Devoted

Review Blade IV User: Devoted Weight: 72 Kilogram Flying spot: Inland therefore often a little bit gusty. Kites: Blade IV 4.0 – 6.5 Company: Flexifoil How to end up with a blade: Well it was a long ride for me to end up with these Blades, but it was a trip well worth. After starting out kiting with a Pepper 4.5, and with my skills getting better and better, I wanted more. So between the Pepper and the Blades where the following kites. Crossfire 6.3 (Swapped it after 6 weeks for the Yoz 4.8) Gin Yoz II 2.6 / 4.8 / 6.3 / 10.6 Montana 9.5 (Swapped it for the Riot) Riot 7.0 and 9.0. So as you can see…every kite being bigger and more aggressive. I went up from flying an beginner to intermediate to an Extreme kite. Finally the day has come that I trusted myself with the Blade. And what a unbelievable treat it is. I don’t want to spent to much time talking about the quality (slightly less compared to the Ozone Riots, but better then my other previous kites) and the backpack ( a bit tight) so lets hump on to the flying characteristics of these kites. Flying Characteristics Day 1. Wind max 8 miles p/h Being in a thrill since I ordered the kites, the moment of truth was there. First start. After setting up the kite and inspecting the bridle (excellent) and flying lines (well build) my heartbeat took a couple of extra beats. This is the kite with the biggest reputation. Can it live up to my expectations. Just to be on the safe side i set the kite up on Low Angle of Attack. Launching the blade was easy as it can be. Compared to the Riot the blade flies straight up to Zenith while the riot needs a turn to inflate properly. After that… a child can do the dishes. The kite feels light and responds well to the input it gets. Keep it above 65 degrees and no surprises at all. Time to adjust the AAA bridle to Normal Angle and there is some pull upwards. Very sweet and gentle. No big airs yet. After two hours I went home with a satisfied feeling. First flight went pretty well. The wind was a bit poor, but then again I always take new kites out in poor winds the first time. Quick turning, and upwards pull makes it a promising kite. Day 2. wind 12 / 13 miles p/h A new day and definitely a different wind. I set the blade up on Low Angle again and my heart started to pump again some extra beats. What’s it like to fly it now. Excitement and adrenaline in my body. A slight pull on the handles and up it went. Totally different flying behavior. It became an animal. The blade pulls hard all over in the wind window. Where normally the 9 or 3 o’clock position is a quiet place, I really had to hang in the kite. Same goes for Zenith. The kite just wants to go up. Pendulum jumps are as easy as they can be. In terms of height…I dunno. I just know that I still was pretty carefully. I did not give it all in the jumps right away. There will be more sessions to come. Time to change the set-up to normal power. Whoops…there we go again. Airtime has arrived in a sweet way. Again with some holding back on my account. I hooked in on my harness and the jumps are even more aggressive, but smooth at the same time. I wonder what it is like to give it all I’ve got, but not right now. Time for the 4.0 in these winds. The 4.0 I set up straight away on Full Power. It’s a little Devil (Sorry for the ‘O’ words). Flies incredible fast, quick in the turns, but on this setting it will need a little bit more wind to come rally alive. Jumps where possible, but it goes fast up, and fast down in these 12 mile/hour winds. Not superb high, but one can feel the potential in this kite. Since I can hold the 6.5 in higher winds then I did today, i think these kites will fit me well and will give me a broad wind range. Till now I did not adjust the cross-over bridle and did not set up the 6.5 on full power. There is a lot of potential in these kites, which will speed up my landboarding skills. They are fast, easy to use and give me a good work out static flying. Overall * Good build quality, but not as smooth as Ozone can Produce * The rope where 1 can put a strop on is quite small. Too small in my opinion. * The Blade flies superb. Quick turns, stays steady and gives unbelievable power. * The blade is indeed a lifty kite. I was in the 13 Miles/hour winds pretty busy keeping the handles down. Jumps where smooth and high with floats. * The bag is of good quality, but a little height. Packing away the kite in high winds, and folding it up to fit in the bag is a bit of a task. * It is NOT a beginners kite. I fly for 3 years now, and my skills already came in handy. * The Blade has a wide wind range with traction across the whole wind range * The AAA adjusters and the crossover bridle is a big big plus for Flexi. * The blade handles gusty winds pretty well. What’s next for me…I’m already saving up money to buy a Blade 8.5 for the 10 miles/hour days.

First some words about the kites in general. Buying a kite only means kite only. No handles, lines or backpacks what so ever so don’t be suprised to see the kite come into a fluffy bag. But the bag has the Gin logo on front of it. (I love this red logo) I Deceided to buy kite only to save me some bucks, since I already have lines and handles. At a later moment I bought the Gin rucksag as well. Best thing I could ever do, except for buying these kites ofcourse. Gin is a Korean parapenting fabric with little differances in design between the parapents and the kites. Gin is winning a lot of prices in the parapenting world so they’ve got a reputation to keep up with. And they do. The quality of the kites are exeptional. Made of Porche Marine en double stiched / re-inforced where you espect it to be. Everyone is giving up high on Ozone and Flexifoil, but Gin is not doing any promotion what so ever, but still can easilly compete Ozone and Flexifoil by terms of quality. The vents are Cut away (V-shaped) witch looks awesome in the air. The bigger the kite, the meaner it looks. The bridles are nicely stiched and collour coded. Nice touch is the serialnumber inside the kite and labled on the bag. In flight Looking up in the air you see that the kite has a V-shaped T-edge. Or call it bottom. This shape makes the kite friendly for landboarders and powerkiters. It gives you time to react when the wind gives some unexpected breeses. Gin kites dont luff. I’ve tryed to let em, but they simply won’t. Even in light winds they manage to keep up in the air, without collapsing or luffing. Very stable and powerfull through the whole windpassage. Don’t be suprised by it’s power, even in medium winds. I find that the windtabel Gin Usus is a bit on the high side. Gin Yoz is a low / medium apect ratio kites. Don’t aspect buying a buggyrace winning kite. The aspect ratio of Gin is giving you more lift higher up the windpassage then most other kites so powerkiting and boarding with Gin will suite you fine. Can you jump? Of course you can. But will the kite help you to higher grounds? Yes it does. It is not a blade you are buying, but there is a certain amount of lift in the kite. When using the pendulem technic, the kite puts you back on the ground silkysmooth. Using the cattapult technic…it launches you high and far. How high and far depends on your guts and the wind you dare to fly in. You will not reach the otherside of the ocean (Blade style), but you can come quite an end. The differance between 4.8 and 6.2 Flight charistics are equal when using them in the wind they are designed for, but the 6.2 gives you slightly more hangtime. I (72 kilogram) use the… Yoz1 6.2 from 1,5 bft till 3.5 / 4.0 bft. YozII 4.8 from 2.0 bft till 5.0 / 5.5 bft. Beware The closer you get to the edge of your windrange, the harder it gets to control this kite. I said the closer you get because it’s a good workout way earlier in less wind. Even at the edge of the windpassing this kite will make you work for it. It will drag you all over the place and jumping is a piece of cake. It’s the landings that makes Gin awesome. After all…they are intermediates. Don’t start flying these kites at the end of the windrange. Start slow and learn to read these kites. Extra’s Gin kites can be bought in 4 different colours. No matter what size. I bought a descent Gin bag for each kite. It will cost you some extra, but you get what you pay for. Same as for the kites. They are both well spend money. I use Vector Pro lines 170 / 70 on bothe kites (Gin lines look like crap on the net) I use Ozone handles. (Gin handles look like crap on the net) Every retailer who sells Libre kites can sell you Gin kites. Author : Devoted

Since I've been new to kiting i can't compare the Pepper to other kites. Therefore this will be my point of view to the Pepper as a beginnerkite. My local store had the Pepper as a promotional sale in stock and i bought mine with the collours red and yellow and a white underside. The owner of the store gave me a hugh lector of kiting and the Pepper, it took 2 hours :-), and full of confidence i went with the Pepper outside looking for a good place to use it for the first time. The kite come complete ready to fly in a stuff bag wich i don't care about. But now I've seen the bags other manufactures provide the kite with this one might look a little cheap. But then again it's a low budget kite. So opening the bag...this is what you get. Two big handles covered in foam and on top one handle is red and the other is grey coloured. The lines were 25m long with different colours. Red for the brakes, grey as the main lines. The loopends are different so it's easy to see where each loopend should be placed. This makes setting up the kite very easy. The kite itself looked good to me, since i've no experiance what so ever at this point with other kites. Other reviews can help you with this part. There is also a small instruction bookwork. Not there where kitekillers and a groundstake. The first flight took place in a light wind (2/3 bft). Getting the kite in the air is easy. Just pull the handles and it lifts of to zenith. The kite responds well. Left / right no problem what soever. It stays nice at zenith with no intentions to overlap. Turning the kite by using the brakeline will make the kite turn just outside the axis. The kite has good speed and is in this light wind easy to control for a beginner. After two hours of flying i think that landing the kite is harder to do then starting the kite. Half a year later.. I can only say this. To start kiting i would recommend te Pepper. In stronger winds, up to 5 bft, this kite turns into a beast that makes you scudd around the area. Small jumps up to 3/4 foot high are possible. But you need a good wind for that. The kite has some awfull pull in itself, lufs a little at the total edge of the windvenster and does not collapse of itself. Starting backwards is verry easy to do with this kite. Two hours of flying makes my arms a couple of inches longer. But that's to blame on flying with handles. The kite Pepper 4.5 can be flown in light winds as well as in strong winds. Flying the kite in strong winds, high 5 bft and stronger, is not for starters to do. The kite will absolutly overpower you. I still can be overpowered by the kite. Tip...start the kite at the left or right of the windvenster, cause it will show it's power right from the start. Overview It's a low budget kite, but it's a good one. I had a couple of frontal crashes in the beginning but no harm has been done to the kite. It still looks as new and it proves the quality of the kite is just plain good. Although the lines are pre-streched dynama, i had to adjust the length a few times. It's not much work to do, but i would recomment to check the lines from time to time. Steering with 1 line longer then the other makes it harder to control your kite. This kite is excellent if you want to do your workout outside the gym. I can feel my mussles for 2 days after a couple of hours flying. It also makes my face grim for two days. The kite is verry forgiving wwhen one makes a mistake. Overall good to learn kiting with, enough power. You can learn how to jump with this kite, just make sure you have the kite close enough to zenith. Otherwise you will end up inventing all these new tricks like bellysliding, run the kite and backscrubbing. By : Devoted