successful initial brands: ozone, f-one. For v2 and beyond, I think most brands have now fixed their mistakes and the quality seems pretty consistent. If it's below 10kt....go surf or surf foil instead. ;-)