Finally - I actually got the right wind to give the Method 4m a spin. 15-20 knots on the beach and I was a tad nervous about putting the Method up 'cos I've tried to fly it half a dozen times at home - four of which the wind died off to next to nothing and the other two were so gusty I was either going sideways or standing still. I need not have worried - while the Method is fast across the window and generates a goodly amount of power, in the buggy it was quite manageable and fun to fly on the turbo bar. Perhaps because it only has half a dozen or so open (mesh covered) cells, it doesn't inflate too fast meaning it doesn't rip your arms off on a downwind launch. Direct it quickly from 2 o clock to 11 overhead and it will lift you a little in 15 knots - interestingly the landings were a lot more gentle than they were with my 5m Apex.

I'm not a regular (or good) flyer of high aspect kites so I did find that I needed to keep a bit of brake on to stop it overflying at the edge. Work it up and down a bit and you're off and moving - it parks 'n rides easily but you can keep working it and feel the power build :D It was a little gusty but the kite would just move forward in the window when a gust hit it - no sideways pull, no drama.

I was able to lift it up at the end of my beach run to slow me down without it threatening to lift me out of the buggy. Upturns, downturns, loops and spins presented it with no problems. It seemed quite tolerant of my timing in the turns - didn't threaten to luff or fold up on me. It sat on the ground on it's brakes without threatening to lift off.

It turns quite well on the turbo bar - Goshen flew it on the bar and then on handles and reported it's even better on handles. Interestingly, he swapped the turbo bar onto his 4m Blade V which I gave a run up and down the beach. The Blade V (which flew very well on the turbo bar I might add) felt a little more aggressive, a bit more lifty and a bit less forgiving - just enough to notice but the two kites certainly had more similarities than differences.

It was a fun kite to fly - a good step up from the Flow. Typical Ozone quality - can't find anything to complain about there. I was impressed and I can see more than one of these ending up in my quiver.

Thanks to Goshen & Kitepower for the demo.

Had another session recently in about 16 knots - kite was just starting to come on song. Landing and launching several times directly downwind - no problems whatsoever. A very well behaved kite and I'm really keen to fly this in a solid 18-22 knots. Flew it alongside the Vapor 4.5m - which is a much more powerful and faster kite. I think Ozone's advertising of the top speed of the Method being the same as the Yak is stretching the truth a little I think the speed of these kites is halfway between the Flow's and the race kites. Not much in the bottom end but very much fun and easy to handle in the top end.

Size for size, these do not have the power or speed of Twisters/Centurys and race kites but they are a lovely kite to fly and quickly becoming the kite I want to pull out of the quiver first....

In the Labour Day vid in the buggy thread there is some footage about 3 minutes in where I'm going slightly downwind at about 60kph (with the 6.5m) and the Montana 9.5 and Vapor come past - gives an indication of relative speed. I would also point out that I was comfortable enough to be filming with one hand and flying with the other - which I think says something about how stable and relaxing to fly these kites are.

thanks for the review John .I am picking the 4m method up from Kent in a couple of weeks when im down in vegas ,cant wait to give this kite some fly time ,also have to add that the green black color combo is amazing ,ozone has it going on

Update: Just had the Method up for six days of kiting at Sandy Point ranging from 12 to 20+ knots and about 200km of buggying. It is a very, very well behaved kite. Never bow-tied on me. Sits on the ground with little fuss. I don't think this kite is any harder to fly than the Flow - perhaps add a touch of brake as it nears the edge of the window to stop it overflying. Points upwind really well - coming back in a 45 degree onshore wind was no problem.

Downwind I needed to work the kite quite a bit to get the apparent wind I needed in the kite to get it to park 'n ride - and this kite needs a good amount of wind - more than you may think. ie: I spent a lot of time alongside Mick who was flying a 2.8m Century. Under 14 knots, the Century would pull away from me both upwind and down wind and was quite solid running downwind too. However, as the wind got to 15-16 knots, we were pretty evenly matched. Coming out from behind the dunes the wind was up around the 17-18 knot mark with higher gusts and the Method was still sitting well forward and pulling hard with little sideways pull while the 2.8m Century was making a bit too much power resulting in lots of sideways stuff and I was able to pull away both upwind and downwind.

Comparing the 4m Method to Reactors, Century's, Cors, Blades etc in a similar size would leave the method looking quite underpowered. It simply needs a bit more wind...

And it's quite controllable and non scary when it does start getting up to 20 knots and above..

Running downwind in 18 knots or so I was hitting 67 kph mark on a couple of occasions and 71 kph with the 5m method in the same wind so while they may not be up to Yak and Vapor speeds, they're not slow either.

Very easy to fly with a big, forgiving top end. For the 4m you need 14 to 20 knots. The 5m was certainly good at 12 knots and was a lot of fun when the wind picked up to 18-22 knots - but I wouldn't deliberately put it up in those speeds!

It's a great kite - I'd like a tad more ooomph in the bottom end, but not at the expense of the upper wind range.

It's not so forgiving if you accidentally downloop it through the powerzone while stationary in the buggy fiddling around with your lap belt. Guaranteed NOT to end well!

edit: check the Speed Week 2011 video in the buggying thread to have a look at the 4m Method....