A lot of posts recently about big PL kites and I'm wondering if I should get a bigger ARC. I snowkite/buggy and my biggest kite is a PL Venom II 16. I've always heard that bigger ARCs are just for bigger people and wouldn't allow me to ride with any fun in lower winds. Maybe 1-2 MPH lower which isn't really worth the cost.

SO... is it worth getting a 18 Phantom/ 19 Venom/ 18 or 22 Guerilla?

Currently, what is the lowest winds you can ride that kite in?
How often are you left not being able to ride because your kite isnt big enough?

Yup, your best bet if you want to ride in lighter winds is to go with a newer model such as the Charger. A bigger Venom is not really going to get you that much more performance for the cost. As you said, maybe 1 or 2 mph lighter but it would be pushing it.

The newer kites such as the Synergy and the Charger allow for a stiffer profile and faster turning. This makes it so you can work the kite better to produce better power in the lighter winds. They also produce better power overall compared to the older designs such as the Venom and especially the Guerilla series.

By getting a Charger 15, you should be able to get better light wind performance than you are currently getting with your Venom II 16. I would estimate the Charger 15 to give maybe 3-4 mph better light wind performance than your VII 16, depending on your current flying / riding skills. I would even say with the right kiting skills, you would get much better light wind performance on the CH15 than you would by going to a Venom 19. The power delivery and performance of the Chargers are just that much better in design.

It use to be a general rule of thumb that you would go appx. 2 sizes larger on the PL kites than what people using LEI's were flying. So if people were on 13m LEI's, your best bet would be to get a 15m or even a 16m PL to match the power and performance. With the Chargers we are finding that it is much closer to 1 to 1 in power per size, meaning that the power output of the CH12 is appx. the same as people riding on 11m - 12m LEI's. This is because of the increase in power per size and also the increase in the light wind performance and speed.

Hope this helps.

my venom 19 gets me boarding in 6-7mph, buggying in same, and surfing in 14mph

my phantom 15 needed a bit more... 4mph more, i guess

no, it just want come around..a little too slow .

maybe with super flat and no current, but not worth it.

your 13m venom(II) THE most efficient arc unit ever made. 13m with 9.1 Projected area and all the range you can stomach!

V16 like a 14m tube
ch15 like a 13 m tube , the tube will get you lower with less work.

v13 like a 12m tube that as close as they ever came.

if CH12 would replace a v13 i would be flying it right now .

SYN 15 is very similar to CH15. power is about the same CHARGER is wildly faster with less bar pressure.

...and all that quickness can only do so much

just my experience, its a little contrary and sometimes you have that