On one of these sites that sells kites is an article explaining kite pricing. Cheap kites that "fly" but have no R&D in them and expensive kites that had many prototypes made and hence the higher recovery costs.

Has anyone else also seen this article?

i haven't seen the article but case in point, one of my customers asked if I had a 'Batman' kite and I didn't so he bought one for like $20. This was a 2 line foil with a picture of a batman on it.

He bought several for he and some friends so they could 'fight' each other. None of them flew.

He being handy redid every single bridle point on that kite with new line. Finally he had a kite that flew. I flew it...I got more out of flying a $10 single line kid kite thant flying that thing.

The real test was 'doing battle' with a Peter Lynn Vibe. Now the Vibe isn't the strongest two line kite out there (Thunderfoil has it beat) but it was comparable in size.

The Vibe was responsive in flight while the Batman was like flying a marshmellow. I whacked 'Batman' once fabric to fabric, then Batman came back and wrapped himself completely on my left Vibe line near the bridle/line connection point. This 'towel' didn't affect the vibe at all and it was still flying no problem.

Oh..the stitching is coming off of it too.

Stick with name brands. It is fun that lasts.

It wasn't easy; but I found it:

http://kitethoughtsfromthefield.blogspot.com/2010/07/cheap-k...

Hey I still have the first 2-line stunt kite I ever made didn't fly well, but it flew enough to teach me how to fly :D then I made another and stacked them and it flew even slower

I need to keep more up to date on my blog.