HQ Beamer 5M

Introduction
This is my first traction kite, although I'd spent a little time flying a friend's blade III 6.6m in extremely light winds. I've flown a Symphony 2.2m (2-string) for about 2 years, with varying degress of skill and enjoyment, and decided it was time to upgrade.

My rationale was big kite and low cost. It was a toss-up between the Buster and the Beamer, and I'd after speaking to a few people and hearing various stories of woe about the Buster's bridle and a lack of rucksack, I thought I'd give the incredibly cheap Beamer a go.

I've been flying it for a fortnight now in relatively light winds, although I've had a little air. I bought it to use with Kheo Air-S, but have been having so much fun just static flying that I haven't hooked up the board yet.

Build Quality
The bag started falling apart on day one (straps started to fall off), but a trip to the covent garden kite shop, where I bought it, meant that some shiny new stitching, and no problems since. The bag's cool - lots of space for extra bits.

The kite claimed to arrived ready to fly, but it needed the strings hooking up. Not too difficult, though. The instruction book suffers from some ever-so-slightly awkward translation, but it's not the end of the world. One of the lines was also unattached when I opened it up, but a quick lark's head knot, and all was well.

Materials
It's made from a nice blue material (I think it only comes in one colour), which seems to be the same stuff my tent is made from. It's Ripstop Nylon.

Having been out in slightly damp weather, I can confirm it's easy enough to clean, and dries pretty quickly, too.

The handles, though, are god-awful. They're probably fine on a smaller kite, but after 2 hours flying in light winds on saturday, I had massive blisters. They're very skinny and poorly padded. Also, they have no kite-killers, which for a kite of this size is probably a little dangerous. I quickly went out and bought some flexifoil handles, which are padded much more, and it's been bliss since. They also come with kite killers, which are an absolute must for something this size, at least for me.

Flying Characteristics
It's pretty quick around the sky, especially when using the brakes to help turning. In comparison to the Symphony, it's obviously a lot slower, but it seems very nimble given its size.

I've had it flying quite comfortably in winds that I know the symphony would struggle with. I'm not sure the exact speed, but the grass in the park is hardly moving, and people were laughing at me when I was setting up. Their laugh stopped when it just leapt into the air, and started gently pulling me. I guess it's a ram-air thing, but as long as you keep it moving throughout the sky, it'll stay up more or less indefinitely in virtually no wind. Reverse launching is a doddle in low winds too.

Power/Lift
It seems to pull rather than lift, although once you get beyond about 70 degrees, the lift really kicks in. The power snaps a little suddenly once you hit the power zone, but nothing unmanageable - certainly a lot more forgiving than the symphony, which, for me, at least, seems to be very hard to work out of the power zone, and bite very hard, very suddenly once you hit the zone.

Again, I'm not sure how this compares with other kites, but if you sit at the zenith, hit the brakes, let it drop nearly to 45 degrees, and then whack the power back on, the power will come on just smoothly enough to provide a good jump/lift.

Value for Money
The 5m cost me £170 with lines (200/100kg) and handles included. I spent another £20 on new flexifoil handles and killers, so it was £190 all in for a 5m kite. Fantastic value for money, I'd say.

Conclusion
I definitely made the right choice. Whether or not the flying characteristics of the Buster would be wildly different is hard to know, although I'm sure I'll end up flying one eventually, but this seems like an awesome kite for the price, and is perfect for learning with, because it's not a big outlay yet it's large enough to make me fear strong winds.

By : Chewy