Peter Lynn Venom 13m

Well what can I say.............Well quite a lot actually.

I bought this kite second hand off a great guy and the kite and bag was near enough brand new. I paid £362 kite only which is a silly price for such a fantastic piece of kit.

My first impressions where thank god the bag is as nice as my Guerilla. There were a couple of differences, better pockets and a nice hole for the spars plus a much nicer inner bag but the downside was that unlike my G2 the whole kite with spars fitted didnt fit in the outer bag.

The spars dont seem as strong as the G2 either but we will see how they go.

The kite quality looks great just like my G2 and the enhancements are small but brilliant.

- Launch assist, so simply but anyone who has owned a PL kite will tell you its annoying when the kite is flapping and the lines go underneath so you have to go back to the kite and try again. All they have done is stick a little bit of velcro on each tip where you secure the lines, brilliant. When you walk back, the tension pulls the lines out of the velcro and up she goes, simple.

- Inflation zips, again simply but how much better it is. My G2 has a zip in the middle of which your supposed to be able to walk away whilst it inflates itself, not the case because as soon as it gets slighty inflated it closes the hole hence you have to stand holding the hole open. The Venom has a zip on each tip which means where you put the sand to weigh it down that also keeps the kite from closing the hole hence setup your bar, come back and kite inflated. Plus because the holes are on the leading edge it makes a more efficient job of filling the kite.

- In kite power adjuster, Im not sold on this one yet. It does change the kite a bit but i havent noticed that much benefit at the moment, maybe gimmick maybe me??

- Smaller cells, I can not tell you the difference this makes. The kite has a much better feel though the bar. It seems really solid and so far hasnt folded like a sweet wrapper which my g2 does occasionally. I think this is also responsible for the difference in turn speed which is far superior than the G2 to the point it feels like a different kite but in a good way, no great way.

As i bought the kite only i can not comment on any differences re the bar and lines.

What I can say is I have used the Venom on my PL bar and also a nice Caution bar and though the Caution worked ok it didnt have anywhere near the depower range of the PL one so I would recommend a PL bar unless someone knows of other bars with a similar depower range as the peter lynns?

I love arcs. I have never crashed my G2 15m but the second day with my Venom i crashed it into the ground quite hard due to the wind turning it inside out and inverting my control. No damage at all, if that was my Caution LEI I would be replacing the leading edge baldder.

One other thing that seems to have improved is the auto zenith though Im not sure if this was down to how i had the G2 setup. The Venom just sits above you whilst you eat your sandwich, have a cup of coffee and wonder what you were doing standing there, oh yeah flying a kite, where is it???LOL

In summary I can be nothing but positive about this kite, its an ideal size and though the changes are small the improvements/benefits are big.

Downside:

I was fortunate and got my V for a great price. I still think that if i had little cash the £200 second hand price difference between a G2 and Venom probably isnt worth it.

The Guerilla 2 is a great kite with a couple of annoying tendancies but for over £200 cheaper than a second hand Venom it would be my choice for value for money.

All that said if you have the cash its a Venom every time.

Nice one Peter Lynn, with these kites the only competition out there is bows and I still think a Venom would hold its ground......

Go get one. (I liked them that much I bought 2!!!)

By : Ramsey