Alright so I got the kite on Friday and was an extremely lucky fellow because I was able to fly it yesterday(saturday) AND today!! Saturday was mellow when it came to wind... there was a constant 7mph wind and gusts up to 11-13mph. So I took the kite outta the bag and first thing I noticed was DANG those handles are monsters! A lot bigger than what i'm used to anyways. Unwound the lines, and there it sat ready to lift off.. A quick tug and a little walk back and up it went, no problems staying up in these winds unbelievably! So I flew it for a bit, back and forth, to the edge of the window, back.... The brakes were loose so it was prone to overfly a few times but that's not a kite problem, just a little tuning or just flying it correctly will stop it from doing so. After getting a feel for the kite I thought it was time to do some jumping. . . because that is what this kite was made for right?! I weigh 185lb's and it's a twister II 5.6m in winds of about 10-13mph.... I was able to get some pretty decent jumps believe it or not! I had one that caught me by surprised a good sized 5 footer. I couldn't believe it got me that high in these winds... The wind was pickin' up a bit so I went back to the car to get my helmet and after that surprise I needed it in order to continue to fly this thing :P . After getting back the winds were in the lower teens, still under 15mph but gusting up to it... I had some pretty good jumps on this thing, and it is quite stable! I did notice it is faster than my pansh ace 5m for redirects because a couple times (even on the small jumps) the kite would be back to 10 oclock before i landed after it being at 2 oclock when i left the ground which meant I almost had to double redirect. Either that, or I was giving it too much input and it got there quick, just doesn't need as much input as the ace to get movin' on a turn . So that was that day! great time flyin' and it was an excellent kite for the conditions. The first great session I've had since about a month ago while i went to the coast. Thank you Dakitez!!!!

So this evening i got finished watching the movie Defiance and looked outside and BOOM there was wind "wth? where'd this wind come from and why is it still blowing when it's 6pm?" These evening winds are rare in the summer i've gotten to know. So i went out to see if it was too hot and worth going on a 20 min drive... HECK YES IT WAS! I drove out, set up the kite and the winds were averaging i'd say around 15mph. a little more at times. With more wind the kite did feel a little more unstable while jumping but It was probably the flyer, and not the kite. I had some great jumps with no luffing or anything it was a BLAST! I gotta tell ya... not flying this much this summer has affected my stamina, ESPECIALLY with me only flying depower now, these fixed bridles really hit ya hard man! My friend gave it a go as well and he said he really enjoyed it.
This evening's best jumps were around 5ft-6ft

That's what I have so far in the gusty Idaho winds! Awesome kite! to give you an idea, if someone were to ask me if i would trade my ace for the twister I would do it in a heartbeat, very well constructed and excellent stability as well as some pretty dang good lift!!!

Next place it will be flying is the oregon coast! High ho Silver!

Great review...glad to hear the kite got to you in time...Looking forward to the Oregon Report ;-)

Dino please add me to the list...Thx

trancein1 you are added to the list.

I am going to cut the list off at trancein1 for now. If a lot more people pop up and are interested I may continue it on, but for now after trancein1 is done it will come back to me.

Thx Dino, who has it now ?

f0rgiv3n's got it :wee:

Back from the coast yesterday with the twister!! Great kite! i will be shipping it to arkay this week! I'll give a full review of the experience at the coast with this badboy tomorrow.

WHEW! What a great kite this thing is!!! I had such a blast with this at the coast... I got an opportunity to fly it in clean higher winds while at the coast this past weekend. I got down to the beach and it sand was blowin' everywhere... easily in the upper teens (18-20mph). I pulled it out and set it down in the sand and of course I was a bit intimidated... Wasn't sure how it would handle in these higher winds. Launched and it was a nice smooth delivery of power. No huge amount of power immediately but smooth like butter . First things first... JUMP! Brought it to 10... ran back... and at 2 i felt it ripping outta my fingers and JUMPED. 6 foot easy. I wasn't even trying that hard!! I had two days of this sort of wind, one day was definitely above 20 mph probably 22-23mph... the kitesurfers were out on the water and i was getting 10 foot jumps on this thing. What i really noticed the difference with this kite in the smooth winds vs the inland winds was the float.

When I jumped in the coastal winds my redirects were smooth and the landings were extra soft. Lots of float as I came down from these jumps. I could almost feel another bit of lift when I redirected on the higher jumps. I didn't have an opportunity to board with the kite but I spent most of my time jumping it. I have had great times jumping with my Pansh Ace but if someone were to ask me to trade my ace for the twister I would do it in an instant. I think that the twister is close to the ace in lift but a lot more solid in the window. I didn't ever feel afraid of the kite, even in the 23mph winds. I was nervous, but not afraid .

I am very thankful for the opportunity to fly this kite, and broaden my experience even more. A twister might be in my quiver in the near future . Thank you Dakitez for this opportunity! I will be shipping it on to arkay on Thursday. Thank you!!!

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Originally posted by f0rgiv3n I have had great times jumping with my Pansh Ace but if someone were to ask me to trade my ace for the twister I would do it in an instant. I think that the twister is close to the ace in lift but a lot more solid in the window. I didn't ever feel afraid of the kite, even in the 23mph winds. I was nervous, but not afraid .

this twister thingy is looking better and better. I just sorta kinda gave away (long term loan, you see... my 5m ace to a broke buddy in the UK. I think a twister would be a good replacement...

what is it like for just flying about in low winds? (ace was good for that...)

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Originally posted by furbowski what is it like for just flying about in low winds? (ace was good for that...)

Shh... don't tell anyone but i'm going to sneak out and fly it tonight again before i ship it tomorrow.... It'll be low winds 10mph and under, i'll let you know. we shall see!

yeah that would be excellent!

evenings flies are usually low wind, eh?

my ace would get off the ground in 3 mph and fly a reasonable wind window from 5 mph onwards, fantastic when nothing else would get off the ground! no pull, but at least i'm flying something....

Hey furb, i took the twister out last night and it was extremely gusty(lulls all over the place) and i have come to realize this kite needs about 7mph in order for it to stay in the sky without trying to work it like crazy. You can feel it is a bit heavier than the ace but it's still definitely flyable at 7mph! I think that since it has better construction it makes it just a tad heavier than the ace but that's just how it goes i guess :dunno: . We were still able to have some fun just flying it static for awhile but the 5.6m isn't a low wind kite, I know the ace will fly in practically nothing but the twister II needs somethin . Kite is being shipped to Arkay today.



BTW: I LOVE THIS KITE!

can i get on the list PELLEEAAASSEE??!?! i guarantee safe return of the kite within a week! i'd love to have a go.

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Originally posted by jaymzmn can i get on the list PELLEEAAASSEE??!?! i guarantee safe return of the kite within a week! i'd love to have a go.

we will see how fast it moves around.

Edit to the list .... I'm going to put stetson next to save shipping time and cost. I figure there is no reason to send it from the west coast to the east coast and back again and again ...etc. Not only a waste of money but time also. I hope this is ok with everyone.

Everyone left on the list starting with Arkay I would like to try something. I think of it as the "pass the kite" version of the good sellers list. When you receive the kite throw up a post of its condition. I ask this for 2 reasons. 1 - if the kite is showing much wear I would want to get it back to repair it or send out a new kite so no one gets hurt from a damaged kite. Safety first! 2 - This is where the good persons list comes in. If the kite gets to someone and they post its in good condition and then the next person gets it and says it trashed then that will be a warning to others doing the pass the kite to maybe not include this person on their list.

What does everyone think? Is this fair?

Dakitez I think it's awesome that you are doing this. If there is any way I can get on the list now or in a future "pass the kite" please let me know.

Thanks hover

There are a few of us doing "pass the kite" at the moment and others before us as well. So we can thank them for getting the idea out there. i just want to make sure things go as well as possible for everyone so we can continue to do this in the future. I love Angus' idea of getting peoples info before they get the kite. Fortunately I have most peoples info already on this list from previous dealings

And I think the condition thing will be beneficial in the long run for these type of things. Its kinda like a persons feedback on ebay if you will. Same as the good sellers list on this forum. It is unfortunate that a pass the ... went missing from this forum and on another forum a few kites went missing. So we need to try and cut that down and I'm sure others will start doing more "pass the ... " also

I got to my mailbox tonight and got a strange looking package. Then I saw where it came from... the twister has landed! I unpacked it and it's in perfect condition. Impressed how tight you got the kite rolled Lines were attached and ready to go! Dino, do you have any preference on how you want the lines packed? I'm super excited to take the kite out... hopefully the winds will cooperate this week, else I'm hoping for another good wind weekend!

Dino, Thanks again for giving us the opportunity to test out this kite :bigok:

wrap it however you like ... I won't be the person opening it next

Enjoy it!

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Originally posted by arkay I got to my mailbox tonight and got a strange looking package. Then I saw where it came from... the twister has landed! I unpacked it and it's in perfect condition. Impressed how tight you got the kite rolled Lines were attached and ready to go! Dino, do you have any preference on how you want the lines packed? I'm super excited to take the kite out... hopefully the winds will cooperate this week, else I'm hoping for another good wind weekend! Dino, Thanks again for giving us the opportunity to test out this kite :bigok:

Sweet!!! damn that took a long time O.O . Sorry about that!! I got it all nice and packed from lunchbox so i figured I better do the same :D . I just handle-wrapped it cuz I wasn't sure if you parapack or not. I think handle-wrap is a universal way of packing a kite eh? Have fun with it and give us the lowdown on ur sessions!!!

skunked today... 25/32 was a bit much :D I did go up to the wasington long beach kite festival andhad it on my back just in case. great festival, ran into cory from wind power, but too crowded to throw it in the sky. Tomorrow is a new day, forcast said windier, I'll have to go out in the morning before the water wind kicks in! and g the past 2 weeks were pretty light. speaking of, tbone came out a few weeks back. nice guy, met him on my beach. skunked with 3mph :o

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Originally posted by arkay skunked today... 25/32 was a bit much :D I did go up to the wasington long beach kite festival andhad it on my back just in case. great festival, ran into cory from wind power, but too crowded to throw it in the sky. Tomorrow is a new day, forcast said windier, I'll have to go out in the morning before the water wind kicks in! and g the past 2 weeks were pretty light. speaking of, tbone came out a few weeks back. nice guy, met him on my beach. skunked with 3mph :o

haha! yeah he mentioned that, that's hilarious you guys met up! If i could see into the future I woulda just given the twister to him :P . Yeah i heard about him gettin' skunked for the entire time he was there, until the day he had to leave... LOL. Just how it goes i guess :P . Well dude here's hopin' for better winds for ya!

Arkay,let me know when youre going to ship this --i leave for vacation on the 12th so if it can get here before then that would be great--if not,you might want to hold on to it until i get back--

got the twister today. Got it out in 6-8mph and it actually pulled me on moutainboard through thick grass. Usually cant get rolling until the winds get higher

Dino, Thanks for the chance to try it. It looks great. On the handles there is a little piece of plastic sticking out around the power lines. I just needed gloves to keep it from digging in. IMO not enough to pull it from rotation.

Arkay parapacked it and it worked perfect. Now if I can duplicate it. He even included a little sand to make me jealous.

I took this kite out 3 times, and brought it to the second weekend of SOBB!

The first time I took it out was when I got the kite. there was really not much wind to speak of, 3k, but I was able to get it to fly. Wow. Of course there was no pull and I had to work it to keep it in the sky but still very impressive. The wind did pickup to 5k and I was able to easily fly the kite all over the window. In this wind the kite was a _very_ well behaved stunt foil Would turn on a dime and spin in place with the best of em.

Second time out the wind was 15k(18mph). I launched the kite at about 60 deg to the window. It pulled me like a mac truck in 1st gear about 20ft while it mozied over to the edge of the window. Let me remind you I'm 220# When I got the kite to the top of the window it just wanted to pull up and would not overfly even when I tried to trick it into overflying; great steady lift. I'd recommend keeping the kite at 11'o while just standing around to avoid getting lofter by gusts. I've almost never bother to do this with my other ram foils and they are all low lift. While it's not a completely fair comparison, it's got at least twice as much lift as I've gotten out of my Montana 5m.

I did a few small figure eights up at 11-1'o and the kite just wanted to lift. The small eights were skudding me 20-30ft. So I dared not take it directly through the window in this wind even thought I wanted to feel more of its static grunt; living to fly another day is a good thing! I was able to pendulum jump with ease, I didn't want to try to go big, so I kept the kite around 11 but was getting 5ft up without trying. Very floaty too, soft landings too. At one point, while I was only about 3ft up I was able to drift about 30 ft! What I also found really nice about the kite is that it can redirect pretty fast for its size when high in the window. Thought I found it odd that the kite was just a moderate speed lower in the window, substantially faster than 7m bullet but just a little slower than a 4.5 rage. Another odd bit as compared to my rages is that the kite take a while to reestablish its power after being heavy on the breaks, but I actually liked this. When I release the brakes on my rages the kite just takes off at full power; ... while static flying... it was nice to have a second or two for the kite to get back to full power; the kite never backstalled it just hung. This also made the kite simple to land and minimized any flapping. Al thought in the buggy that delay might cause some troubles unless you keep extra mindful of line tension.

I did hop in the buggy, but I only went about 1/2 mile. The kite had so much lift in this wind it pretty much just want to rip me out of the buggy and take me for a ride even when I would bring the kite up very slowly. Plus I'm on a PL XR+ so the sheer grunt that this kite produced with no backrest or high sides rails it not my favorite combo. In the hands of a pilot used to a lifty kite I bet you'd be a rocket.

Aside from the easy landings, the kite also too to being staked well. Even in 18k, it would just sit there without really pulling or stressing the stake in any way.

The last flights as SOBB on Sunday where in about 11k. The launch still had quite a bit of grunt and pull me forward, feet braced in deep loose, about 10ft. I moon-bounced away from camp a bit and just did some light skudding and small jumps. The kite had _plenty_ of power. While it was not super charged like the 18k day, I could feel that the kite wanted me to fly it harder and launch. I was able to work the kite down to about 9:30 before it just wanted to throw me.

Overall, the nicest lifty kite handle-based I've flown. I preferred it to the blade mk2 due to it's impeccable stability and control. And a great combination of lift, float, and kite speed. Colors and design are very eye catching. Craftsmanship is top notch; stitching, fabric, bridal lines. I'd replace the handles and they were are bit hard on the hands, but that's all. There are no dirt outs or covers over the intakes, but the cells are nice and big so sand comes out easily. Kite is very lifty and has great low-end grunt. For jumping I'd say 14-18k is prime. Personally this is not a kite I'd take in the buggy and for whatever reason I only fly bars on the landbaord. That said, I would certainly love to have this kite in my quiver for jumping. Price for performance is 5 gold stars *****! The 5.6 is about %60 the cost of a blade! Hard to compare it to the price of an ace these days since they are giving away pansh kites, but give the relatively low price and high quality of a twister I'd pick this up over the ace since I'd want to keep this kite a long time and not have it give out. (Public Service Announcement: This is not a pansh bash, I'm a huge fan of my BlazeII.) Give my size, wind, and the kites performance, the 5.6 is the size I'd pickup. The 7.7 must be an absolute beast :eekdrull: If anyone had tried this I'd love to hear if you were rode any thermals

Hopefully someone on the list has a Blade V that they can compare this kite to! I'd love to read the comparison.

Dino, thanks again for this absolutely fantastic opportunity!

smokin review ... thanks for taking the time to write it.

I am very glad you had good winds to try it out in. Screwyfits has the 7.7 twister II and the 6.5 blade IV and he flew the blade V 6.5. Maybe when he gets back from paragliding he can give us his thoughts.

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Arkay parapacked it and it worked perfect. Now if I can duplicate it. He even included a little sand to make me jealous.

Yikes Makes me scared it's gonna come parapacked when it comes my way eventually. :shocked2: I have only parapacked a few times couple years ago and it was a nightmare. :roll:

Djkid ur lucky ur gonna have two kites to play with
Twister & Libre Radical...( awsome kite by the way) will post review, when I got some time.

Wow my turn already?? LOL awesome 2 kites to play with for sure:bigok:;-)

Actually 3 Core should be in too