I also agree with you Errol about pilot error... my accident was about 10% bad weather luck (gusty wind) 30% Stupidness (for not hooking up my Auto QR) and 60% pilot error (all completely subjective estimations of course)...

Looking back, I know that I'm used to flying in gusty wind, and I know I wouldn't have been in that situation if I had hooked up my AQR, but had I been a sensible pilot not "pushing myself" and chosen a smaller kite or had I kept my head and not cranked the breaks when I was so high off the ground, things might have turned out different.... and less expensive :o

The point I really was making was that (as BigE said) the performance being built into the new style of single skin kites will encourage the lifting part of the equation over the Nasa Style of kite, and since I am intent on avoiding being lifted, I think I'll stick in the Nasa camp for a bit. And as I said only hanging on to my smaller foils for sentimental reasons.

On another note; the colors on that picture are wrong... that's the 4.5 and it should be purple/lime.
Guess someone photoshopped a little too zealous

I really want to try one of these!!

I tried to twist an arm to get one to bring to tease at JIBE but my bribe of maple syrup, bacon and a bottle of single malt whiskey was held up in customs we'll have to wait for the production ones to be shipped in about a month ....or so...

Awe, too bad Mark. I was hoping to see one in action.

Quote: Originally posted by markite

I tried to twist an arm to get one to bring to tease at JIBE but my bribe of maple syrup, bacon and a bottle of single malt whiskey was held up in customs we'll have to wait for the production ones to be shipped in about a month ....or so...

You tease! Too bad, this would have been awesome to see and fly. Finally had a chance to see a recent PL skin flying and I'd love to see what evolved out of it. I have a feeling they will iterate on this fast.

Largest is only a 4.5m .....? Sounds limited for range(low winds).

It may be a different animal with no NOSE SUPPORTS(stiffeners/plastic ribs)-compared to a Peak.

With info........so far.....I expect it to have 'less performance' than a Peak...despite one being a FB and one a Depow.

Real reviews will be interesting to hear about.

It may be a hair lighter than a Peak(?).

Price?

It's all subjective until someone says "I have flown one!" but I think the 4.5m will be similar to the Peak 6m for pull, my home made 5m will fly @6mph but needs over 12mph for good traction. How it copes with gusty wind / lulls and the window size compared to a foil / NPW .... we're all waiting with baited breath :D

Well.. It's not on their peterlynn.com site... even though it says ,"for more info go to peterlynn.com "....not an official product yet...not being 100% marketed-as I see it.

So there's no info on wind range per size- as typical for their accepted 'line'.....

But, it's still limited for low wind in sizing choices.



Coming soon:

Peak vs. Uniq.

Early Guess...The Peak wins across most categories . Uniq will be much cheaper $ kite as some offset. But again they are in two dif. categories of kites-FB and Depow...

That's why I'd like to see a Peak converted to handles and the Unique converted to bar for testing, too.

I'm looking forward to kites like the uniq. I think it may offer a great choice for longboard or a moderate to high wind buggy engine with good stability being single skin. It's not a peak and there's nothing wrong with that. I have a peak and I welcome an fb version. By the way, it's not uncommon to see people flying peaks on handles. I've not tried it.

I've tried it. Its fun. But for street riding I'm finding the 4m on 5m lines is the nuggets. All the functionality but in a small nimble system. You can even down loop it.
I use two bars at the moment, one with trim and one without. I prefer the non-trip version.

I started following Hercs lead, 6m on handles. I'm finding the 4m is better suited and more fun for my tastes.

Stating 40-60% more power than same size foil. So the 4.5 skin should pull more like a 6 or 6.5 foil. Pretty sweet. I wanna try one!

I pre-ordered the 4.5M Uniq from Big Mike late last night. I live inland and often times find I want to get out when the wind is very light just because that time is when I have free time. I'll post first impressions once I get it up in the air and have it tug me around!

This is exciting... I can't wait to hear how it works, swesting! ... keep us up informed.

You got it. With any luck I will be able to test the 4.5 both static and buggying, using either quad handles or a PL Cross-Over bar. More on this in a while (could be a bit before I get the kite from Big Mike). My name is Steve BTW.

I just read about this new kite on Big Mike's website and was curious what this kite compares to. Is it a step down from a hornet or a step up? Is it closer to the hype or is it a step down from that? I was intrigued by the 1M as a possible fun kite to take on the road for family fun. I also noticed a discrepancy between the sizes in the catalog for the UNIQ Play vs what Big Mike has listed. Is there really a 1.0M or is it a 1.5M?

Nothing to compare........ It's unique!

If it would be similar to something it would be the FS Peak. No step down to a Hornet...but a different animal than it.

Crash it no worries and easy launch. A bit more powerful per meter size, remember.

BTW.....What are the prices on these Uniques?

I have looked at the price list and the catalog from vliegerop.
Pricelist saus:
Play 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0.
TR is 1.5 and 2.5
Quad is 1.5, 2.5, 3.5 and 4.5

The catalogue says Play in 1.5, 2.0, and 2.5.

So I assume pricelist is sq.meters, catalogue is width.

I'm jealous Steve, let s know how it goes. I have tempered excitement about these. Only tempered because my kite budget is zero at the moment.

The prices: http://www.bigmikeskites.com/PeterLynn.htm

Prices seems what I was expecting- at Less than 1/2 cost of FS Peak 6m.


Still a bit odd about size range limit...except my guess is they want to limit 1st run and test market first.

I would hope it's half the price of a peak because it's not a depower and each uniq would probably cover a third of the wind range that one peak would cover. I bought my peak used but I would say the 6 or 9 peak is the best value on the market right now and that includes nasa stars. You could literally own one kite and be able to kite 80% of usable wind days. You could fly handles or bar and any length of lines. That's a bargain in my book even at the new prices. I think the uniq looks like it will be a great kite but it's as similar to a peak as a nasa wing. The only similarity is single skin.

ALL HEIL DAS SINGLE SKIN REVOLUTION!!!

Uniq arriving soon. I expect to ship out from Holland this week or early next week. other single skins will probably follow...next season

Quote: Originally posted by povlhp

So I assume pricelist is sq.meters, catalogue is width.

It´s actually a screw up in the brochure :o
As with all foils 2/lines are measured in wingspan 3 & 4 lines in square m.

Anyways..... Uniq's have just arrived here in the warehouse!
Of course we will need to test these production kites before sending them out to shops so like Mike said, next week :D

Oh, and webpages on the Uniq are up as well.

Sweet!!
You can tell by the wind range chart, these are gonna produce a ton of power. Really want one.....or two......or all four :evil:

That's the spirit 3shot! Another great American consumer. :smug:

Marijn, what's the upwind like on the Uniq quad?
What would you compare it to in PL's current foil lineup in upwind ability?

Looks like the graph is notched on a scale of 1-10, with upwind falling at 8?

I finally looked at the PL page specs on this kite. Says the 4.5m has a wind range primarily under 10kts,... that is impressive!