kitehopper

This review has been a long time coming mainly because the wind has been crappy and I wanted to actually have some air time before I made comment. This is my first power kite purchase although I have had access to a 2.5 Beamer for the last year. The product: This is a 2005 version Pro2 5.0. It comes in nice looking, funtional , but not very heavy duty backpack. The pack has a mesh bottom to let sand out and air in and two mesh side pockets which I have found to be pefect for bottles of water. The main section easily holds the kite and handles and the smaller front pocket is great for the lines on winders, a ground stake (if it's not too big), a wind meter, or anything else you want to throw in. The zips are small and light duty but if you're gentle with them they should last a while. The kite itself is a good looking unit. I'm not quite sure what type of material it is but it's soft not crunchy and does not seem to have as much of a coating on it as some other kites I've seen. All the stiching on this kite is straight and looks good. There is dacron reinforcement on the trailing edge and mesh covering the air inlets. I like this because it keeps junk out of the cells and helps hold them open so they inflate easier. All bridle attachments are reinforced with the reinforcement running the full height of the rib. Nice. Bridle lines are sleeved dyneema and look strong. Flying lines are also dyneema, are pre streached,have sleeved end loops, and were all of equal length right off the winders. This is a nice beefy line set with 250kg main and 110kg brake lines. This is the same line set used on the 6.0 and I don't expect to have any trouble with them. Although I'm sure the kite would have flown right out of the bag being the fuss pot that I am I spent an hour or so going over all the knots in the bridle making sure they were tight and that the larksheads at the bridle attachments were tight and the correct shape,most of which were not. I also disassembled the bridle lines at the connector knots and reordered the lines so they all ran straight down to their respective attachment points without having to twist around another line. Excessive? Probably. Now, I have heard a lot of complaining about the handles that come with these kites and I have to admit I didn't like them either. So, I popped the top cap, removed the main line leader and pulled the foam off the handle. Then, I redrilled the leader mounting hole about 1cm lower on the handle and reinstalled the foam with double sided tape and solvent like a golf club grip so that it came all the way to the top of the handle. I then poked holes in the foam at the new mounting spot, reinstalled the leader line, a little glue on the end cap, and presto new handles. This little mod makes them much nicer to fly with. At least I think so. They may not be flexi handles but at least they're not made of plastic. Flying: The first time I took this kite out the wind was 6-7 mph with occasional gusts of 12-13 mph. Being the dumb rookie that I am with this size of kite I thought, no problem. Anyway, I staked out the kite and connected the lines and I must say it looks nice sitting on the ground fully inflated. I went back, grabbed the handles, gave a tug and up she went. It flew straight to the top of the window, kept going behind me until the wing stalled and came down in a lump on my head. Yes, this kite will over fly badly at the top of the window if you let it. Ok lets try again. I shortened the brake lines a bit and gave'er another go. Once again straight up to the zenith but this time I tapped the brakes to stop it and it worked. Cool. I started making some turns and was very surprised at the amount of pull but it was quite flyable. After a few minutes I went back to the top to give my arms a rest. There I sat feeling a little cocky when suddenly the wind gusted to,,,, who knows what!. Up shot my arms shortly followed by the rest of my body and I spent the next 15 seconds or so careening down the field totally out of control legs flying in all directions in a valiant attempt to stay on my feet. When I finally got it under control I looked back at my cousin who was flying his 2.5 Beamer beside me. He was laughing so hard he nose- dived his Beamer straight into the dirt. I was not amused. Does this kite have lift? Oh yeah. It's not 10.5 Blade carry you into the next county type of lift but it's there. Did I mention I weigh almost 104kg? 'Nuff said. The next time I took it out I made sure there were no gusts. Since then I have flown this kite in in lots of different conditions and after gaining some confidence and tweaking the lines to my preferance I must say that it is a joy to fly. I found that it flys best with the trailing edge just slightly curled but thats just me. Wind range is great. This thing will fly in the breeze from a gnat fart. It's slow and luffy but it stays airborne. It really needs about 5 mph to firm up the pull and be able to spin it on a wing tip. 5-10 mph just dig in your heels lean back and keep swinging it through the zone until your arms scream for mercy.Over 10 mph you have to abandon this flying style because you are going wherever this kite wants to take you. End of discussion. This is great fun if you are on a beach with nice soft sand as all you will do is make long trenches with your heels. If you try this on a hard bumpy field however you are more likely to end up with a mouth full of dirt. There is plenty of power here to pull a buggy or board but I don't know how fast. Over 15 mph this thing becomes a serious traction engine. How serious you ask. Well, if somehow I managed to get my Jeep stuck in a ditch this winter I'm pretty sure that all I'd have to do is attach this sucker up to the tow hooks and I'm OUTTA THERE!. But seriously, at 15+ you had better know exactly what you're doing or it can bite you big time. I am still a long way from that skill level. Conclusions: The Radsail Pro 2 5.0 meter is a smooth and stable flier that can be friendly and gentle in low winds or a down right beast in high ones. If you are flying a 3 to 4 meter kite now and want more power, go for it!. If you are just starting out you would probably be better served with a 3.0 until you gain some experience. Do not under estimate this kite like I did. Although as I have stated this kite has loads of power all the time and can produce a fair amount of lift in stronger winds if you are an experienced flier and are into jumping I'd go for the 6.0. Who knows, I may even join you soon. Are the materials and construction up to high end standards? Probably not. Is the performance per square meter up to high end standards? Nope. But this does not mean that my Radsail isn't worth every penny that I paid for it. And speaking of pennies, I can have a 1.8m, a 3.0m, and a 5.0m Radsail (all three) in the back of my Jeep for about the same coin as a 4.0m Blade. To me that spells VALUE. By : kitehopper