Last week in hatteras I ended up using my flysurfer 15m Speed 3 most of the time. I am hooked on the hangtime, lift, forgiveness when learning new tricks, and not having to pump up the kite. Going from the S3 15m to a 10m RPM back to back was a bit frustrating, the jumping technique is different and my backrolls were turning into kite loops quite often so I'd like to stick to the same kite type. Right now I share my quiver with my wife, she is always one kite size smaller than me so it works great. We use LEIs: nomad 5.5m, rpm 8m and 10m, and the FS 15m which replaced a rally 14m. I want to replace the RPMs and nomad to have all FSers (3 kites total). I am thinking of a 10m Speed 4 and a 6m unity or 8m S4). Im not sure if this would be doable though since we are sharing kites. A few questions, all basically asking how the FSers compare to LEIs:

What is the high end on a speed4 10m compared to an LEI? Is it similar to the 8m rpm? (This would be the highest wind we could both fly in since I would be on the S4 10m while she is on the 6m unity).

What is the low end on the 6m unity compared to an LEI? Is it similar to the 8m RPM?

What is the high-end on the 6m unity compared to an LEI? is it similar to the 5.5 nomad?

Would the 8m S4 and 10m S4 be better instead of 6m Unity and 10m S4?

i remember when i first got my rpm 12m, about 4-6 hours really to feel out how to make the RPM go big. i went back and forth for a year FS/RPM on the water. tough choice .

for the RPM , everything is faster! speed to pop and speed to send. once i figured out the speed thing on the rpm , even in light its hard to beat.

FS don't need so much speed to pop or to send, but they are sensitive!

your weights would help the most. mostly flat water or wave/ocean?.

10m lotus would NOT go nearly as high as 8m rpm, with the 10m you would peak out around 25knts super lit ...the 8m RPM would just be getting good. TOO much of a stretch there.

175lbs and 120 lbs + gear. We ride flatwater and 3-5 ft lake swell. We don't surf the swell or waves, just jump off of them using them as ramps. Strictly twin tips, no surfboards yet. It seems like going down to 3 kites would be quite hard then if the 10m maxes out at 25knots. Currently we can both be riding in 30+ knots.

I just saw FS came out with a 6m S4!

Unity wasn't apopular kite, was it? I'd stick with the Speeds, myself... and a mixed quiver.

6m , 10 15, that way everybody has kite when things picks up. thats about as far as you can stretch 3 for those weights

As an owner of a 6 Unity and having flown Dave's 8 RPM and my own 4.5 RPM I can say the 6 Unity should not under any scenario be compared to the 8 RPM for power. Weird I know since LEI to foil differences would lead one to believe that would be reasonable.

The 6 Unity is more in line honestly with my 4.5 RPM (at best). The Unity is a very forgiving stable kite (at least in the 6 good for buggy/land and teaching others on snow) but I'd personally never use it on water.

my two cents.

What are the main differences between the Speed 4 dlx 10m and the Speed 4 Lotus 10m?

DLX: One less pulley, lower AR, has the plastic batons in the front...
Lotus: latest model, more $$, higher AR, no batons, 2 pulleys.

What type of rider would enjoy one over the other? I would assume if you like looping maybe DLX is better (turns faster)?
Does the DLX bowtie less when overflying during a jump or in gusty launch areas (under-inflated)?
Differences in gust handling?
Does the Lotus go upwind better?
Does the Lotus jump higher?

Just need to sell a few more things before pulling the trigger on one of these :D