dough_boy

This is just my initial thoughts on the Helium seeing as I got the U-Turn SPS depower setup from Bill this very morning. The Helium 6.8 is typical U-Turn in most ways. Excellent build quality as with the Oxigens. It's made from 44gsm ripstop so not as light or water resistant as the Oxi Pros but then again you pay the premium for the very top end materials. On handles and on an Ozone 65cm line bar I'd found the Helium to be soooo very stable and virtually luff proof. No shocks, no nasty suprises just lots and lots of power. It turned quite slowly but then again it is a low aspect 6.8m kite. No real lift to speak of so just a big powerful traction engine really. Given this I felt that on the fixed bridle it was decent but no more than that so off I went to check out the depower options. Basically there seemed to be 3 choices. The Pegas WingWarp (tried it and didn't like it much), the UDS system that apprently works well and then the U-Turn SPS system which many people have been waiting for. My understanding was that the SPS works in a similar way to the UDS but with lighter components (which must be of benefit on any kite!). I decided to wait for the SPS to be released this year and finally got my hands on one of the pre-production setups with the full production starting 'soon'. I am told there are two versions of the SPS system, a 3 pulley and a 4 pulley system. The 3 pulley is for lower aspect ratio kites such as the Helium whilst the 4 is more suited to higher aspects found on kites such as the Oxigen and Butane. I have the 3 pulley system and Bill said it may be ok my Oxigen Pro 5m but given the size of my depower bar (65cm) it may be a bit lively and hard to keep from stalling. Setup couldn't have been easier to be honest. Bill sent the SPS bridles already setup to suit the Helium so all I had to do was attach everything as per the simple instructions he e-mailed to me. All my dealings with Bill have been excellent so I can't praise the guy enough. Onto the first flight then... It was a grey, slightly damp day with a breeze between 8-13mph so I thought it'd be ideal to give the Helium a go. Previously I had the Pegas WingWarp system on this kite but had found that I didn't really like the way it worked. Using WingWarp it lacked feel and I didn't really notice much depower range. Basically the kite wasn't much fun to fly. With the SPS on I found just the opposite. I don't have experiance of any other depower kites so cannot draw comparisons but I am really happy with what I have now. The kite flew very cleanly up from the deck with oodles of pull but delived in a very nice smooth way. In total contrast to the WingWarp I straight away could see what a difference the SPS makes to the big Helium. It's turn rate was vastly improved and the ability to give subtle inputs for immediate repsonse was lovely. I could also straight away feel the kites potential for a nice bit of jumping and lo away we went! Everything happened at a nice pace too. In no way was it aggressive but neither was it lethargic, the ideal word is smooth, actually very smooth! Speed through the window was fine adn on the board I found I was able to get the kite in the areas I wanted without bother. Overall (as you may have guessed) I am really pleased with the setup and can't wait to get my skills up to speed with the depower. As I have mentioned I can't draw comparisons with any other depowerable foils, one thing I should make clear though is that in no way felt like an add-on. U-Turn have said for ages that their kites are designed for depower to be added if desired and I now have the proof. Happy happy happy. By : dough_boy

After starting out on a PKD Buster 4.0 I realised I needed a smaller kite for those days at the beach when the Buster was a little too grunty even for my large (17st) frame. I must admit that I have a tendancy to want to try something a little different to the norm so was looking for something other than the usual Ozone / Flexi / HQ etc. Eventually (and after reading the reviews already on racekites) I plumped for a Oxigen 2.5. From what I had read about them the Oxigen sounded like an ideal step forward from a begginers kite without being something that would put the fear of god into me if I was caught out. I ordered it direct from the manufacturer's UK reseller at www.u-turn-kites.co.uk after speaking to the guys there to make sure I was heading in the right direction. They were very helpful and at no point seemed to be pushing me towards anything but rather reacting to the info I gave them about my ability / size etc. When the kite arrived it was a familiar sight to me (having started with the Buster) of a simple drawstring bag. This to me is fine as I have plenty of bags etc for lumping gear around so would rather my money goes towards the kite itself rather than glossy extras. The kite was supplied without lines or handles (these are available from U-Turn but I wanted to stick with my Ozone lines and Flexi handles) at a very reasonable price from their ex-demo collection. I was very pleased to find it in truly immaculate condition and as a consequence am unlikely to ever buy a brand new kite ever! (kind of like buying cars / motorbikes, don't see the point of brand new when you can get the same thing cheaper). The material of the standard isn't the ultra posh stuff they use on the pro version of the Oxigen but is still very high quality and nice and light. The kite is put together wonderfully well with useful features like dirt outs on the tips so far less coaxing needed to get sand out of the sealed cells. The bridal is also very nicely constructed with rings on the brakelines. This was a new thing to me and I was slightly concerned it would make the kite a bit too flighty for me but seeing as it was designed that way I thought I'd put my faith in the designers. I've been flying the Oxigen on 30m lines both inland and on the coast with handles and a bar. One common theme has been that it is a wonderful kite. Launching is easy enough and the kite shoots to the zenith with no trouble at all. In lower wind you may have to coax the Oxigen skywards with a series of turns but this is a doddle and nothing to put you off. Despite it's small size the Oxigen produces decent pull even in low wind, as the wind creeps up the fun really starts! Whilst on the beach in a pretty steady 15-18 mph the Oxigen was dragging me all over the place with no problem at all. The kite zips around the sky quickly and very smoothly, braked turns are very responsize so it is very easy to work the kite in the areas of the window you desire. Even without using the brakes the turns are quick and smooth. In terms of lift I haven't really got much (if any) experience but as the wind picks up it is notable that the Oxigen isn't the same proposition as a begginer kite such as the Buster. Shove the Oxigen at the zenith on a gusty day and you can easily feel it riding the gusts and giving you a fair upward tug. With me being of the hefty persuation it has done very well at getting me airborne a few times when flung around the sky. For boarding the Oxigen seems fine as it is easily controlled and rides gusts without much fuss so a minimum of unexpected 'Pope at the airport' moments. It took me a bit of tweaking to set the kite up so it didn't overfly but nothing laborious or tricky for sure. The rings really seem to somehow make the kite both smooth and responsive. Hats off to the designers in this instance. I really cannot say enough about how much I love this kite. It seems to me (beginner / intermediate) to be all things to all men. I'm sure it lacks the raw excitment of a Blade but it is a genuine pleasure to fly, almost regardless of conditions (within reason!). It also has plenty of untapped potential so I look forward to enjoying this model for many years to come. Now I just need to save up to indulge in a larger foil. Mmmmmmmmmm 5m Pro, bet that rocks. ps - my girlfriend says it looks very nice in the sky with it's red and yellow design too. Women! By : dough_boy

The 4.0 Buster was the first kite I owned after my lovely girlfriend bought me one (and a lesson to boot). During the lesson I got to fly a 3.5 Bullet, a Little Devil and some 7.0 beast which I can't remember the make of. With a tiny bit of experience under my belt I must say that flying the Buster was a real joy. On receiving it it was very quickly out of the bag and I was impressed with the quality of the sail on a budget kite such as this. The seams all looked well put together and the material whilst being somewhat crispy seemed stursy and lightweight enough. The bridle and lines looked a bit cheaper but still seemed strong and up for the job. The handles looked fine and come with a strop joining the two together. With the Buster coming fully set up I took it out in about 10mph of wind at the factory settings on the bridle. First flight went really well, the kite made plenty of pull and moved quickly and smoothly through the air. Turns were easy and seemed quite sharp when using the brakes as well. There was no evidence of luffing at the extremes of the window and the kite would happily sit at the Zenith whilst I gathered my thoughts and tried to get my arms rested. Take-off and landing are both straightforward as the kite has no tendancy to jump or twist when near the ground, it really is very contolable indeed. After a while I started to find the handles to be not especially comfy and I also found the strop between them too short and subsequently rather annoying. On speaking to a few friends they recommended replacing the lines with 30m 180/110 Ozones and some Flexi handles with kite killers. As it turns out I'd say this was good advice. The longer lines increased the size of the window giving me loads of creamy smooth pull. I also found that the longer lines didn't affect the turn rate adversly (maybe due to the improved quality?). All in all the handles and lines are an upgrade I would recommend without hesitation. Overall I would go along with what seems like every other review of the Buster and say it is a great kite to start flying on, I now am using it to go Boarding with and it has no problems generating enough pull for my rather oversize frame to get moving. Thoroughly reccomended. By : dough_boy