As this forum has an abundance of ARC flyers (myself one of them) I would like to ask the ARC flyers who have some time under their harness with LEI's to make a comparison. I'm faced with extremely small launching areas in the summer on the lake where we fly (winter and buggy fields are not a problem) and all the guys I fly with are launched effortlessly on their LEI's while I am faced with the standard Twinskin launch challenges. It's all tree lined, tons of large driftwood and "snaggers" and very little beach to speak of. I'm strongly considering a quiver of LEI's for the summer (keeping the ARCS!) and want to know how people who have flown both kites feel about the flight characteristics of the inflatos. I'm looking at Switchblades. The Venoms are the only kites I've flown on the water. This is new territory for me. One thing I have noticed is that I have to work the Venoms a lot more than the boys on their lei's who can park and ride much sooner. My kite skills are pretty dialed.
Thanks for any feedback!! I know their are lots of opinions on this issue.

Go For SLE, much more of a range.

with out flawless arc launches in a tight spots, it will be challenging indeed ,

the switchblades are fantastic kites great upwind and hold their own against any bow SLE/lei.

liquid force good all around like the havoc

both have different bars, LF below the bar trim (flashy but truly hard to work on the run)and has heavy bar pressure similar to ARC., but the power band is very step and has a mechanical feel with bulldozer power.

Cabrinah pull/pull trim with lighter bar pressure the power band is similar(to LF) a little more refined.

you can toss them both on the water and go no trouble...pump it, float it out and super easy launch. neither are auto zenith. and aren't smooth power arc and don't float out airs like PL... they'll pop up a ton but require a lot of redirect to get float rides.

12-14m are choice sizes

a float out on a PL can be done but it ain't something you look forward to unVucking when it ain't right on perfect, and with snags it gonna happen

I've got a bead on a 10 and 14 each with bar. Should cover a good range for up here. I'll most likely need an 8 for Fall winds, but can throw up the Bomba 10.5 in the meantime if it's nukin'.