Just opened up the box my new reactor came in and wanted to give a preliminary post about it.

It has a very nice bag with 2 main compartments. The handles have been improved from the ones I had seen in the past. They are similar to the nice HQ handles with full color coded padding completely covering the handle. The older handles were bare aluminum with a black padding applied where your hands were mostly. There are number coded bridle attachment points. Wouldn't be a problem for someone accustomed to attaching lines to a fixed bridle but a welcome addition for someone not sure where to attach all those lines. Also a high-end kite touch with the heavy nylon cinch strap to keep the kite tidy in the bag.

15 mph winds today and the buggy is in the car. I expect to have about 3 hours of buggy time to get used to it today. More to follow after some flight time.

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15 mph winds today and the buggy is in the car. I expect to have about 3 hours of buggy time to get used to it today. More to follow after some flight time.

Looking forward to reading your review...Have fun!

Was able to take my 4.9 yesterday for about 30mins...had just enough time for a quick session before picking up the kids...hadn't flown her for a few weeks...had almost forgotten how much I love these kites and the 4.9 is definitely my favorite in the series (note - haven't tried the 3.8)..

...remember to pull in the brakes for that extra power boost ;-)

I can see why Angus says his 4.9 reactor is his most reached for kite. Today was 7-14 mostly with a few lulls to almost nothing and a few gusts that must've hit 18-20. The only time the kite got upset was if I got too close downwind from some buildiings. The rest of the time it was fast turning, stable, and intuitive. This will be a much used kite. When I would go down a slight grade today the speed would build tremendously, so I can't wait for nice 15 mph winds on a beach where I can let it go. Today, I had 150 yds max, but most of the time only 100 yrds. I also am eager to pit it against a Blurr. After just an hour and a half today, I'm pretty confident that this kite is a winner in a price/fun competition with the Blurr. Only weakness was no kite killers, but I'll pick up a pair of those.

awesome.......................another pleased PL customer.......did you get a beanie too?many thanks to Angus/CWS coastalwindsports.....................

Hey I never got a beanie Angus...lol
No doubt you'll love the kite great all around buggy machine and will give you all you want from it and more..
Enjoy

Hey don't shloot the messenger / shipper. PL ships beanies with Syn's, keychains with Twisters and who knows what else with others. Used to be T shirts with Scorps and some others. Bobby, I forgot about the reactor not coming with KKs - sorry. I have seen the new ones with the Hornet and they are nice. Labeled left and right with text but not color but otherwise top rate with tubular webbing leashes with bungee inside.

Just razzing you because its fun really love my Reactor, thanks again

Lunchbox is right about the brakes. Tie some knots in the upper leader to slack the brakes in light winds to keep the bottom skin from puckering and stalling the sail. But in moderate winds, suck in the brakes and feel the surge.

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Originally posted by acampbell Hey don't shloot the messenger / shipper. PL ships beanies with Syn's, keychains with Twisters and who knows what else with others. Used to be T shirts with Scorps and some others. Bobby, I forgot about the reactor not coming with KKs - sorry. I have seen the new ones with the Hornet and they are nice. Labeled left and right with text but not color but otherwise top rate with tubular webbing leashes with bungee inside.

Ok, I'll get a set of the PL models when you get back in town Angus. No beanie for me here, but I'm too thrilled with the kite to care. I did get a sticker! I had a bit of that amoxomoa stuff this evening from my session. I'm more and more thrilled with the kite the more I think about how well it performed.

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Originally posted by acampbell Lunchbox is right about the brakes. Tie some knots in the upper leader to slack the brakes in light winds to keep the bottom skin from puckering and stalling the sail. But in moderate winds, suck in the brakes and feel the surge.

It flew great without changing a thing today. I kept some brake on it when it seemed to appreciate it.

Another observation too, the dyneema bridles are the softest I've ever seen. They feel like cotton kite string, very supple. This kite also has a very minimalist bridle. It leaves the kite with lots of bridles but they combine very quickly for a clean system.

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Another observation too, the dyneema bridles are the softest I've ever seen. They feel like cotton kite string, very supple.

If I had anything negative to say about the Reactor, that's probably what it would be. And the fact that the end of the main bridle lines has a big knot that has a tendency to catch some of the bridle lines when unpacking or recovering from a luff...

...but that is really, really minor in the whole scope of the kite!

...It will be interesting to see if they change the bridles in the Reactor 2 however...

I got some bridle lines caught a time or two myself but not when I was flying. It happened both times when the kite was on the ground. That big knot does tend to grab bridle lines though, and as soft as they are, they never seem to skip over the knot, but rather grab onto it. Maybe there is a mod to make the attachment method somewhat different and more sleek. I might try to tie that knot differently to make it smoother. Still a great kite.

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Maybe there is a mod to make the attachment method somewhat different and more sleek. I might try to tie that knot differently to make it smoother. Still a great kite.

I think Angus had put some electrical tape on the knots to minimize the 'grab'.

...and absolutely...still a great kite!

try a little teflon tape, give it a shot of clear laquer to seal it, knots just slide over everything and works well. IMHO