Eolo Radsail Pro 3M

Well here it is, my first kite review, and its for the Radsail Pro 3m

Bought as a joint xmas 2008 pressy to myself and my wife. The previous xmas 2007 i had bought my wife a HQ Symphony 1.4, we both enjoyed flying it, especially in strong winds, and this is what gave us the urge to get somethng a bit bigger.

After much deliberating we settled on a Radsail, which we bought online from Skyhigh Kites. The price was good (£125) and the delivery was very quick, After sales service was spot on as well, due to the fact that i managed to snap the accompanying dvd in half while trying to extract it from the case, Skyhigh Kites replaced the dvd ASAP no questions asked.

First impressions...

The bag the kite comes in is very good and seems to be pretty sturdy in construction, holding the kite and handles etc, with some space left for a few other things if need be.

I was really impressed with our purchase, the attention to detail was very good, the material of the kite did scare our dog though, its very noisy when you unwrap it, the bridles look to be made from quality line, with the control lines themselves being of good quality and, i think may be coated (not sure). I must point out at this stage that i knew nothing about checking line lengths etc, i have checked them since, (last week 10/5/08) and the brake lines are around 4cm shorter than the powerlines, wether this is down to stretch on the powerlines or they have always been this length, i do not know, BUT, this has not affected the handling of the kite at all, so my guess is that they could possibly have been like this when i received them.

We had never used a 4 line kite before so the DVD was essential for us, more reason to panic when i broke the damn thing in half. Once viewed though, we felt more confident, and in all honesty, once you get the kite and lines out it is pretty well obvious how things connect up, we had the lines connected in no time at all. Now we just had to wait for some decent wind.

First flight...

It was nearly 2 weeks before we got some decent weather and enough wind to try our new baby. Setting up on this occasion took 10 or 15 minutes, mainly because of our previous experience only being with a 2 line kite. There was a reasonable wind, tops of trees moving, not sure of actual wind speed though. Once everything was laid out, i pulled back on the handles and the kite went straight up, no problems at all, the power was instant and the smile on my face massive. I gave it a few minutes flying, and pretty soon picked up the idea of controlling/turning the kite. Next up, i handed the handles to my wife, she launched the kite perfectly, but the power scared her and after only 30 seconds or so she passed the handles to me. Ive been trying to get her to fly it since in lower wind conditions, but she still preffers to watch for now. (Have since bought a Big Buzz to try and entice her up towards the Rad).

Since that first flight i have been out many times, the second flight was almost a disaster due to my inexperience and lack of respect for the wind, i was pulled through the air around 3m, not sure at what height, hurriedly packed up, and my next purchase was a wind meter to give me a better idea of what i am dealing with.

The kite is great for scudding or just a good workout, im sure if i ever decide to go further and maybe try landboarding this kite will certainly pull me along.

The handles/line winder that come with the Radsail are great, why cant the other manufacturers take note, packing/setup is a breeze with the caps at each side of the winder. I can be unpacked and in the air in 3 to 5 minutes, and packed up around the same.

I did notice a few times early on that the powerlines and breaklines can get tangled on take off due to the huge knots, so laying them well apart before hand is very important to avoid coming straight back down to earth, something you learn with experience.

Overall i think this is a great kite, just the right size for starting out on the bigger kites, and i would recommend it to anyone.

By : gorf