Okkkkk... So i was gonna do a video review but i hit record and my crappy cameras battery died on my first tack So i'll keep this textual for now...

I've flown alotta kites now and i've been on the water since 2006, and i landboarded since 2001. I own and have flown all kinds, arcs, flysurfers, SLEs, Bows, Ckites, even viokites! I've always had a bit of a softspot for foils of any kinda i'll admit, my first depower kite was the guerilla so i guess that does make me a bit biased. Anyway, basically i love all kites, and i hate it when people talk crap about kites they really have no experience on

Sooo to the speed3... I started off on the psycho4 10m which was pretty underpowered, the wind was 16-19mph, the waves were big, we've just had a big storm here in cali and the wind was direct onshore for me at venice beach.

The speed3 15m is probably my favourite kite, certainly in its range, of all time.

The first thing i noticed about the kite is how amazingly smooth it is, it's the most stable flysurfer i've ever flown, the wind wasn't very gusty admitedly but it just feels so smooth. I had a 15m SA2 just before this and the turning speed/bar feel is a significant improvement. It definitely turns fast for a 15m kite.

I had the depower pulled in about 1/2 the way and had absolutely no problems holding on to the kite in this wind, on my speed2 i would of started getting frightened now . I had one slightly scary run away moment when a BIG wave was coming toward me and i looped the kite to run away from it The amount of power it produced when it did that was pretty awesome and i eventually lost my edge and came flying off my board :D but the kite was very well behaved.

JUMPING:

Oh boy.
Can't really say much more about it than that. My SA2 i thought was amazing at jumping, but this thing is even better, the float is basically the same as my speed2 but the upward lift is definitely way more, the initial yank i was getting kinda scared the crap out of me in fact the first time it took me out of the waves and i had to kick my board off and i landed up on the beach :D oops.

I think you'd be hard pressed to find a better kite for old school style big air kiting.

Down the line: Nothing amazing obviously, the wing is just too big to be really effective. However, i'm not sure what the standard is like, but this deluxe one just sits in the air in pretty much any wind so i never had any problems with the kite falling out of the sky, just when i rode down the line and ran out of line i had to sit back for a moment while the wind was back in the kite and it had the power to pull me again.

Safety:
I didn't like the idea of the FDS going away and i would definitely prefer they just used the fifth line - the safety is kind of weird anyway and is a kind of 5th line that just goes 1/2 the way up the kite. Anyway, it worked flawlessly in 17mph, took the kite to the edge of the window, nice and low and hit the safety. Kind landed perfectly.

Sorry this wasn't a very organised review i was just posting my thoughts in no particular order
If you have any questions let me know though. It's a great kite.

excellent review Dom !

Now I just need to try :-)

this is going to be the kite i buy when i land this job im working on getting. It covers so much of the wind range, such a dynamic kite.

Great review:eureka:

All I need is a little pocket change. :cool2:

BTW, really nice perspective on the review.

thank you and great review...................wow....19mph is alot for a 15m..........Im well lit at 19 on the 12m S2...............says alot about the depower.............whats the bottom end for you on the 15? I understand the deflate zip is gone. Having said that, hows the Velcro substitute and is deflating an issue?

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Originally posted by tridude thank you and great review...................wow....19mph is alot for a 15m..........Im well lit at 19 on the 12m S2...............says alot about the depower.............whats the bottom end for you on the 15? I understand the deflate zip is gone. Having said that, hows the Velcro substitute and is deflating an issue?

Yeah, i was a bit scared when i first put it up but it was amazingly easy to manage, not scary at all... Wouldn't take it out in much more though just because things can go wrong and you don't really want something that big pulling you around even if it does have amazing depower...

I've attached the windgraph for the day - i was out 1 till 3:30ish.

I've only flown the kite a couple of times now, the other time was in 5-6mph and it wasn't gonna pull me upwind in that and was barely pulling me downwind, i think 8-9mph is a reasonable estimate as to its low end with a normalish size board. Will let you know for sure

Deflate zip is gone I think they removed everything that added any weight to the canopy, the blowout valves also. Didn't have much problem deflating it, had to squeeze it a little bit more than i normally would with that big zip but no real problem. The velcro things are also meant to act as blowout valves apparently.

Nice ! DOM! what had been your "go to" set up before you got the S3 15m ?

tridude, do you have S2 12m ?

yes......it was in the bag on the beach Saturday........kind of kicked myself for leaving it in the bag but the Pulse needed to be flown..........................:duh::duh:

so lift, speed, depower, and stability have been improved................could you tell any difference in upwind capability?

I can't really tell in this kind of wind it pulled me upwind like crazy but so would any kite that size
i get the feeling it might actually be a bit worse than the S2 in terms of upwinding though just because its more agile and requires more input in the lower range, certainly going to the farthest edge of the window though

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Originally posted by PHREERIDER Nice ! DOM! what had been your "go to" set up before you got the S3 15m ? tridude, do you have S2 12m ?

Tricky! I guess for a while my goto kite was an ocean rodeo rise but i got bored with pumping it up i also didn't like the bar pressure on the kite, i felt like i couldn't feel where the thing was very well when doing jumps because it was so light. Not to say i didn't love the kite it was great i just gradually leaned away from it eventually

Apart from that, the wind we get around here is never very strong so my speed 2 15m was probably the most used kite i had. Now its the s3 and should be even more so because of its better topend

got a chance to fly this kite for several hours, and its pretty awesome.... power delivery is only slightly different from the S2, but deffinate higher top end and more pop. it feels like it lacks a knot or two on the low end, the speed2 kept the grunt all the way to its extreme low wind...i don't care for the velcro deflaters or the infinity bar, but the pros far outweigh the cons.

if i didn't already have a 15m Arrow i'd get this kite for sure. but gotta have the Deluxe... its so much better than standard fabric.

the Speed 3 is the Real Deal folks.... they actually were able to succeed in topping the speed2.... very impressive.

Well, thats the seal of approval I have been waiting for. I gotta try it now.

Just want to add that I was able to hold this kite down in 25mph winds. It was a little scary on transitions taking me down wind pretty far, but once it gets to the edge, it wasnt bad at all.

Low end on snow is probably right around 8mph or so. I was in a foot and a half of snow with winds right around 6-7, and I couldnt really get moving. Snow was real soft though, so that wasnt helping. If the snow had been harder packed, it might have been fine. Kite would stay in the air, but it just wasnt producing enough power to keep me moving. I do weigh in at about 190lbs with all my gear on though...

the 25 mph had to have been on h20, right?

yeah, on water...

That's it. I tested the Speed3 15m deluxe for about a little more than 1 hour today in very light winds (my guess is around 5-7 knots)

- it turns faster. that's the main thing I was impressed with because when you look at the kite in the air, the shape looks so much high aspect

- more agile

- the power/depower feels more progressive. very smooth

- bar pressure a bit less than S2

- low end not bad but I feel that the S2 has more raw power park and ride) and then better in low end. On the other hand the S3 is more agile and can compensate by sining up/down the kite easier

- tips curl a bit when turning in light winds compared to S2. I guess this is due to variable shape (3x depower system)

- no backstall like Psycho 4

- takes less time to find the sweet spot of this kite than a Psycho4 in light winds

because of very light winds, I wasn't able to test jumps and top end. next time but it must be good.

So I am very tempted by a S3 12m, but as for the big one, I will keep my SA2 19m a bit longer

The 12m must be an awesome kite in medium winds.

In the same conditions, just before I flew my SA2 19m and the power delivery is more, but there is 4m more

I have an appointment with my bank director later tonight. $$