Rich83

I wanted a Bego for a while, set me off when I saw a clip of a lad doing huge floaty jumps. I managed to get one second hand and what a kite it is. The kite is made of very light material which is almost transparant and the main thing is that it has stiffners on the front vents so it can inflate really rather easily. This does mean that you can fly in about 3mph winds however you do have to manipulate it to keep it going. The bag is ... ok, just like a drawstring PE bag. Its ok, no places to put your sarnies and can be a bit of a pain to carry but, your not flying the bag. Once it is set up correctly then you have a great kite. It can take a while to get the best out of it. I have had it for a good few months now and Im still finding out what I can do with it. On the rear of the kite a few inches in there is a little eyelet where the break lines go through and this allows you to pull pretty sharp turns for such a large kite. I found it pretty stable, it doesnt luff as much as my firebee and if you see it starting to, just tap the breaks and it will sort itself out. I have just started landboarding and I found it pretty good using the Bego. It has enough power where you can just put it in the spot and lean back and go without too much trouble. Wind ranges. Now anywhere from 6mph up you start to feel the force, 9 - 11 mph your going places and 12 - 14mph you will have trouble keeping your feet on the ground and your arms will pulled out of their socketsand youll have burning biceps, unless you get a harness. It doesnt have too much stactic lift, however you have to be careful of gusts that snatch you up. Once you get it moving about though you can get some good jumps. Jumping is pretty fun. When you get up you float down nice and gently and I weigh about 15 stone. Running backwards helps and you can do some pretty good slingshots. I think its a pretty good all rounder, I havent tried it in a buggy but its good on a landboard and when you get fed up of that you can try jumping and scudding so you wont get bord plus its a good light wind kite so you can get it out most of the summer and have fun. By : Rich83

If your wanting to know how much the wind is blowing in Mph, m/s, km/h, knots and fps and much more then the skywatch xplorer series is for you. There are four different models all built the same but have more features. The Xplorer 1 is the most basic model. At about 3.5 inches it fits in your hand nice and snug, and with a built in impeller its hard to damage and can be submerged in water for breif periods of time. As stated above you get readings in mph, m/s, km/h, knots and fps, the other feature is highest windspeed which is read out at the bottom, and it also comes with a backlight. Thats about it for that model, other models in the series have features like digital compass, windchill, alitimeter etc etc. I got the basic model off ebay but buying them can be around £20 -30 quid so shop around. I decided that I was only going to see how the wind was blowing and then put it away so no need for all those spanky extras, however if you do want more to do with it you can expect to pay about 60 quid so its up to you. Its very simple to use because it only has one button, press it once and on it comes, hold it down and you cycle through the different readings and if you leave it alone then it will swtich off. The only downside I can see with it is that you have to have the impeller facing right into the wind so that it gives you a more accurate reading. Other than that I think it is pretty cool. Can use it for all sorts, even found out my dyson sucks at 178mph! things you do when there is no wind to fly. By : Rich83

I wanted something with more power and something that I could use on the less windy days. I already own a AR Rush 3.0 (almost identical to the PKD Buster) and being 14.5 stone I decided to go for a Firebee 5.5. Looking on the internet I found these usually retail around £145 but they dont come with lines or handles some sites sell them with handles and lines and that takes it up to around £185 The kite comes with its own bag, nothing too fancy a single velcro strap with a moble phone pocket, main compartment and a pocket on the back for your lines etc. The kite is made from the usual ripstop nylon and the build quality looks pretty sturdy Using the lines and handles from another kite I took it out for the first time. It can fly in very low winds but takes a lot of effort to get airborn and when you do you have to keep it moving or it luffs and falls out the sky but what was surprising was how much i could feel it pull in reativley no wind. Taking it to a higher spot with a more steady wind helps a lot once its moving in a nice steady wind it can be very powerful. Its a bugger for shooting up way over the zenith but with a few tweeks on the break lines you can stop it going behind you and luffing. I found it was pretty responsive, the slightest movement at your end and it starts to turn, sharp braking always empties the kite out giving a nice feeling of safety but I would be wary of reccomending this kite to a novice flier below 14stone as the output power is very high in relativley low windspeeds. You can also add power rings to this kite, Power rings bring the brake lines up towards the main lines which stops the drag of the brake lines flattening out the trailing edge of the kite. I havent tried it yet but they a really easy to make. Tells you how to make them in the link below. http://p088.ezboard.com/fkitezoneforumfrm25.showMessage? topicID=4.topic Overall I think its a good kite if you want to do jumping scudding buggying and boarding however I found its not very stable in low winds, tends to collapse alot but when you get it moving it has a lots of grunt so be careful. By : Rich83