Advance Io 7.5m

O.K. this is my second favorite kite next to my Razor

If the Razor can be considered a nitrous-equipped sports car, then the I.O. has to be my Caddilac.

Not as fast, but WAY more stable, and oh SOOOO plush!!

This is one of Advance's dual-use water-relaunchable foils, that has the one-way air intakes. Although this makes it somewhat slower to initally deploy, it actually makes it more stable, because it resists luffing out.

The kite's real strengths are in the fact that it has such a smooth and graceful power ramp-up, and very plush and forgiving loft. This is not to say that this kite is not aggressive. There's plenty of power, it just doesn't feel jerky the way some other kites (even one's this large can feel).

Because of these features, this is my absolute favorite for jumping. The pull off the ground is always firm, but smooth (even in compression jumps) Hangs time for days, and it always lets you down SOO gently. I've gotten WAY higher than I even wanted to, on this kite, but it's never set me down hard.

Now some of the drawbacks:

The kite comes on one of the weirdest bars I've seen. Picture a standard 2 line bar with the power lines attached at each end. Now add two really flexible rubber spacers on each end, and 8 additional inches of bar on each end. At the end of these is where the brake lines are attached!! It's a bar, but with individual brake controls on each side. It's an interesting concept, but I just found it too damned awkward. I 've put it on handles - much better.

My second issue concerns its ability to stay inflated. Yes I know this is intentional, so that it remains afloat if landed on the water, but the annoyance is that instead of luffing out if it shoots past the window, the kite inverts itself (fully inflated) and makes a bee-line for the ground, only to flip back around when its near the ground, and come on FULL POWER.

Finally, one last negative. The whole idea of a water relaunchable foils made out of ripstop nylon is just complete bull****. If it so much as touches the water, sure I can get it back up in the sky, but it flies like truck for the next 30 minutes. Water relaunchable yes, but who'd want to?!?

Luckily, I use it mainly for land based sports, and its a great kite.

Anybody else have one of these??