Rider – Advanced Intermediate, 6’4” 210lbs 46 years old. Been riding since late 2006. Started on the water but now the majority of my time is
spent riding on land (mostly buggying followed by landboarding). Mostly fly in light wind.
Equipment– Voltage 6.5m, MBS Comp 95 landboard
Surface conditions – Hard dirt with a gradual hill at the north end. Length = 100 yds
Wind conditions - . Gusty light wind blowing from 5-12mph out of the E, SE, S.
Kite quality – Very good. Typical Peter Lynn quality. Top notch material. Double stitched where needed.
The Ride - I received the kite from Dino at Dakitez last Saturday (Thanks Dino!). Had a chance to look it over but not fly it until today. Love
the new color scheme. Colors looked really vibrant (I got the black, orange and grey ). Minimalized bridle which I wasn’t expecting. Bridle lines
looks very strong and liked the colors as well.
Had a chance to finally test drive the kite during my lunch hour. After the ride down to the park, set up and pack up, actual ride time was only 20
minutes.
Setting up the kite for launch was a breeze. Laid it out, unwrapped the handles and ready to launch. One thing I noticed and appreciated right away
was the minimalized bridle. There are often little plant roots that the bridles lines can get stuck on which has happened many times with the Blade IV
I fly but no problems with the Voltage.
Get the kite in the air and first thing I’m thinking is, this kite is fast and it’s no Twister III. This is a completely different kite (well at least
from the Twister I 7m I had). I was not a big fan of that kite. Too slow on the re-direct and didn’t feel that lifty. That was not the case with the
Voltage. Right away you feel the speed and the power. In fact, I could not believe the power I was getting out of this kite in the wind I was in.
It likes to fly fast to the edge and because I wasn’t used to it, it did take me by surprise. One time I actually let it get too far and it collapsed
and came down. I immediately adjusted my break lines because there was way too much slack. That improved the rush to the edge and allowed me to better
control the kite. I’ll still need some time to tweak the lines, but a big improvement right now. The kite doesn’t seem to like flying just off the
front lines. It definitely doesn’t have quite the stability like the Blade IV and VIP which is something I would like to see in a Voltage II. Don’t
get me wrong, it’s not unstable, just not as stable as the Blade IV/VIP. It could also be the crappy winds I was flying in and the pilot .
Even in my light winds, I could tell it has amazing lift and the jumps feel really floaty. Max jump today was probably only 3 ft, but the nice float
definitely gave me the confidence to go bigger on days when the wind is stronger.
Although the jumps were confidence inspiring, I did feel that this kite really demands respect and will probably take me a little while to get
completely comfortable with which I am sure will come with time.
So long story short, I am very impressed with this kite. I think Peter Lynn has a real winner on its hands and the Blade finally has some competition.
I actually think the Voltage is faster, has more lift and floatyer jumps than the Blade. If there was anything I would change, it would be to try to
make the kite a little more stable, but again, this could very well be the conditions, finding the right handle and line adjustments, etc. People
that fly in smooth winds, will probably have no such problems.
Please take this review with a grain of salt as it was a quick flight in very weak conditions. This weekend I plan to fly the Voltage and Blade IV
back to back and will report back my findings.
If your thinking about purchasing a Voltage, definitely give it a test drive. I think you’ll be impressed as I am. 3shot - 26-7-2013 at 04:04 AM
Great review lunchbox. People are going to like this kite it looks like.lunchbox - 26-7-2013 at 04:10 PM
Thanks 3shot!
Had another lunch time go out today. Even lighter wind if you can believe that but surprisingly still enough to ride with this kite.
After work yesterday, I had adjusted my break lines and think I found the sweet spot. No collapses and tip tucks....well one or two tip tucks on the
down loop but that was definitely due to light wind and probably a pocket of 'dead air'.
Another thing I forgot to mention from my 1st review. I thought I would miss the AoA of the Blade's because in light wind I had to adust the setting
to a less lifty setting otherwise the kite would stall or just be more difficult to fly. With the Voltage the high lift permanent setting is not
impacted by the light wind. There is no stalling or that 'hard to get going' feeling in the wing.
OBTW, I flew the kite on 25m lines.
More to follow....
BeamerBob - 26-7-2013 at 04:54 PM
that makes it sound like the AOA adjuster was more of a patch than an advantage. I know exactly what you speak of about the Blade being hard to
launch if it's AOA was set too steep. Interesting. I'd like to give one of these a try myself sometime. I just bought a Blade V 6.5 when I had the
chance because I enjoyed my IV so much.3shot - 26-7-2013 at 05:53 PM
Lunchbox.....
Pics pleeeeeease lunchbox - 26-7-2013 at 08:08 PM
Quote:
that makes it sound like the AOA adjuster was more of a patch than an advantage.
Never thought of it like that...hmmm. I can definitely see that in light to medium winds but the AoA is pretty nice to have if you want to mix up your
session from chilled to balls to the wall or if you want to use the kite for buggying.
Quote:
I just bought a Blade V 6.5 when I had the chance because I enjoyed my IV so much.
Yep, love my IV as well. Be interested to hear your opinion of the V.
