acidlee

2nd serious kite purchase after buying a 5m beamer 3, as although I love the beamer it tends to be scary in the higher winds. So after a lot of research and looking about I found the Ozone Imp Quattro £75 brand new from surface tension. The fact that its made by Ozone and was under £100 were the main selling points. Ozone also have a promo video on their website which shows a small boy (under 10 years old) flying it with ease. Another selling point was all sizes come in a range of colours, as I already had a big blue kite I thought I would go with a red kite this time. So ordered it and 4 days later (thanks royal fail....) I got my new toy. With thge pack you get everything you need plus stickers and a keyring (very nice) the only thing you don't get is a ground steak. Luckily I already had one from the beamer and I can only fly one kite at a time so no biggy. The quality is good, you get a manual which shows how much goes in to the quality and it shows on the kite, the intakes are reinforced with mylar tape. The lines are 20m and orange. The handles are fully covered in foam and very comfortable, however they are short at 27cms long, the way the killers attach to the ground loop is very different to the HQ way but it still works. The killers in my opinion are horrible, as you have to wrap them around rather than pull back to tighten like HQ. I find them difficult to apply with one hand and sometimes am not confident that they are tight enough should I need to deploy the safety system. This is probably my biggest grip about the kite. The bag is acceptable however once the kite is out of the bag it struggles to remain on your back I have taken everything out of the bag and just stuff it in my pocket when flying, then if flying the beamer put the whole bag into the beamers bag and wear that on my back. Flying in high winds it will drag you, in medium winds its a lovely kite to fly quick across the window and i am able to so various loops and tricks with it. In gusty winds it tends to bowtie which is extremely annoying, but I think this may have been because I was inland. The last 3 occasions I have flown it have been at the beach and it has flown brilliantly. I would recommend it for people looking for a smaller kite to have fun with (possibly people who want to get their kids into power kiting) I have let children fly it and it took a few big crashes with no serious side effects. I am getting some X-Grip annodised red 30cm handles to pimp this set up soon hopefully that should enhance the flying of this little kite, and matching the kites colour scheme they should look like the dogs. For £75 brand new you can't get better, however i am now looking for something slighty more powerful, so you may wish to consider the large sizes if your around 15 stone and 6 foot plus. By : acidlee

I also have one of these, angain bought from good old Argos with a view to trying a kite out without paying out a lot of money for the privalege. First thing that upset me is the instructions state that flying straps and cables are included. Then you notice they are not, what they include is a horrible handle system that is very similar to the cheap seaside kite handles and the wire is bulky string nowhere near suitable. I instantly swapped these for ozone ring style handles (not much of an improvement but better than what I had.) The kite itself I noticed that the looms were incorrectly fastened cause the kite to drift off and be unresponsive at times, however simply untying and reassembling solved this. The kite build quality seems fair and it took a good beating yesturday when I was flying in some very strong winds, so strong the left hand string snapped twice. The kite when flying is very fast moving and does create some pull, not enough to actually drag me, but then Im over 6 foot tall and 15 stone, but enough to make you gasp at times, lol. The only down side is when it crashes it is virtually impossible to relaunch without a second person to help you. Extremely annoying if your on your own like I was. In conclusion I have seen cheaper on ebay, for a similar thing. If you buy this item you will have to change the wires and handles straight away so be prepared to spend a little more than the initial £20. However it is quite entertaining once you get it airborne, especially if you can keep it airborne. It is very partial to collapsing midflight or tangling when the wind slows. Having only used this kite and nothing else I can't really comment on how it rates, would I recommend it, probably not. 5 out of 10 By : acidlee