Here's a bit of a video review of the 4m XT (2010). My second fly of this kite - not enough wind for a buggy session plus my paddocks are really wet and muddy at the moment so I strolled up my neighbor's hill for a pleasant couple of hours static flying. A very zippy turning kite with the usual Ozone high quality. Reasonably stable - it will hover at the edges pretty well (it was gusty). Powers off to very little with the bar out. Really nice bar too. I think it would start to pull you around in the buggy from 16 knots. 18-20 and you'll start to have a bit of power. I'm hoping it will still be friendly at 30 knots - I'll post when I get it down the beach in some serious wind. (serious for me, that is!). By the way, the bag is huge - you could easily fit a couple of kites, harness, jacket, sand bags etc in it. Sort of half rucksack, half bag - works ok. Anyway, a picture's worth a thousand words so enjoy.

I can board with my 6m pulse upto 25 mph so the 4m Access better take me (and you) to 30+ as I just bought an MK1 version (I weigh 145#s and fly conservatively).

Yours is a nice looking kite. I see they have gone to a two pulley mixer. Nice.

So the trimmer on that one is in the loops on the rear leader lines, correct?

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So the trimmer on that one is in the loops on the rear leader lines, correct?

Yes - I assume you mean the black webbing & buckles on either side of the bar. I think Ozone intend that to be a 'bar pressure' adjuster for a bit of fine tuning - not something easily done on the fly. There's enough depower throw on the bar that you'd probably adjust them once at the start of the session then leave 'em be. I've had a couple laps of my local beach with an XC 4m in 25mph and it was just starting to get going - it felt like it could handle a lot more where as my 3m Hornet was getting pretty unruly!!

Yum. If they had made it in a 5m I would have snatched it up instead of the apex - though the apex is much more affordable and still offers a nice fly.

Have to say, though that this is one sexy kite and one may find its way into my quiver someday!:piggy:

Yes, an interesting comparison between the 5m Apex and 4m Access - for me, there isn't a lot of overlap. I can buggy ok from not much more than 12 knots with the Apex - which doesn't sound right, I know. The last time I had it out in 23 knots I was starting to go sideways a little too much for my liking (although that was partly a bridle issue which has since been sorted). I feel the 5m Apex is equivalent to a 6m Access but with better light wind ability. The 4m Access has a much higher top end. (for this little black duck). Two quite different kites which I intend to do a lot of km's/miles on:singing:

it looks like a

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_qggxczouovw/ShVjaA-clSI/AAAAAAAADl...


[img]http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_qggxczouovw/ShVjaA-clSI/AAAAAAAADlQ/kGI44hw7u40/s400/pac+man+blue+ghost.jpg[/img]

Just had this out in 25 knots with the occasional 30 knot gust down at the beach and it's been a bit of an eye opener. The good bits: The XT handled the wind no problems. Did not luff or fold and never threatened to lift me or rip me out of the buggy. But I was being very careful with it. It's very zippy - perhaps a little too zippy - I had to keep a sharp eye on this kite - it can quickly get to where it's not suppose to be! Had 5km long downwind runs and the long hard upwind slog back up the beach - but it did get me back up, so it goes upwind ok.

The bad bits: at one point, I had the kite overhead and it was shuddering and moving about in the gusts - you could see the gusts punching into the kite. Right next to it was an older 5m Ozone Frenzy. The Frenzy didn't move. At all. It made the XT look like it had drunk waaayy to much coffee! Same on the upwind run - the kite really gets knocked around by the gusts.

It was all upwind/downwind today so I didn't get the chance to go on a nice beam reach with the XT. But I must admit to being a little disappointed with the stability when the wind picks up. I'm getting the impression Ozone has taken a backward step with this model - I'm glad they've brought the trimmer back for 2011. The line trimmers on the side just suck!

To be fair, I brought this kite for days exactly like this and it handled the conditions pretty well. Apart from my 2m Beamer and 2.5m Imp, I don't think I would have put up any of my other kites today. I've got to do a lot more flying of this kite yet so I'll keep posting my impressions.

Sounds like a great kite!

Yea a small kite in high winds can move through the wind window pretty quick my 2.6 blade can be a demon in the sky at anything more than 20mph.

Had another session on the beach yesterday - wind was picking up to 22-23 knots at times and I was occasionally going sideways with the Apex 2 5m even fully trimmed in so I swapped over to the 4m XT which in that sort of wind is just starting to come alive. It was much easier to manage - lots of depower and because it is so agile, when the wind drops off, you can work it up and down quite quickly to generate some power. That speed is a bit of a double edged sword because it's not a kite you can take your eye off. I was flying the 5m Apex one handed and filming most of the time and was able to enjoy the scenery whilst the 4m XT required most of my attention. Mind you, having that agility does allow you to loop it out of turns and do stuff you might not try with a slower kite. On paper, I would have thought a 5m Apex and a 4m XT would have a fair bit of overlap, but for me there isn't any. The 4m starts to work when the 5m is getting a tad feisty.

Providing you keep an eye on it, it's proving to be a valuable high wind kite. Quality is beautiful, the bar is very comfy with the neoprene (?) padding. It would be nice if Ozone anodized the bit of aluminium in the middle of the bar so the beal line didn't go black!!