HQ Crossfire 5M

Having flown the Beamer 3.6m for 6 months or so I realised that I wanted to be able to gain more lift than I was currently getting.

I had flown my brother's Beamer 5m and although he was able to get some decent lift and drags, I found that I was always left on the ground unless using the pendulum style jump. My brother is about 2 stones lighter than me (I must be about 11.5 stone) so I considered the Beamer 7m but was put off by the descriptions of it being a pig to fly.

I therefore decided upon the Crossfire. I did all the relevant research and decided that the 5m would be my best bet for getting airs. I decided to purchase over the net and eventually purchased the beast for £220.00 from www.action-pact.co.uk who I can thoroughly recommend.

I have broken the rest of this review down for ease of reference.

THE BAG:
The bag is excellent. Its been designed like an actual rucksack, such as what you would use to go on a treck, rather than a school bag style. It has the trade mark big zip, which hides a large pocket ideal for storing the manual and receipt (in case things go wrong and I also keep a bin bag in there in case it rains so I can stuff it in the sack and at least keep some of my kit dry).

The bag is red in colour with a description of the kite size on the front. There are no zips apart from the front pocket which means that there is no risk of catching the kite in the zipper when doing it up. I would say it is far better than the Blade bag and so much more stylish. Its also big enough to store a bar and still keep the bag closed.

THE FREE STUFF:
The kite came with kite killers, which on first inspection I thought looked quite cheap. However I used them with no problems and actually found them to be as good as, if not better than, the Flexifoil ones as they were well padded but did not appear to be thick and cumbersome.

The kite also came with a ground stake which was not a cheap plastic peg. This was effectively a screwdriver style stake with a bright orange tip so you can clearly see it in the gound. It also comes with a belt holder so it is ideal for boarding or buggying as you will be able to take the stake with you and peg down anywhere.

The lines were the usual high standard, all the same length. Both ends were black on both the brakes and power lines but you could clearly distinguish between the two so no problems.

The handles were extra large Beamer handles. I like the Beamer handles and found these to be of equal quality. Some like the Flexofoil handles but I think it is personal choice. They had a brake loop for attaching to the ground stake and they worked well for me. They do not have sleeving where the lines lead out from the handles but I wear gloves and hence have no problems, but some people may prefer other styles.

The instructions were very thorough and provided everything you needed to know, including details on how to set up the kite on a bar.

No CD was included in the bag but I hear that this has occurred on many of the HQ kites. I have requested one and will let you know if it arrives and also if it adds to the package overall.

THE KITE:
The kite was huge, 452cm long (its 5m squared) and the bridles were kevlar/dyneema which I was not expecting. The strength in the bridles appears to be collossal and I would not like to catch them in mid air when the kite is fully powered.

The bridles are stictched rather than knoted which is very strong.

The kite came folded very well and the bridle attachments were held in place with the velcro strip on the centre leading edge. This was very impressive and I could not fault the bridles. They were all the correct lengths and not wearing down at all.

The kite material was strong and well maintained. The 5m is teal blue with a yellow swoosh across the front. The pilot actually sees the colours on this kite which so nice when flying. The rear of the kite is white with a black swoosh which also looks impressive.

THE SETUP:
The setup was so easy, connected the lines and it sat on its trailing egde waiting to be launched. The kite did not self launch and behaved nicely on the ground.

THE FLIGHT:
I lauched the kite and it went to the zenith. I found that the kite needed a little playing to get off the ground as the trailing edge was folded under, but the wind was no more than 5 - 8mph and not constant.

The kite sat at the zenith, but unlike the Beamers tended to sit directly overhead rather than slightly lower. This felt a little strange at first but I had no concerns that it would overfly.

The wind window was large and it behaved well at the edges. I noticed that the wing tips did fold when it got to the edge but I found this useful and it gave a clear indication that the edge had been reached and you should start to turn back. I would state however that the kite sat well at the edge.

I noticed that the kite was a definite step up from the Beamers in terms of flying skill required. I would not call this a beginners kite but the perfect model to progress to after the Beamer. The brakes were very sensitive which made landing easier. However, I have not really experienced lift on the Beamer and I think that many of the twitchy feelings were down to flying the kite as if it was a Beamer rather than an intermediate kite.

The kite landed very well and always stayed up on the ground, waiting to relaunch. I did not manage to backward launch but I do not think the wind was strong enough.

THE POWER:
When launching the kite in the centre of the wind window the pull is immense. I went from crouching down to 3 feet up in under a second and it was fantastic. This kite has lift, but please remember that the wind was low. I found that when I jumped the kite would loose all its wind and collapse and often would do almost a 1/2 somersault towards me but I put this down to my flying as I noted that when I landed I was jerking very hard on the brake lines - in fact my arms were moving about 18 inches in a downward arch and I realised that it was making a major difference.

When I sorted the jumps they were soft and floaty with no hard landings, which was nice.

Flying across the window the kite moved quickly and when powered the scudds were long and very fast.

I never felt overpowered with the kite and although it did bite back a few times I was always in control and able to land.

CONCLUSION:
This kite is a beast. I would not recommend it for a beginner to powerkiting but to those who have flown other kites I could not recommend it enough.

The power is immense and the lift is great. I cannot wait to take it out in stronger winds to test its power.

At the price and the quality I would say that this kite cannot be beaten by anything else that is out there. Yes, the Blade III may have more lift but its £150.00 more expensive and thats the price of a smaller Crossfire, so you could have 2 for the same price.

Overall the package is great and literally nothing else is needed to fly it as it is all included in the bag. To top it all off when I was flying another flyer came over from his Bullet '05 and board and said that the kite looked great in the air, and I would state that it looks fantastic when in flight, its retains its shape and looks huge.

All I can say is well done HQ, well done Jerry for testing it and finally...

GO BUY ONE NOW.