So I have always regretted selling of my original Phantoms (9, 1, and 18) and have gone the rounds of trying to find a quiver of kites I liked as much but I don't think I will.

I recently picked up a Venom2 13 from the for sale area and it has brought back all those wonderful twinskin feelings. So here lies my question.

I have an 8 mtr Access 2 that I like, will the venom 2 13 offer the same low wind performance(I've been able to fly that thing around on Ivanpah in a very light wind) and give me a wind range that I can justify selling the Access?

I would eventually like to have just 2 venoms and 2 fixed bridle high wind kites( I'll never get rid of my Beamer 1.4 for that) and really have a usable set of kites.

Will the 13 Venom 2 give me enough wind range, or should I look for a 16 and 8 in the same vintage?

13m is the most well rounded in the V2 line IMO. Easily a Match for the Access. It may not give you quite as low end as the Access, ( close but not quite) it will give you a lot more on the top end.

And the Venom smokes the Access in gust handling. The Access is very good in the gusts but the Venom is amazing.

Depending on your size. The Venoms from me were as follows...

10m High wind engine.

13m Handles a wind range almost as high as the 10m but better low end. It is probably the most popular size in the series.

16m My favorite powerhouse. Almost as much grunt and lift as the 19m but faster turning. A V8 compared to the 13m 6 cylinder. All these kites have a huge overlapping depow range so I always liked the 16m because I could depow to around the top end of the 13m.

19m One of the best low wind/fat kid kites in the Arc series. More grunt than any Arc after it in the 19m range.:D

Not being an arc flier and not being one who pays attention to most arc threads, I have noticed that V2s seem to have been very popular and very fondly remembered and spoken of (and super cool looking IMO). Why is it that PL took them out of the line up? From what I understand the Charger is nothing like them and maybe??? not as popular? Just curious and admitedly speaking from no real position of authority or knowledge.

Thanks Feyd, that's what I needed to hear.

I may see if it can be the one kite quiver for a while with a 2mtr and 1.4mtr FB for those crazy days at the Playa.

The Venom series was probably the most popular in the Arc lineage. Followed closely by the Phantom 1 and the Synergy. The Venom 1 and 2 were refined versions of the Guerilla where they incorporated some of the mods that were developed by various arc flyers. The result was a super stable, easy to fly yet high performance when you wanted arc.

I suspect PL took it out of the line up just to make room for new designs and try to resolve some of the complaints that people had with earlier Arcs such as slow turn rate. The Synergy was a substantial departure from the earlier Arcs in performance. The response from arc flyers was excellent but there was still a demand for a more powerful, faster turning higher performance arc. So they pushed the design even further, enter the Charger.

The Charger was perhaps too high performance. It sacrificed the oft sought after Arc stability for uber high turn rate and "rip you out of your boots" lift. I think this was too much for most arc flyers who liked the "Park and ride" performance arcs were known for. On top of that there were some production issues in a number of Chargers that made a kite that was already a handful nearly completely unmanageable for most Charger owners. Really it seemed the luck of the draw as to who got a good Charger and who got bad. There's been a lot of work done by owners of Chargers to resolve issues with certain problem Chargers and once modded, the kites are very nice flyers.

The Charger 2 has had quite a few changes to it over the Charger 1. It is very much like a Synergy and seems to be a swing in design back to what Arcs are known for.

no doubt feyd is the expert, but i have to say that i did not care for the 16 but loved the 19.... of course i am one of the "fat Kids" althoug prefer the term "Big Boy" has a ton of grunt and float but is definetly a pig when it comes to turning its slooooow. The charger 2 15m is quickly replacing my 13m vII as my goto kite though more grunt and much faster turner with same stability. I really like it, and it can get me going in much lower winds than the vII for what its worth.
Scott