So here’s the deal, last night I went over to my local park and did some rigorous testing to see which Connelly brand all season tube was the best choice when atop a large snow hill.  My conclusions where surprising considering I took the Connelly Sling Blade and the Connelly Cockpit tube.  Both tubes are hard bottom water tubes that can also be used as snow tubes.  This is why they are called all season tubes.

The tubes were both definitely worth the money, but surprisingly, the better price point tube, the Sling Blade, was a lot more durable, as well as faster down the mountain.  I credit this tube’s speed and all around durability to its hard plastic bottom.  The difference with the cockpit is the entire vinyl inside of the tube is covered with a canvas cover, no exposed bladder and a half inflatable seat cushion.  The other half is an elevated net seat.  The Sling Blade is only covered by canvas on the outside so the vinyl tube is exposed on the inside, and this tube has a fully inflatable seat bottom.  The reason the Cockpit is only about half the speed of the Sling Blade is the Cockpit’s bottom has a rubberized material that creates more friction than the hard plastic bottom of the cheaper Sling Blade.

So in conclusion the Sling Blade is the ultimate single rider snow tube available.  Although, if you have younger kids and often enjoy riding doubles down the hill, you would still be very happy with your purchase.  Thanks for your time.
Sling Blade

Cockpit