Ozone Samurai 4M

As usual Ozone have come up with a really high quality, well engineered Kite.

Packaging - The Kite comes complete with lines, handles, strop line, kite killers, a restraint strap (for use when packing), a keyring and all this in a Jazzy rucksack with compression straps and side pouches. All that is missing is the cuddly toy.

Unpacking the kite - What can you say, a visually stunning kite, personally I like the blue but it comes in red, purple and yellow(Why yellow?!). Quality of construction is what you would expect from Ozone, reinforced at all the right places, mylar strips and ultra light in weight.

Set up - The usual problem of twists in new lines, but whats new there. Ozone have come up with a numbering system, so you cant get the wrong line on the brake or power line. Little velcro cleat thingy to hold the lines when packing away.

The launch - We chose a very open, exposed field as wind was very light - 8mph on my skywatch. Straight up to the zenith and a bit of overfly but loads of pull and fairly uniform power through the window. Brakes shortened by about 15mm and it behaved perfectly. At the zenith,it sat very still yet perfectly inflated and hardly needed and tweaking to keep it there. Flying it along the edge of the window, it maintained its shape and did not stall. Back up to the top and down the other side, no problem. Moving the kite through the power window was great, it was really quick to turn for such a big kite, turning on the brakes was like I was flying a 4m, really quick and no loss of power.

The wind gradually picked up to 10mph - wowee! But at least it didn't drop. It was enough to buggy with, no land speed records but perfect to evaluate a new kite. The initial power surge was good and controllable and more than enough to get rolling. A quick turn and we were off. It was smooth, no jerking, no jumping about and clean even power in most of the window, the power zone obviously upped the stakes a little.

A day later we went out with it in 15mph winds and it was a different beast altogether, enormous power which was still smooth and the occaisional bit of lift but still so stable and smooth throughout the whole window. We racked up some good speeds in a buggy, and no nasty surprises. Out of the buggy we really pushed it and managed a few small jumps, in a bit more wind and travelling you would get some decent airborne travel

Overall I rate this kite very highly. It is a more powerful and faster than a LD but just as stable, it also has a mild to moderate amount of lift if you work it correctly. Just looking at the kite in the air you can see the influence of the Frenzy, razor and LD in this kite. I would recommend this kite to everyone from beginner to expert, beginners will have safety and stability, experts can fly a bigger kite in high wind with much more stability.

Ideal for buggying and boarding, I cant wait to get my hands on the 7.2 Cost wise its amazing, a 6.0 kite with all the trimmings for £349. This will certainly have some competitors quaking in their boots. It would be interesting to go head to head with the bullet for example, I know the sizes are not an exact match but I would put my money on the Sam.

By : Jon Pither