I just wanted to get everyone thoughts on what the best kite company FOR THE MONEY is. This might be helpful for a newbie to take a quick glace at down the road. I'm talking compare size for size and compareable model to compareable model just change brands. The most bang for your buck .. if you will. I don't know if this will work, but it can't hurt to try. An example (I know the prices are not 100 % accurate but they are ball park) pansh 6m ace $180 RTF, HQ crossfire II 6.5m $500 RTF , Flexi Blade 6.5 $700 kite only. And please fell free to suggest someone who wasn't on the poll.

PKD, Flysurfer, profoil

You forgot 1/2 the brands in my quiver !

ok ... how do I add them on anyone ? I guess I should have asked for a list before I started the poll. :saint:

No offense, but I don't think this will tell you much more than "PKF member's favorite kite brands". Although that could be interesting also. This is just going to come down to personal preference, experience and affiliation.

kiteNH no offense taken. I think you are probably right. I was just hoping everyone could put aside whats in their bag for a minute and give us a honest vote. If someone feels a ozone is worth twice as much as a compareable HQ please let them be heard. Also maybe we should base this on a flyers ability. Say if the title was best kite company for the money for a intermediate pilot. Would that make a difference? maybe ? Because would a intermediate pilot be able to tell the difference between some of the kites, especially enough difference to warrant the cost ?

I wish i could vote. but can't because all i know Is HQ. for me right now at my stage in life, they are great kites for the price. and the performance is great. Ozone and Flexifoil are Amazing from what i hear but very expensive for me, right now, hence why my quiver is so small. so to be fair I won't vote because i have never even seen any other kites other than my own not even in the sky

As far as best bang for your buck as a beginner its gotta be Pansh... IMO... second HQ... then Flexi... as far as quality of kite, its reversed but then you have to reverse the kiters ability... an experienced kiter could appreciate a flexi before the rest... question is... is it worth $108+ per sq meter or is the ace worth $30 per sq meter... as far as value (best bang for your buck) I'd have to say Pansh... I'm not taking anything away from flexi in fact I think they are worth the price, but I'd rather someone pay as lil as possible to find out if this sport is for them... I also think pansh is probably worth more than the $30 per sq meter... hence making it "MORE BANG FOR THE BUCK"

Please don't let a beginner buy any of these 6m kites as their first...:o lol

Quote:

Originally posted by dlish89 ok ... how do I add them on anyone ? I guess I should have asked for a list before I started the poll. :saint:

you'll have to re-do the poll

i dont think you can fit all the choices in one poll, unless Admin sets it to a high number. Normally its maxed at ~15 choices

Maybe just get everyone to list one brand, and you can tally up the names.

if you need a list (in no order):

U-Turn
Advance
Jojo
Libre
Ozone
Flexifoil
Peter Lynn
Pansh
Skycountry
HQ
Gin
PKD
Flysurfer
Quadrifoil
Airea
Alien
Profoil
North (Snow)
Concept Air
Wolkenstürmer
Direct Power
Rhombus
Elliot

Thanks for the list ripsessionkites . Do you think its worth doing or is this just all a waste of time ?

Radsail is pretty good

dlish89, you cannot add to a poll once it has started. If you could, it would skew the results.

Thank you pkf.

All the following is based on my personal experiences. Buying a kite is like buying a car. You can't fill your want list 100%. You compromise on price, quality, or features to best meet your needs. The Flexi is a fine kite, but you try not to talk about how much you paid for it. The HQ in my eye offers a high level of RTF and engineering/design expertise with reasonable prices. Pansh definitely offers lots of sail for the money, but that's about the extent of it. Not that well engineered or packaged, if you compare to one of the old standards. Their place in the market IMO is that you can try larger size kites without taking out a second mortgage. In my case, I bought or borrowed 4 different sized and styles of Pansh kites. They were fun and interesting at that stage but as my tastes matured I moved on and dare say won't look back. Dlish is helping that some but it is still a finicky kite that doesn't have the finesse of an HQ, Flexi, or Peter Lynn. People don't buy a Toyota Corrolla because they couldn't get their color in the Ferarri.

flexi........bing bang but big bucks however, if you're in it for the long term they can save you $$

performance at a great price (while they last)-Profoil

I like the car analogy, a pansh is alot like a geo metro or a dodge dart, it will get you there but not in style or with performance, it is not likely to last as long. but they are very affordable and IMO the best bang for the buck. But I dont own any of them because I would rather fly something of quality that is enjoyable.

Hands down JoJo best build quality and best performance. Ozone is the only competition and I personally think the build quality is not anywhere close to that of JoJo, but it does have performance as I have flown several sizes in the excusa's

Big John
JoJo1

Quote:

Originally posted by JoJo1 Hands down JoJo best build quality and best performance. Ozone is the only competition and I personally think the build quality is not anywhere close to that of JoJo, but it does have performance as I have flown several sizes in the excusa's Big John JoJo1

Remember, this was originally about bang for the buck. The highest price brand would have a hard time competing here. Try to justify that a Blade 6.5 is 7 times better than an Ace 6m. I'm not sure they are that much better. But that doesn't mean you can't justify spending the money on one. That is a different problem.

"Remember, this was originally about bang for the buck. The highest price brand would have a hard time competing here. Try to justify that a Blade 6.5 is 7 times better than an Ace 6m. I'm not sure they are that much better. But that doesn't mean you can't justify spending the money on one. That is a different problem. "

JoJo's & Ozone were included in the poll and neither one is the highest priced kite out there by any means. I gave my opinion if you don't like it no big deal to me it is my opinion. The person who started the poll included them so he would obviously like to know how these brands stack up against the other brands.

Maybe you don't know that JoJo doesn't only make RM+ kites, but many others as well from entry level to advanced with different price ranges all over the $ spectrum.

Big John
JoJo1

I stand down. With some research, I found that jojo's are priced just a little higher than Flexifoil. One could have the opinion that it is the best kite company for the money. It is just my interpretation that "FOR THE MONEY" (quoted from the original post) stresses that price is a significant factor in this choice. Going back to my car analogy, someone purchasing a Ferrari, Lotus, Lamborghini, Porsche, etc. won't be quoted as saying they are thrilled to get it because it is such a great car for the money. Likely, they will say they purchased it because it offers superior performance or a top of the line driving experience. Much like an $800-1500 kite offers.

You get what you pay for !

That is why Flysurfer is the best value for the money ! No other kite I have seen has all the extra bits and peices designed to improve your flight and protect your kite.

I like the car analogy so lets use this as the question "for a beginning or intermediate driver would you put them in a Lamborghini or a Honda Civic?" and in this case what car is the best bang for your buck for a intermediate driver?

As long as we look at this topic the right way it should be common sense to everyone...

Everyone has there fave brand and my favorite is all of them... I want every kite I can get my hands on... but I've learned how to drive (fly) and actually still learning but I believe I could get in that sports car and with a fast learning curve I could drive the hell out of it... I would have never bought that sports car when I was learning nor jumped in it to learn... You know for sure I was in love with those cars before I could walk... just not the best bang...

Screwy

Something else about the car analogy....

The difference between a ferrari and a toyota is negligible when compared to the difference between a toyota and no car at all!

My 5m ace is like my first car, an '88 nissan sentra, took me around the alaska highway and down to mexico among other places, couldn't have done that with out my $1500 cheap rice box, and I could not have begun to jump without my 5m Ace.

Good rationale for putting Pansh at the top of the list, IMO.

Got a Flexi on the way, and I see there's quite a few folks here who have cut their teeth on a Pansh before moving up, a good way to go!

furbo

The debate really has too many variables, the best kite for the money...

the best kite for the local wind conditions... and on. If you have a large disposable income the answer isn't the same as someone with a small budget. I have a handful of Ozone kites. Why? Were I am the wind is very shifty and changes come quickly. Stability is foremost, a cheaper unstable kite has no value. Race kites limited value, just too temperamental.

Value and performance are connected, a cheap kite that performs poorly has low value. An expensive kite that does everything needed high value. Performance is connected to needs of the individual, everybody needs something in the performance of the kite, stability, speed, lifty, low lift... and on and on.

I never use my ace it doesn't handle big wind shifts and gusts well at all. Very poor value 130 bucks for maybe 8 hours of use. My Access 6 was about 650 and I am over 800 hours on it that makes it very good value FOR ME. I would be silly to think that everybody's needs are the same as mine.

Like it has been said many times above, stability is the major factor in a good kite. I have alot more fun actually cruising with my 17m Bomba or the access 6m I used for my lesson than my 8m Ace. The ace is twitchy and all over the place, the others lock into where you put them in the window. The analogy above with "would you put a new driver in a lamborghini or a civic" naturally the responce would be civic, but lets say the civic needs an alignment and is unstable. What would you put the new driver in then?

you are over thinking this... the ace would be the Lambo with the bad alignment and a civic would be the legend if someone wanted to use the analogy you mention...

lets use the analogy that the pansh line could be the civic line (pansh are not broke kites, civics with a bad alignment)... an ace is the used civic a teenage kid dumped a ton of money into fixing it up, a performance civic (ACE) then you have the civic that is fully loaded and has the big liter motor, this could be the Blaze and least of all the base model civic with roll up windows well that could be a Legend...

the idea is to think "about the person" that is going to start kiting... are we gonna tell them to get a performance Civic or a Lambo (by the way have you ever driven a Lambo they are a twitchy race car) they are not a luxury sports car... if they wanted to get into a luxury sports car pansh does not fit the bill...

I think people are taking this as what "they would want to fly" knowing what they've flown in the past...

the variables are cured by a Legend, Blaze or an Ace... or beamer, crossfire and Montana... or the Bullet, Blurr and Blade...

the Idea was compare apples for apples not apples to pineapples...

maybe I'm not understanding why you would have a beginner start off flying the kites you mention...

Personally I reccomend the beamer 3s they are a reasonably stable and priced kite.

Quote:

Originally posted by kitedemon Personally I reccomend the beamer 3s they are a reasonably stable and priced kite.

Those are a great kite for the dough...

As soon as I bought a flexi kite, I realized that I would rather have spent the cash on flexi gear. Everytime I fly my other kites now, I get frustrated. They luff every time I get them in the air. I thought it was the wind conditions. I thought it was inexperience. Regardless of what it is, my flexis dont luff.

I think that for an extra couple hundred dollars spent on equipment that I can fly with confidence EVERY time is money well spent. I will make room in my budget for that.

To use the car analogy, why would I buy a kia when I could get a lexus for 30% more?