I have been flying Leading Edge Inflatable kites for the last year or more in the buggy. They do fly great for me, re-launch pretty easy, fly and turn fast. But this season I have wanted to get back to a foil kite again. A little easier to travel with, pack and I don’t have to drag a pump around with me. I have always been an HQ guy and I wanted to try out the Apex II this year. I had been trying to get my hands on a demo kite for a long time with no luck. Finally I just bit the bullet and grabbed one.

My initial impression is that this kite feels really good. There are more expensive kites out there for sure but the Apex will hold up against most of them in quality and performance. The quality of the lines and backpack is really nice. The bar is pretty straight forward and the strap for the depower adjustment is pretty easy to reach even though my arms are a bit short. .The kite itself is sturdy and well stitched. HQ has always put their kites together well but this one is very nice without being to heavy or too bulked up feeling.
The kite launches pretty effortlessly in light winds by just pulling the centerlines. It is very easy to reverse launch as well even in heavier winds it goes up backwards nice and smooth and predictable nothing weird. In the air the kite is VERY stable and has some nice grunt for it’s size. Super stable even out on the edge of the window with no weird tip folds or funky behavior so far .

The Apex II feels a bit smaller than what it is, as it turns pretty quick and steers very well on the bar. It turns a lot faster than the original Apex and also seems to have a little more depower. There are several knots on the centerlines to adjust. I have been flying with mine all the way in. The de-power is nice and smooth. When depowered the kite holds it’s shape and the power slips away smoothly. Even in light winds if you really fly this kite you can generate a decent amount of power. I have been able to buggy in winds that I thought would not get me going at all. Once moving the kite seems to really like to fly. It has pretty good upwind ability as well. I was pretty amazed to get back up wind on some of the light wind days I was out in with this kite. The heavier days have been great as well and the kite will power up quick but pretty smoothly.

Overall I’m really pleased with this kite and very glad to have added it in the buggy engine bag. It is not near as lifty as some other kites but still has a little lift when you need it. I wasn’t looking for a jumping kite. I was looking for a stable easy to fly, grunty, buggy engine. I’m pretty sure I have found it with the Apex II. For the price this one is hard to beat in my opinion. I think the 7.5M will be my main go to kite this season but the 5M is going get plenty of use as well. Especially on those really windy days

right on rob, nicely done!

Great job! Nice park-and-ride! Bring it to JIBE of course.

I've been thinking about getting one of these as well, to have depower foil that has reduced lift. Nice vid. Why the PL fork on your Libre buggy?

Ahh yeah, I will have em at JIBE for sure. The fork thing. I threw some wider tires on the Libre and the standard Vmax fork wasn't wide enough sooo on went a PL fork with a little adjustment. I may add the Libre front end later but I reached in my pocket and only came up with lint, so that add on may be later on.....

When I had my Libre I too put a PL big foot fork on it and PL kinked downtube. The downtube slide right in with no adjustment necessary. It was a quick fix vs. building one myself and worked perfect!

I had my Apex II out for the first time today, and yeah....ditto on everything Rob said. Upwind was MUCH better than I had anticipated. AWESOME kite for a buggy engine! I'll probably end up buying all 3...

Looks like a great location to fly! Thanks for sharing the review and video

Rob, that's Anastasia Park, right?

Hey Angus
That is St. Augustine Beach around the Ocean Trace ramp area. We usually go down there and find a spot that is not too crowded on a weekday. The park is a great place as well not many people once ya get down the beach away from the ramp. There has not been a whole lot of beach down there though so you have to really plan the runs with the tides and wind. As of the first of this month I'm riding either in the park or South as the beach patrol guys are running everyone off the beach by 7pm you can still be on the beach just not with your car. If anyone has been here knows there is not much off beach parking.

I just took the 7.5 out tonight after work. I was amazed in what little bit of wind it took to fly this kite. I knew it wasn't enough to get in the buggy but I jumped in anyway. Cruised around and even went upwind with no problem. Looks like I'm gonna add the 10M and just round it out with them all.

I flew to 10m in the bug in 7-10 today and it did the job very well