Hi.

I'm looking for opinions on the pull of a given FS compared to a given PL. I'm tring to decide on an uber lightwind machine for the days when the winds are too light to haul my fat 200+ lb tuckus with my 19m Syn.

I've only had limited time on FS but tons of time on PLs. Last winter I swapped my 19m V2 with a FS rider and got to fly his 15m P3. The FS was faster across the window but the PL definately had more grunt although this may not be the case with the newer versions of FS.

I'm thinking of either a Silver Arrow 19m Speed or a 19m P4 but don't know if they may be too much. Maybe a smaller 15m FS would do the job but I'm not sure. If anyone with expirience with both and how they stack up to a PL Syn 19m and is willing to chime in I'd appreciate the input.

And for the record I ride snow. I've never been on open water but my bet is there are way more water riders out there with expirience with the kites I've mentioned.

Thanks in advance.

hi

a Flysurfer P3 (I suppose you mean Psycho3) 15m does not exist. May be 13m or 17m ?? May be a Psycho4 15m ??

Flysurfer Psycho3 and Speed are high aspect ratio kites, thus not much grunt but drives upwind crazy even in light wind.

If you want more grunt, go Pulse.

But for light winds, you should go with the Speed which excels there.

Speed2 are getting cheap now as the speed3 coming out.

At 200lbs, I'd say go with the 19m, especially if you plan to hit water.

If you only want to snowkite for sure, the Speed2 15m will for sure do an excellent job. It can be a good light wind kite on water too if you use a very good light wind board such as a race board or Spleene Monster DOOR.

I am 190lbs, and I have had a 15m for a year, and now the 19m for a year too.

On water the 19m allows me to go light wind with my small twin tip. The power comes from the kite.

I often use the 19m in winter as well. As soon as the kite flies (~4 knots), I can get going on skis. And with a snowboard in deeper snow, I can keep it a long time when the winds picks up.

Jumps with the speed gives lot of hangtime.

never flew an Arc.

in ~7kts a 16m Scorpion sat lifeless while I was jumping with 17m Speed 1.5

first time unrolling my (used) 19m SA2. Kestrel wind meter reading 2.5 gusting to 4.1kts.
figured nothing was going to happen but at least I'd be able to inflate kite and see how it looks. it launched easily and I was jumping higher/longer than ever. *i'm not a freestyler/jumper. what i call jumps are my feet 3-5 feet above ground.

i'm not sure if it's due to being more excited(flying more aggressively) about the SA but the 'larger' 19 SA2 seems so much easier to time jumps. it seems to turn quicker too. the 17m Speed 1.5 was checked over and tuned for me (by Powerzone) before I got it. I believe it is tuned for quick turning. i can only seem to get about half the jumps i try with the 17m Speed 1.5 and nearly get all the jumps I tried with the 19m SA2.
I have buggied with both kites. the last time out was in low wind (did not meter it) but guessing around 3kts when we finally unrolled the big stuff. the 19SA2 had me(180lbs) hauling, and then some, while my brother (220 lbs) was having difficulties keeping 17m S 1.5 airborne. *he has far less experience with depowers than myself and i had just spent 5-6 straight hours buggying the day before using only my 7.3 Frenzy so i was not rusty.
'skeeters came looS-P-A-M-L-I-N-K-n for supper as we were about to swap kites so I didn't try buggying with the 17m S 1.5 in those winds
i usually buggy with kite's trimmer/AoA bridle adjusted for low AoA.
I used the 12m Pu 2 snow kiting last year in winds that i wouldn't(couldn't) dare use with a buggy. So i'm guessing the 19m SA2 will have quite a large usable range for snow.
I'm sure Denis is quite right when he says the 19m SA will pull in 4kts.
the first time my brother saw the SA we went to a field which is close to a tree line. it took a bit to launch but once up it stayed up easy. if we looked at the trees 10 time, the leaves were 'still' about 7 out of the ten times. we were shocked. i was jumping(little) with the kite.
Paul

150 ish lbs.....................15m SA2 or S2
175 ish lbs......................17m SA 1.5
190 ish and up................19m SA 2, 2.5

The 17m SA 1.5 and 19m SA 2 are both amazing kites in low winds................with the amount of depower available the top end isnt too bad either...............Ive done 16 kts on my SA 2 with no issue (plenty of power and speed )

wow, hauling at 3 knots in the buggy with a depower is pretty amazing.

yep "and then some" is spiced up runs with the occasional rear tire(s) drag/slide from the kite torque.
shall we coin the term a "torque slide" or is there already term for when the kite pulls buggy abruptly and directly towards itself during a run?
Paul