So I got my Toxic a while back but because it been really windy Its taken a while to get a few sessions in and get an impression of it. heres my review.

The Package: Really good. you get kite, handles, lines, killers, harness strop, metal ground stake a manual and a big high quality backpack with enough room for your helmet, pads & harness + more.

Build Quality: Again very impressed. HQ have always looked a little cheap and cheerful compared to Ozone or Flexifoil but the Toxic is very high quality product. colour coded bridles, immaculate stitching, quality fabric, dirt outs, bridle keepers, the works! Some may appreciate a little more padding on the handles and the lines are a little flimsy but othwise hard to find fault. The kite looks great in the air too. HQ have done a good job with this one.

Steering and response: Handling is pretty average for a big foil. its not as quick as a Blade but for me thats a good thing! Very similar to a Peter Lynn Twister 7.7. You can do a lot with brake line input and a tug on the appropriate brake line is the pest way to initiate a fast turn in low winds with this kite. It climbs really well which again is important for low winds.

Upwind: The kite sits well forward in the window quite happily as you would expect for this sort of aspect ratio and flies upwind no problem.

Lift & Jumps: Pretty pleased with how the kite behaves here. It will generate lift well but the lift is not there all the time like an early blade. hence its great for cruising in the buggy and you can swing it back accross the window for turns without worrying alot about being lofted. The boost is a bit late on the landboard so if you release your edge too early you don't go anywhere. (i'm not great at jumping on a landboard so this may be due to lack of skill!!)

Wind range: Gets you rolling in about 4 kts! so its a pretty good lightwind toy. It was really nice in 6-8kts. very stable. generates good power with little sine wave patterns at the front of the window if you start to slow down. I haven't really tested the top of the wind range.

Overall I'm really pleased with the kite. Its probably the best HQ I have flown. Similar performance to a twister but more stable and better upwind. Less performance than a blade but easier to handle. I would recommend it to any level of buggy pilot and to landboarders wanting a low wind engine without spending big bucks on a massive depower.

Sessions were on hard sand in a buggy, landboard and static in 4-10kts.

The 8m toxic is a delight to fly in low winds, has a lot more pull than a 6.5 m kite so it's a nice big step up, I pretty much just use mine as a park and ride in a buggy, I found the lift to be fairly low, so possibly not a good jumping kite ( but then I'm not interested in jumping a race buggy ) enjoy your purchase.