BizB

First, let me say a HUGE thank you. Alex from HQ - Thank you for sending me this Crossfire 4.0 prototype. If you're ever in the US in the general vicinity of Detroit, Cleveland or parts in-between, give me a ring - The drinks are on me. If you like roller-coasters, the best, and largest collection in the world (cedar point) are less than an hour from my house. Not only have you secured a lifelong HQ product user, but you've created a huge local mouthpiece for your products. The box arrived with a Germany return address and I nearly pissed myself with excitement. I carefully opened the box - not knowing exactly how it was packed. Inside, the kite was bagged in clear plastic and wrapped in newspaper (that I couldn't read). I lifted out the kite and searched the bottom of the box for the huge zipper. There wasn't one. Nor was there handles or line. Beggars can't be choosers and I can use my Beamer 3.6 handles and line until I can order some new ones for the CF. I only mention it because I will not be including any real mention of the handles or line in my review. The first thing that I did was to bring the Beamer 3.6 from the basement and spread it out on the living room floor. Then, I spread out the Crossfire on top of the Beamer. With the Crossfire sitting on top of the Beamer, I could see that the Crossfire is slightly longer - wingtip to wingtip - and much shorter - leading to trailing edges. The materials appeared to be of the same weight. The bridle-storage connection points were located on each side along the leading edge rather than a single location at the center of the trailing edge of the kite. The ends of the bridles were tucked into the tiny loops provided on each side. When I picked up the bridles to examine them, I noticed that they were made of lighter material than those of the Beamer 3.6. Alex did say something in the note that accompanied the kite about the bridle material being different on the final version of the Crossfire. I stood on the couch (I'm not married any more so I can get away with that) and pulled the bridle lines until the kite lifted from the ground. From this, I could tell that the Crossfire would have an arc shape in the air as the outside edges lifted well before the center of the kite. Satisfied with my inspection, I folded the Crossfire and put it in my now ragged Beamer bag (the dog got hold of the bag). Now, all I needed was wind. One day passes without wind One week passes without wind I curse Murphy and his law A second week passes without wind - but with plenty of cursing Three weeks passed and I had not one single opportunity to fly the Crossfire With the arrival one month anniversary of the kite's delivery, so too arrived the wind. When I got off work, I rushed home, grabbed the kite, grabbed the lines and handles, grabbed my hat, gloves and neck-warmer. I fed the dog and put her in the back of the truck, too. At the flying field, I unpacked the Crossfire in the middle of the field. Having gone through the inspection process a mere month ago, I didn't feel the need to re-familiarize myself with the particulars of the kite. I unraveled the line and then I attached the brake lines at the second knot and attached the front lines at the obvious point. The winds were blowing at about 15 mph with gusts to 25. I hadn't staked down the handles so I was expecting to have to run back to pick them up as the kite tumbled across the field. Not the case at all. The kite behaved. Before I walked away from the kite, I had lifted the leading edge so that it was standing about 12 inches off the ground. It inflated and stayed there. Lucky? Maybe. I picked up the handles (no strop) and gave them a tug applying full brake so that I could tell if the second knot was going to be the right one. All appeared good to go. With the full-brake tug, the kite stood up perfectly but didn't leave the ground. A stronger tug - still full brake - proved the same. I walked around so that the kite was about 45 degrees to the center of the window. I pulled the leeward handle and gave some brake to the windward handle as I pulled it. She lifted and stood on end. I steered the Crossfire to the top of the window and then back down. Lots of pull! I continued to play with the kite along the edge of the window. There were two occasions where, when there was a lull in the wind, the Crossfire folded in upon itself. However, it recovered quickly once it was powered again. I noticed that, as long as I kept the kite circling in a figure-8 - even a very small figure-8 - it behaved much better. I was able to do a couple of small jumps, but nothing worth writing about. Unfortunately, there wasn't enough snow on the ground to use my snowboard, but too much to use my mountainboard (Murphy's Law still in effect). There wouldn't have been time to set up for the snowboard today any way as it was approaching sunset. I flew the Crossfire for about 25 minutes before deciding to pack it up. Rather than pack it out in the middle of the field, I decided to walk it to back to where I was parked. As I walked her back, I was able to keep the Crossfire dancing about 2 feet off the ground - dead center in the window. Using the brakes to keep it parked right there 2 feet off the ground, I was VERY impressed at how quickly she reacted and how precisely I was able to control such a powerful kite. Once I reached the truck, I parked the kite on the ground. The trailing edge sank as if the earth was swallowing it inch by inch until there was, again, about 12 inches of the leading edge standing up. I put down the handles and walked to the kite. It never budged. Since the Beamer 3.6 is the only foil that I have to compare with the Crossfire, I'll make that comparison now. Pull - It seemed that the crossfire's pull was stronger, not just at the lower areas of the wind window, but also at the top and upper edges of the window. Where I would have to bring the Beamer down to 30 degrees off the ground to get a good scud, the crossfire was pulling me along when I just barely dipped it across the window. Lift - Like I said, I only got in a couple of small jumps, so I don't know if I'm ready to judge the crossfire on lift, but I can say this... There is no resting your arms at the top of the window. Control - The Crossfire seemed to be much more reactive than the Beamer 3.6. Even in heavy winds, I was able to turn the kite on it's axis with a little bit of braking. Materials - Appear to be of the same weight. I haven't examined stitching and bridle attachment points that closely... yet. Hopefully, within short order, I'll be able to give a better review of how the kite performs when boarding. What I need is a weekend with either frozen ground that is free of snow so I can use the mountainboard, or a few inches of snow so I can ride the snowboard. By : BizB

I don't know how much I can say about the Beamer that hasn't already been said, but I owe this community something for all that I've learned here. Here goes... Selecting the kite: I started kiting with a NewTech M80 about 3 years ago. I learned quite a few tricks with this agile little stunt kite before I thought, "I need something more." After some thorough investigation into the kites available for someone with my skill level, my desired usage for the kite and my expendable income, I settled (or so I thought) on the Beamer 3.6 meter by Invento-HQ. I say "settled" because I wasn't sure what I was getting into with this kite. At the time that I bought the kite, there weren't many reviews available. I knew that HQ was known for some very highly regarded kites, but there were many many more reviews of the higher-end kites like the blade and bullet that made me question, "why aren't people raving about the Beamer?" Initially, I wanted this kite for learning, scudding and maybe some body surfing on Lake Erie. I wasn't all that thrilled about the idea of doomwheels because I've been a skateboarder all my life (38 years old) and I like the idea of being able to step off of the moving object. Buggies seemed way out of my price range and I hadn't read or seen anything about mountainboarding when I made my decision. The winds in my area tend to be on the light side... mostly 10 to 20 mph on "windy" days. In the summer months, we're lucky to get a light breeze most days. So, given all of that, my decision was as clear as mud. I bought the kite from CobraKites.com because they were offering the best prices in US dollars. Unpacking the kite: When I arrived home from work that day, I wasn't entirely sure that the package that was sitting on my porch was the kite that I had ordered because the box was so small. Even after I opened the box and saw the signature Beamer Backpack, I was questioning if the kite that I had ordered was being delivered separately because the bag and the box just seemed too small. I was so excited when I unzipped the main pouch of the backpack and saw the bright yellow canopy inside that I didn't even take it out of the bag. I just picked up the backpack, tossed the box on the kitchen floor and went straight to the park. I didn't even change out of my work clothes first. Initially there wasn't much wind and I didn't have to fight the kite when I lay it out on the grass for review. Impressive. I had no idea so much went into constructing a foil kite. I was impressed by the way the bridles were attached and reinforced. I was amazed at the precision that was obviously taken in the design and construction of this beautiful kite. I quickly attached the handles not having a clue if I was doing it correctly. Does it come with instructions? I don't know that I ever looked. I got lucky and connected everything correctly straight off. First Flight Having set up the lines and the handles, I staked the brake-lines and walked back to the kite where I had placed the now empty backpack on top of the kite so that it wouldn't get away from me. I attached the lines to the bridle lines, removed the backpack and spread out my big yellow nylon wing. It didn't fill and stand on end like you would hope, but that was the fault of the wind, not the kite. However, by the time that I got back to the handles, it had begin to stand on the trailing edge a little bit, so I thought that was a good sign. The wind continued to pick up as I played with the handles getting a mental feel for how the kite would respond to any action given to the handles. As if God wanted me to fly that day, winds picked up and remained steady at about 12 MPH for the rest of the evening. The kite handled beautifully. There were some frustrating moments when I flew the kite beyond the edge of the wind window and it lufted, but I was able to quickly recover and continue without having to walk to the kite to fix things. Since the first flight I have flown the 3.6 Beamer in winds from barely a gnat's breath to 40+ mph winds. I have used it for scudding, mountainboarding, skateboarding, kitesnowboarding and body surfing. The kite delivers power evenly through gusts and allows one to gain the confidence that is needed to try to do things that would have been out of the question on a kite that didn't handle so smoothly. My favorite activity with this kite, so far, has been kite-mountainboarding, but kite-snowboarding is right up there as a close second. I learned enough on this kite to convince myself that more kite powered sports were in store for me and I have since bought a Slingshot Fuel-16 for kiteboarding. Light winds This kite is a joy to fly even in light winds. I'll pull it out and play with it (did that sound dirty?) even when I know the winds are marginal at best. It's fun to see if you can get the kite into situations that you don't think you can recover from, only to find that you can. Heavy winds (The 40MPH wind story) We were forecast to have some serious winds. All of the windsurfers were excited about the possibility of having their butts handed to them. My only plan that day was to go get some video footage of this very windy day's windsurfing activities. My thought was that I only have a springtime wetsuit and I'm not fond of freezing my butt off. So, I'd stay dry today. I did bring the Beamer 3.6 out just in case I got the nerve to fly it. Before I left the house, I checked the weather sites and saw that the wind was blowing 20+ with gusts to 30. Bored because none of my windsurfing friends were around (They all went to a different beach to find more wind), I decided to bust out the Beamer and give it a fly. I laid the kite out on the beach and started unwinding the lines. Before I could even get the lines completely unwound, the kite had lifted off the ground. Quickly, I let the last two loops of wound string fall (pull) off the handles and I grabbed the handles and guided the kite to the zenith. There, the kite was controllable. I had already put on my kiteboarding vest and harness so that I could "hook in." When I hooked in, I could feel the kite buffeting against the gusts. I steered the yellow monster down to the 3 o'clock position and then made a pass through the edge of the power zone. The kite pulled me across the beach on my feet as if I was water-skiing. Then, I brought the kite back to 12 o'clock and walked back to my starting point. Again, I made a few swoops through the power zone and skudded across the beach. I was a bit worried because I didn't get a chance to inspect the brake-line connections before the kite went airborne and I thought I'd better check that before I make another pass down the beach. I walked back to the starting point once again. Then, I attempted to land the kite down wind. I don't know if I've ever experienced anything like what happened next. The kite began to spin wildly as it approached the ground. There I stood with the wind directly at my back and the kite in the middle of the power zone spinning like a child's pinwheel. After a moment, I was able to get the kite to stop spinning and I brought it to 12:00 again. I was scared. Another attempt at landing the kite resulted in a similar experience. Except, this time, the kite made a fast pass through the strongest part of the power zone. I managed to keep my feet below and in front of me for about 20 feet (I looked at the drag marks afterwards.) Then, I did my super-man impression. I was dragged for another 30 feet or so with my pants filling with sand as I scraped along the beach. Eventually, I had the sense to drop one of the handles and grab just the brake line on the other handle. This brought the kite to the ground in a heap where it flapped and sputtered until it ended up in the weeds by the rock-wall. My pants were down at my knees and full of sand. My elbows were red and sore. I was panting like a Black Lab on an August afternoon. I spent the next 20 minutes catching my breath while I attempted, unsuccessfully, to untangle my kite lines. I gave up on that and wound the lines around the handles and threw the kite in the back of the truck. With my tail between my legs, I drove home. When I got home, I took a look at the wind report for that area during the time that I was flying the kite. It would appear that the wind picked up somewhere along the line. After resting a bit, I took the lines off the Beamer and the handles. I was able to untangle the lines in the back yard fairly quickly. When I removed the break lines, I noticed that they were connected to the last knot... the weakest position. Normally, on a windy day, I'd like them to be on the third or fourth knot. I learned two things that day... 1) It's not nice to fool with Mother Nature, and If I get warm weather winds in the 30+ mph range, the 3.6 Beamer is a lot of kite. If you're interested, here's a bloated video of me riding my mountainboard in 10 to 12mph winds. Overall Be Smart; buy a Beamer. By : BizB