Rhombus Firebee Force

This is a initial review of the New Firebee Force, cannot be to detailed at the moment as I have only had it a couple of days, so will add to it once i've flown it a bit more.

Whats you get depends on what you order the kite is sold as kite only, so you add your own lines handles, I went for a package as it always generally means a better deal. Complete I paid in the region of £150 is it good value? read on?

In the bag

Kite, Lines and handles...

The lines supplied were of good quality Climax, ( Though I believe they are liable to friction melting)

Handles were of average quality probably better asking for an upgrade to Ozone or Flexifoil.

The rucksack if you can call it that is more like a pillow case with a zip, much like the old ones, while you don't actually fly a rucksack something a little better would be nice.

The Kite

Made of 40d Nylon, so it is fairly light but not that water resistant.

Seems fairly well put together, But a little concerned about the durability as the is no reinforcement on the trailing edge, though the main air inlets have some. Only the top bridle attachments have any additional strenght to them in the way of a zig zag web system between the adjacent bridle points.

The bridle is very much the same as the old firebee, lets hope it doesn't suffer from the same problem of the inner strands bursting through the outer sheath. It is also all white and has the potential of turning into a real spegetti juction pile up if it does a loop the loop twist. There are also a couple of dirt outs.

How does it fly you might ask.

Well I cannot give a definitive answer to this as I could only take it out in a 5mph wind and was dubious if it would fly at all.

Well to my suprise it did , as long as you kept it moving.Turned on a penny, with a little brake it would turn even quiker. It was a bit of pull even in this wind. Seemed stable in the air and looked good, didn't luff to much and revovered quickly with a quick pull. Definetly a lot better than the old Firebee, don't think this will need power rings to make it fly good. But might try them later to see what they might do.

Overall at this stage of the game I would say that this is a Very good value kite as a staging post to the race kite or if you want a little more power than a buster and the like but can't afford a full blown race kite.

I will add to this once I have flown it a bit more.

By : keith