John Holgate - 4-4-2013 at 08:22 PM
I bought this kite hoping for something that handled like my 4m Access XT - ie: spin it on a wingtip - that would be good from 15 knots to 25 or so.
Ended up getting half of what I wanted. The kite will pull the buggy well from around 15 knots - a little less if you're prepared to work it and at
23 knots, I only had a little depower pulled so the wind range is exactly what I wanted. The turning speed is not...it's much slower than the Access
4m. (Although it is certainly a lot more stable...perhaps that's the trade-off) Not exactly the 'the compact feel and faster handling' that I was
expecting when I read the Ozone blurb. But I should know better than to believe what Ozone write about their kites.
Now you have to keep in mind that this kite is more probably aimed at Snowkiters in high wind rather than a plodding buggier like me but since I paid
my money.....
Speaking of snowkiters - I hear the 5th line is a bit of god-send in the conditions that they sometimes deal with. But I don't use it in those
conditions and I absolutely HATE the 5th line. First time I deployed it, the bar shot forward and the little red stopper ball got jammed in the bar.
I could not press it out with my fingers so resorted to using a mallet and my sand peg. FAIL. C'mon Ozone, surely you could make a plastic stopper
the right size? It did however, completely depower the kite so that bit was good. Despite my care in packing away, I've still managed to wrap the
5th line around the other lines - one time I got some help - evidently a 'step through' error that was not evident to me and the other time I just
thought 'stuff it' and took the line off and re attached. There was lots of swearing at the kite. Hopefully, it won't take me too long to come to
grips with the 5th line, but I do miss the top hat safety.
Depower range is very good and the kite felt very stable and sweet in the sky...I just have to get used to the slightly slower handling. The bar is
very short....maybe too short.
Ozone have also encased the power line in plastic where it goes through the bar. Thanks, Ozone - now when I turn the bar it locks against the plastic
and I can't move the bar back and forth until I straighten it again.
The kite itself seems very nicely put together - as per usual - and the blow out valves were put to the test on a number of occasions and saved any
damage to the kite.
One thing this kite does respond to is being worked aggressively - it builds power really nicely when you start to put some work on it.
The Frenzy seems to have one peculiar trait - if I pull hard upwind, the kite wants to dive....which is the exact opposite of the rest of my kites.
In fact, on a few occasions when it's been edging over 20 knots I've felt the kite wanting to head towards the ground and have to keep a little extra
pressure on the skyward end of the bar.
Sometimes I've been flying along with this kite thinking 'yeah, this is nice....I like it' at other times I've cursed it and wished it were faster
handling. Even after 300km of assorted buggying with this kite I still can't make up my mind about it. I'd really like to try it on last years bar -
with the top hat safety and depower cam-cleat...maybe a little longer bar too.
I can't help feel that it's two steps forward, one step back...
GeoffHobson - 10-4-2013 at 12:53 AM
I do like the whole review and especially the bar to handle option.