Search the Community

Before you read my review, please consider that i have never written a kite review before, i have only flown 3 different kites, and the newbie bias is most likely present!! As a newbie to kiting, I did some research and found the Pansh brand to be the cheapest option available. Albeit, not the best, but its value surpasses many other brands. I have flown numerous kites, however, i only own a pansh ace 3.5m. Set up: When the kite arrived, i was very disappointed with the lack of instructions, especially since i have never set up a kite before, it was a real hassle. Luckily, i was able to find instructions on a website (www.panshfans.com) and I used these to the best of my ability to set it up. I have not done any bridle tuning, or whatever you call it, i simply set it up as it came from the factory. The bridles were vastly tangled and took over an hour to get undone. Once i finally got it setup, i went to try out my new toy Flight As this was my first ever kite i flew, i was ecstatic that it even got off the ground! until i flew other kites, i had nothing to compare it to, however, i did note that it has trouble staying up in anything less than 10mph! Also, at the edge of the wind window (trust me, i did ALOT of research on kite theory before buying one!!!) it luffs like no tomorrow!!! This is not a good kite for flying on the edge of the window, and it loves to luff at the zenith!! (again, note my newbieness in not being able to properly control the kite which is probably why it luffs alot!!!!) I thought i was to blame, until however, i flew an HQ beamer, which was beautifull at the edges!! The Ace has alot of power, again, this is my first time, so i cant compare it to anything. Accident: I was flying it recently, (last Thursday) and it was a reasonably windy/gusty out. I was trying to get aerial shots of campus, and as such, i put a camera on the kite to view the shots. This particular day, it was so windy that i had trouble keeping myself on the ground!! I even had to crouch and squat to keep on the ground!! One gust, i was picked up 20 feet!!!! and dropped like a rock!! (and sprained my ankle!!)) I can compare the lift of the ace to other kites because i have been picked up by other kites. And this is what i have to say! The Ace is a dangerous kite when used for static jumping!!!!! unlike other kites, the pansh ace picks you up and "fells" you as if you had jumped off of a building!!! there is almost no 'float' or gentleness to this kite!!! be very careful when jumping with this kite, and know the limits of the amount of lift, and your body before attempting to jump! I had no idea these 'limits' and as such, i ended up with a sprained ankle!! Overall: Overall i like this kite, it may be dangerous, but i was stupid and didnt know that the wind was overpowering the kite!! It is a great value for your money because of the cost, albeit, quality goes down a bit, and the old addage, "you get what you pay for" applies here!! This is not necisarily a beginners kite, however, it was my 'beginners' kite so it could do just fine, just make sure to be safe with it!!!! The video of my 'flight' and drag is below You cant actually see me fly, but you can see that the ground falls away, and then the kite crashes, me landing, and then you can see me being dragged behind it !!! Written by : Max McClenahan

I'm a complete noob to power or traction kiting and I was getting impatient about not being able to fly the other kite I've got, so after reading all the reviews of Pansh kites and asking a couple of questions the 2m Legend seemed a reasonably cheap way to add to my quiver. Thye kite was sent through FedEx and it was quick getting here, there were no problems with customs. Opening the pack it seemed pretty sparse, a small stuff sack, a set of lines and the handles, no instructions, pictures or anything else. It is a good job this is something that is well known, and that you can find a variety of guides and pictures. Opening the kite up everything seemed to be in place, no twists or tangles in the bridle, all the stitching looks good and the kite appeared to be very well made. The warnings I'd read about the lines were correct, no labels or different colours other than green for power and red for brake, and they were really twisted up on the winder, it took me fifteen to twenty minutes to sort them out but they did appear to be stretched and of equal lengths, something I confirmed on the beach. Then there are the handles, hmm, the finish left a lot to be desired, especially the holes for the leaders and the wrapping to protect the leaders from the rough edges. I've modded the handles now, but you can make a huge improvement with a sheet of wet and dry and a couple of needle files. I've just had the kite out for its maiden flight and I've got to say that I'm impressed. The wind was possibly a bit light for a 2m kite, it was trying to collapse at the edges of the window and at the zenith, but with very little work it was flying around the window quite happily. Steering with the power lines is good and easy to control, if you add just a touch of brake it'll turn really fast on its own wingtip, and yet it never gives the impression of being too fast. Even in the light winds I had today, this kite generates a lot of power, scudding wouldn't have been a problem at all if I'd tried to do that, but just a twitch on the brakes brings everything back to being manageable. One other thing is the reverse launch, I'd never tried a reverse launch before today, I'd only watched them, with this kite it worked the first time and every time. I did notice that there seemed to be a constant crease about 6 inches ahead of the trailing edge, that combined with the almost on/off nature of the brakes makes me think I may need to loosen the brake lines a touch, but I was having too much fun flying the kite to think about making adjustments. In conclusion, this kite was ready for a complete noob to fly right out of the bag and I don't think anyone can complain about that. Instructions or diagrams would have been nice to confirm I was doing it right, but if you're stuck you can find them online. To be honest, the only thing that really let the kite down was the shoddy handles and they were still fit to fly with. It only took me about an hour to tidy them up and another hour to mod them, if anyone wants details of what I did please let me know. I think I will be buying a few more kites from Pansh, in value for money terms I don't think you can beat them.

Pansh Sprint 2.3m to 5m Background The Pansh Sprint has been a long time in development but it has been worth the wait. I've been involved with the Sprint since the early prototypes and charted the effort that has gone into refining the profile, features and materials used in the production of the kite. The production version is available in a whole range of sizes from 1.9m up to 12.5m. Only a couple of sizes are missing from the range at the time of writing. I have the 5m, 4m, 3.3m and 2.3m. Now that I have had a chance to fly them all I feel that the time is right to make some comments about them and how they perform not just as individual kites but as a quiver when various sizes are combined. My feeling is that the Sprint is aimed at people who want to go fast or are starting out racing and cannot justify the expense of a new quiver of the more expensive race kites. The Sprint is well priced for this market. The big question is..... Is it competitive with the other race kites old and new? You'll have to read on for my conclusion. Construction. The construction of Pansh kites has improved in leaps and bounds since the early days of the Blaze. The Sprint shows significant improvements with straight stitching and strong reinforcement where it is needed. The material in the smaller kites I have is strong and durable. Water absorption is no worse than any other kites I have owned. If you really want waterproof kites then the only proper solution at present is Seal'n Glide, in my opinion.... or one of those single skin blow up thingies. In the picture to the left you can see the extra reinforcement in the cells and the tabs stitched all the way down the profiles for extra strength. You'll not be pulling these out in a hurry! At the wing tips you can see in the picture on the right the extra reinforcement running between the tabs. On the picture of the wing tip you can also see ribs (like diamond shapes) running down the length of the kite. There are 3 rows of ribs which make the kite, once in the air, a very ridged wing. The AirLink doesn't have any ribs and doesn't hold it's shape nearly as well as the Sprint does. The Sprint has a large number of cells relative to it's length when compared with a kite without such high performance aspirations. These, when combined with the ribs, I feel really do assist the Sprint to maintain a good aerodynamic profile in flight. As the number of open vents on the Sprint is limited the cross-venting between the cells is very important. Inspecting the cross-vent holes I can see that they have been cut very cleanly without any overcuts that might weaken the construction. Dirt outs have been moved inboard one cell because the end cell is hardly a cell at all it is so small. This means that the larger opening is more useful for getting sand out. There is no tab to help keep it open, but I use a small plastic tube slipped into the dirtout. This is much more effective than the extended flaps on some of the other kites I own. The bridle material is thinner at the tips and stronger where it is needed in the middle of the kite. It is not a firewire bridle, but then the cost of the kites could not support such advanced material. The bridle has not stretched appreciably on my kites, and I have been flying them hard for quite a while before writing this review. Bridle Adjusters We were very keen early on to get some adjustment built into the bridle of the Sprint so that we could fiddle with and tune the kite to our flying requirements. Pansh responded by producing a bridle arrangement that allowed infinite adjustment to the Angle of Attack of the kite, not just in one place, but across the entire wing. Adjustments are made by releasing the tension in a Prussic knot and sliding the bridle line, which is in a loop between the A nd C rows through the knot before tightening it up again. This effectively lengths one row while shortening the other and so tilts the kite. Three sets of adjustors means that the angle of attack can be varied from the middle to the tip to suit the fliers requirement. In reality this can be a bit fiddly on the beach with cold, wet, sandy fingers, but for a twiddler like me it's well worth it! There was some concern that the Prussic knot might slip in flight. Not a chance! We've not been able to make a single one slip. Indeed, when it was reverse engineered back to a simple larks head knot it still refused to slip during flight! The larks head was far quicker to make adjustments with on the beach with the aforementioned numb digits. I realise this might be a bit technical for most flyers and the majority will leave them well alone. However, just knowing they are there and you can have a play with them if you like, I feel, adds to the versatility of the kite. One of the testing team decided he really liked to have them setup for huge lift and loves the float!! This is an extreme, no where near the factory setup for speed and minimum lift, but shows what is possible. I tried to get pictures, but they just looked like knotted string. If I do get some worthwhile I'll add them in later. In Flight When you launch the Sprint you very quickly realise that this indeed a race kite. The tips can be a little slow to inflate, but that allows for a more gradual increase in the power when launching.... or after you've fluffed a turn and the Sprint is opening again in the middle of the power window! The Sprint is a very high aspect ratio kite. Very long and thin. It's like flying a ribbon. Does it fly fast?... Yes. I was surprised how fast when compared to the other kites in the Pansh range and to other race kites I own and have access to. Does it turn quickly? ... Yes. Brake turns are very fast and efficient. Does it go upwind well? ... Absolutely! I have other race kites and the 4m Sprint pointed higher and traveled faster than the 3.9m *mumble mumble* I was flying. Sufficient to say, I was not getting my kite back from my mate flying the Sprint that day. Is it stable? ... Compared to other race kites, Yes. Compared to non race kites, No. Race kites require skills to keep them in shape and performing well. They do like to head out of the window and tie themselves in knots if your not paying attention. The Sprint seems to be less prone to that than some other race kites I've flown. Has it got a turbo? ... You mean, if I put some brake on does it accelerate? ... Yes. The Sprint does respond with a power boost if you use the brakes. The Sprint also has the "apparent wind effect" that you sometimes hear about. Once flying at a certain speed and you think your at the limit the Sprint kicks and some more power comes in.and your away again even faster! When choosing which Sprint to fly I choose the size bigger than I would with any other kite. Much of the grunt has been transformed into speed in the design of the kite. This is not a problem, and possibly accounts partly for why is it so good upwind. There is much more sail area to catch the wind. If you use the adjustors you can put all the grunt back in, but then you'll also have some lift to contend with. The Sprint in factory setting has some lift, but this is a component of the speed of flight rather than dynamic lift at the zenith as you have with lifty kites like the Pansh Ace, HQ Crossfire or the Flexi Blade. When you do stuff up a turn, because you do sometimes....well I do anyway, 9 out of 10 times the Sprint can be shaken out and the collapse recovered before it hits the ground. The tips will tuck and fold over occasionally in a turn, but a quick shake and your away. This is probably more to do with my flying skills than the kite because this is becoming less and less frequent the more I fly. Competitive? Some will be wanting to know if the Sprint can compete on the race circuit. It is competing, and in it's first showings it's doing pretty well. I watched the 10.2m Sprint doing very well against the field of fliers at the Hoylake 24Hour Challenge. In the PKA races it is improving all the time as the Pansh Race Team get used to it and how to get the most from it. It is certainly more competitive than the older generations of race kite. As a Quiver There are a large number kites in Sprint range, the question is, do you need them all? I've found that with the limited quiver I have the size graduation is sensible. There is not too much overlap between the sizes. The sweet spots, in terms of wind speed do not overlap. If you skip a size, I think you will find that there will be a range of wind speed where your overpowered on one and under powered on the other. This is the place the missing kite would sit. I have a 2.3m and a 3.3m. and there is a definite gap of optimum usability where the 2.8m would sit. I can't give precise wind speed ranges for each kite because it depends on too many factors. Conclusion I think you get the idea that I like this kite. I would sell all my other kites for a quiver of these! Now some will say I'm bias and some would say I get them for free anyway, well that's not quite true. I have bought a number of my Pansh kites including the Sprint. Am I bias? I'm trying to be as objective as I can in this review. As I said at the top of the review my feeling is that the Sprint is aimed at people who want to go fast or are starting out racing and cannot justify the expense of a new quiver of the more expensive race kites. I believe the Sprint more than covers this ground. Some would say that for the cost you would be better with a second hand set of an older generation race kite. I don't agree with that. Although the price may be similar I hold that the Sprint is better in terms of performance and value. Pansh have said that they want this to be the best race kite in the air full stop. I don't think it is quite there yet. The bridle could be uprated and the material used to make the main sail could be improved by making it lighter without compromising strength. That would, of course, increase the cost of the kite. Having said that. I think they have produced the best race kite in terms of value to performance. I've yet to fly anything larger than the 5m Sprint, but observing the 10.2m and hearing that the 12.5m is made from an ultra light material from the Pansh Race Team it all sounds very promising. The Sprints are now my "go to" kites when I'm buggying, even the 2m Pansh Legend I got at Christmas will be taking a back seat to the 2.3m Sprint. Come the winter I'll probably be chasing a 1.9m Sprint.as well. Objectively as I can, the Sprints do everything I want them to do. They are fast, competative, relatively stable and very adjustable.

not my first ace i started out with a 4m ace as my first kite. started off today in 7 mph winds with my 5.5m legend and my god it was tough work a lot of pilot input to keep in the air would only get to the zenith if i flew it up there then wouldnt stay up but whne it was in the power zone was ok. so after about a 10min warm up i got my shiny new 4.5m ace out of the nice looking 2 tone stuff sack and hooked the lines up which are definatley the upgraded ones handles are alot thicker. then the launch pull and straight up and theres me big smile on my face sliding on my bum and up to the zenith were it remained for about 30 seconds or so till i had to give a little input. the power was immense that extra .5m from my old ace really does make a difference my arms were being stretched at the zenith and going through the power zone had me scudding like a good un and i weigh 14 stone. its been about a year since i fly an ace and my god i have so missed this static fun cant wait to try it in the buggy. this kite is well suited to buggying as its profile is almost the same as a race kite but boarders could also us it for freestyle as this kite has a lot of lift as i can remember from my 4m ace. i have been told it is a bit like a blade in the lift area. it is a great kite for not a lot of money i paid £119 pounds for the 4.5m ace and a 3m ace which in my mind is such a great bargain thanks for taking the time to read my review sorry about the grammer and spelling its not my strong point. By : papalazaro

Well, to give you some background on me I basically have flown only a few kites, I went from a 3m HQ Beamer, and then to my Pansh 5m Ace. I've flown both for awhile and feel confident with it all. I purchased the 10m Blaze II as my first depower kite. First thing I want to say I have only had a chance to fly it in 10mph and lower winds so far. I also am flying the kite with stock lines and an HQ Depower bar(LOVE IT!). I pulled out the Blaze II in this terribly gusty and lulling winds I was AMAZED at how well it performed. The coolest thing was the kite needed NO input to lift off and fly to zenith. I had no mods to the kite and it flew well. It sat at zenith and was quite nice to me . I flew the Blaze II static for awhile, and it lifted me off nice and smooth as well as letting me down nice and smooth. Then I hopped on my ATB and was off and running real quick, no problems. I flew it with the trim pulled in all the way because it was either too low of winds or quite high gusts. The best part was when the wind died the kite floated there, it didn't fall out of the sky or bowtie but the stability is AWESOME! The material the Blaze II was made out of was different than my Pansh Ace, the Ace was more crispy/crunchy. It was drizzling a bit of rain while I was out there and so at the end the Blaze was a little wet but the best way to describe the material would be it feels like the outside of a sleeping bag when it's a bit wet. No problems or complaints, just a matter-of-fact. I don't know if Pansh did the mod that I have read about (moving the powerline attachment 2.5 inches up) but it flies just great how it is. I am one happy kiter!!! I would definitely recommend this to another intermediate flyer, or a smaller one for a beginning kiter with experienced supervision . By : f0rgiv3n

So here it is; my first review. But before I begin, you must all realise that I have only been power-kiting for about 2 months, but have had a delta stunt kite for years. I have been in weight gain training since giving up smoking 11 years ago, where my weight has gradually gone up from an unfit, liftable wisp of 13 stone to the major anchor(YES, I said ANCHOR with an 'A') of muscle(?), now weighing in at a healthy 19 stone. My recent work medical threatens this situation and I find myself dreaming of putting bricks in my pocket to keep me on the ground after losing my muscled weight again! So I join the forum, and having had advice from Balloon Chaser (Lorne) on how big his kite is and what winds he can fly in, I head quite by accident straight to the 'For Sale' area. There in front of me is a Pansh Legend 4.5 metre kite with handles, ready to fly. A rapid message to LT-FS to say 'I'll have it', before anyone else gets in there, and I shortly find myself the new owner of this nice crispy clean kite. Now having the kite is great, but there are obviously other things you need to go with it. Some slippery shoes to scud, a stake to trip over

I was lucky enough to have a go of the Pansh Sprint 5.0 pass the Pansh UK. So first impressions:- Well the wife's 'Looks like a workman's hi vis jacket' well what do they know. My first impressions were it's very long and thin (Aspect ratio 5.3) and for a 5m kite it's got a lots of cells (41 in total). The material is a nice soft material, not as soft as my Brooza II's but not as hard and crispy as my Brooza I. It's got Velcro dirt outs at the tips with double stitched reinforced trailing edge and cell openings. All the main bridal attachment points are sewn into the bridal with the brake bridal attachment point sewn onto the bridal. The bridal lines are a soft dyneema with sewn loops,(here I would have liked to seen the SK75 coated and spiced bridal). The bridal is adjustable, which having had this on my Blade iv and my Brooza II's I think is not always necessary to have, as I have found that you think it's a good idea to start with, have a play and then decide it's best left set as factory standard, so what you are left with, is a bulky lump of bridal where all the lines meet. Now unlike my Brooza and the Blade you don't have a single point to adjust the bridal for each side but you have 3. Now at first you think 'That's going to be a pain to adjust, 6 adjustments in total instead of 2', but in doing it this way they have managed to have an adjustable bridal with no added bulk or wind drag, well done Pansh. All the visible cells are crossed braced, double stitch and reinforced everywhere. This cross bracing and the fact there are so many cells make for a very thin cross profile. With that in mind and the fact it has an AR of 5.3 should mean it's going to be fast. So how does she fly? First flight 8mph wind, inland. Not an ideal wind speed for a race kite which is all about traction but good to have a static fly and get a feel for the kite. Well unlike the few racekites I've had a fly of, it was very easy launch, a quick tug and up she went to the zenith, no need to turn and fly across the window, impressed. I found it had a very large window almost 180 degrees and delivered a constant smooth pull through out the window. She was very quick through the air and was quick to turn with push pull, brake and combination input. It was very stable, but would fly out of the window if you let, but keep an eye on it and it's not a problem. In low winds it was a bit tricky to reverse launch but with winds above 12 mph it's not a problem. Second flight. 12-15 mph almost fully cross shore, turning later in the day to mostly onshore slightly cross shore. Well with the winds coming almost completely cross shore it gave me a great chance to test the upwind and downwind performance of the kite. Well upwind was very good indeed in the 12 mph I had no problem getting upwind using the whole width of the beach to take the best line. Going downwind I always find trickier than going up, but with the Sprint it is so quick to turn I was able to loop her and turn her so smoothly and quickly I was able to keep her fully inflated whilst taking an almost straight downwind path and with the fact the Sprint gives very little static lift I was also able to perform my first ever tack turns. As the wind picked up to 15 mph luckily the wind turned to mostly on shore slight cross, I managed my top speed for the day of 37.4mph but with my weight and buggy set-up I found it hard to hold line both on the fast run and the upwind leg as I was drifting with the side way pull. With a heavier all up weight and better wheels this kite could be used quite a bit more wind. So all in all, a very nice race kite. I think this kite will cause a stir when Pansh bring out the complete quiver. So anyone wanting to get into racing they will be a real contender with this little Beastie. Well done Pansh.

Legend 3- first 30 hours- I bought this kite to learn to kiteboard. I decided I would put 30 hours in with it and get in the water- skipping instruction. Of course, I am writing from my hospital bed- just kidding. What actually happened, and this probably has some positive reflection on the product, is I developed an interest in powerkiting and bought an Ace 5. Anyway, how it flys. I can only compare it to the Ace. But it flys very well. Controls are very stable and flys with brakes very nicely. It isn't lifty like the Ace, but it is pretty well mannered in big wind. Once I get my skates built I think I will probably use it a lot. I almost wish they made this thing bigger. I wonder if it is more like the Blaze? How is it holding up? It has had some tough times- it was attacked by two large kite- eating dogs about the 3rd time out. (I am not kidding about this). I had to punch the primary dog repeadetly to get it back. He finnaly let me unhook a shred from the leading edge it from his tooth. Which I recall appeared to be about 8 inches long... I patched it up with some dacron tape I sewed on with an easy stitch (needle to large but still worked) and it still flys great. The rubber on the handles is slipping up and the handle lines are fraying. The lines are pretty stretchy. In big wind when it hits the power window it seems like I can feel them stretching like- idunno 4 feet maybe? feels like it. anyway. Kind of scary actually, you think no way this is going to hold, but they still do. Good thing it is not that lifty- I haven't gotten enough air with this thing yet that if the lines broke over sand i would be injured- Ace is a different story though. The kite itself shows some wear (mostly dirt) but still works great- bridles are fine and material holds well. So the finall rating- don't know how it compares to a lot of kites but i can't remember when I have had this much fun with 100 bucks. Talk about bang for the buck. Thumbs way up. Will need new lines and handles pretty quick though- but remember, we are talking about 30 hours here. Might buy a few spools of that q-power stuff. Lines need to be right for my weight I think, not kite size.

I had previously flown a kite twice with friends at a beach in Devon on a constantly windy day, so am a relative novice, but enjoyed it so much I decided to get a kite of my own. I didn't have a large budget to spend and didn't want a kite that was going to be to powerful for me to handle. I tried my fiend's 2m pansh kite that his girlfriend uses and his 3m ozone kite. In the end I decided to go for a 3m and choose to go with Pansh as they seemed very good value and my friend's Pansh kite seemed fine for me as a novice. The order process was easy and my kite arrived by DHL within the week they said. So I was pleased with their order process. I unpacked the kite to find it all there and well made, I stretched it out in my livingroom and then tried to unwind the lines. Like others I found they were tangled and I probably spent 45 mins to get them separated and connected correctly. The first flight of the kite was on a light wind, but gusty day, so it was a mixture of no wind at all and gusts of wind. This made it a bit difficult at times, but as long as I kept the kite moving it stayed up fine, at the edges of the flying area the kite started to stall but never so much that I couldn't pull it around. The kite flew well and we had a great time with it. With the gusts of wind I was pulled strongly along the ground, which was good, so it had enough pull on it for me and I was able to control the flying very easily. The only thing that I needed to do was set the brakes as short as possible. The kite launched itself, but I couldn't reverse launch it after I crashed it on one occasion as the wind wasn't strong enough (at the beach with the consant wind reverse launching had been relatively easy). I am only going to use the kite without board etc., so for me the pull and eays of using the kite was just what I was looking for. I found it easy to take it up high and leave it there to have a break from the more power flying, even with the gusts and lulls of the wind. The kite cost me about £67 to buy with the exchanhge rate at the time, although with the dollar getting stronger against the pund it might not be as cheap now. So value for money I would definitely recommend this kite, especially for kite newbies with a smaller budget. Overall I am please with the kite and look forward to more kiting fun! By : og9894