U-Turn Oxigen 2.5M

All those people who replied to my review of the 3.2m Oxigen were right: slowly, inexorably my collection of Oxigens has increased.

I’ve had the 3.2 and 5m Oxi standard since last year and was looking to purchase either a sub 3m, a 4m or a 6.2, my choice depending on the wind conditions of the moment (yes, I am that fickle!). It wasn’t until I got thumped by a big, swirly wind, and a 2.1 Little Devil’s refusal to land - and stay landed - that my choice crystallised. After a couple of phone calls to Bill at U-Turn (a really friendly and helpful guy btw) I became the proud owner of a 2.5 standard and a pair of handles (no lines, I already had some).

First Impressions

As everyone else has noted, the kite is extremely well built for its money, easily on a par with Flexi/Ozone, but comes in a plain stuff sack. The Oxi standard now comes with coloured inner sails rather than plain white, a la Oxi pro’s so it looks much nicer than my older 3.2. Also included in the pack was a well-written manual, a small selection of U-Turn stickers and a couple of short lengths of what could be something like bridle extensions but haven’t opened the packet to check..

I was most worried about whether the handles would be any good – being a flexi handles fan - but I’m pleased to say I was pleasantly surprised: aluminium, painted black with a very fetching u-turn logo on them, and nice comfy foam. Their only problem as far as I can see is that the strop pigtails seem a little close to the top, so when you have the handles pointing at the kite your thumb seems to have no leverage.

Setting up and first flight

Even smaller oxigens come with power rings as standard, but setting up is pretty straightforward, there was a knot halfway down the leader on the brake line bridles and one knot on each of the handle leaders. While the kite launched it was obvious there was a tad too much brake on it, so I moved the knot to the end of the leader on the brake bridles and it hit zenith perfectly.

Even though the wind was fairly light, certainly no more than 6 or 8mph to begin with, the kite flew very well, turning and accelerating smoothly. Having power rings on a kite this size means that brake turns are very fast indeed.

Landing is effortless, pull on the brakes it comes down, that’s it, no fuss, no attempt to spin, relaunch, turn upside down or any of those things that some kites do to catch you out.

My initial experience of use as a traction engine in a too light wind was - naturally - faintly disappointing but when the wind occasionally picked up it showed great promise, given that the wind speed was, if anything, somewhat lower than I would normally fly my 5m in!

Its pedigree as an “intermediate” type of kite rears its head only very occasionally in its desire to be moved unless quite well powered up, but otherwise it’s incredibly well behaved.

More wind!

Subsequent flights in higher winds (up to 30mph so far) have proved that it really does live up to its promise with a stability that would shame many a “starter” kite, great upwind capabilities and amazing pull for such a baby-sized sail. Being so small you can either “lock in” or keep it moving. In 22mph the kite was pulling me at nearly 30mph, given me and the bug’s combined weight is about 130kg and our flying field is probably less than a kilometre from end to end, the acceleration to do this is phenomenal.

Conclusion

OK, I am not going to beat about the bush, I’m biased. If I could afford to I’d buy all the others to make a full set. But there’s a reason why I have such a partisan attitude towards the U-Turn Oxigen: as I may have mentioned in my review of the 3.2m, I spent a lot of time looking for a kite that did what the Oxi’s do, to fly – originally flying static, but more recently in a bug. What they do is pretty much everything you want them to, effortlessly and powerfully, with an economy of fuss that German engineering is so good at. If this kite was a car (well, if Clarkson can do it about cars….!) it would be a Mercedes sports coupe: handsome, beautifully built, fast, but not dangerously so, powerful, yet refined, and importantly, everything works. Then you fly it in 25+mph and it’s like AMG have broken into your garage and stuck a performance pack on it!

I would have no hesitation in recommending an Oxigen to anyone with a modicum of experience, as it needs only a little more input than a “starter kite” to get a good ride out of it, and a little knowledge of its characteristics to get lots more. Put that together with its ultra safe takeoff and landing characteristics and you have (IMHO) the perfect kite. Ok maybe not perfect but damned close. Except…can’t wait to try the Pro version, and now they’ve brought out the new Oxi II. Aargh, why do they keep moving the goalposts?