They're finally here! My new Ozone Manta M3 12m and 2010 Ozone Frenzy FYX 7m. I posted pictures of the unboxing on flickr --> here . I'll post reviews when I get a chance to fly them. Additional pictures of the Frenzy will be posted in that gallery when we fix the fact that they sent me the wrong color . But they're finally here and I'm so excited :D!

The build quality on the Manta is excellent, which is what I would expect from Ozone. The repair kit includes patches for all three different colors on the kite and is held inside the bag by a velcro strip that makes it easy to pull out if you need it, but seems unlikely to come out accidentally.

I love that shiny olive color. I'd love to try out a 10m Manta M3 myself.

What color Frenzy did you order/receive? Might be easier to just keep it. After all snowkite season is upon us! Don't want to miss any fly time waiting for your 7m to come back unless they can send the other one right out. The day you send it out you're guaranteed to have 20 mph winds!

The Frenzy was supposed to be the same color. I would have accepted a red one and still been perfectly happy. They sent the orange one which I really don't like. Kent told me that if they haven't fixed the color issue by next weekend (Tug Hill) to go ahead and use the 7m that I have and he'll make sure it gets replaced with the correct color afterward. I should note that while Kent is the one making sure this is fixed, it is not his fault. The distributor is the one that mailed the kites.

12m manta.... grrrrr. m3? :o very nice. I look forwards to hearing about it!

and just for the record, I know darn well I ain't no snow doc :megan: , but thanks for the shout on the other thread. :embarrased:

have fun on the snow there, bro.

So far I've always tried to get different colors just for the variety and because it makes it MUCH easier to identify the kite just by looking in the bag. I often carry multiple Ozone's in one bag and they look really similar all rolled unless they are different colors. Just something to consider.

I really like the orange color of my kite, but I'm not a big fan or the orange and the black together. Although my Frenzy was in orange and black and it really grew on me. All that orange looked awesome in the sky. I miss that kite.

So far, all the Ozone kites I have are that same olive green color :D. I like it. But, as I said, I would have been perfectly happy with the red. It's just the orange I don't like. I'm originally from Ohio and the orange on the kite is the same as the orange construction barrels that are jokingly referred to as our state flower .

Oh man! I just unwound the lines from the bar and got a good look at it. I'm nearly as excited about getting to use the new bar as I am about getting to fly the kite. This thing is beautiful :o! I'm not 100% sold on the clam cleat (time will tell) though I do think it will solve the issue I have with straps (grapping the wrong end). Out of the entire bar, the only bit that worries me is the new elastic tabs to hold your lines. I love the fact that they retract into the bar when not in use, but I worry that will cause wear and make them break. Every piece of the bar is trim and beautiful. It all looks wonderfully thought out. And there are absolutely no rough spots or burrs, the build quality is really nice.

Very Beautiful kites there Maven:bouncing: Glad to see they finally made it out to you. I'm sure you will enjoy hours of flight time with these babies. That olive color looks very classy.

Shaggs

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Originally posted by Maven454 the orange on the kite is the same as the orange construction barrels that are jokingly referred to as our state flower .

thats like the NY state flower- the construction cone
or the parking ticket, both orange

Can't wait to here what you think about these. I'm starting to consider your advice- open cell depower seems like it is just SO much easier than any other depower for land.

why did you decide to get a manta 12m? why not both frenzys, did you figure if your going to be flying it in lighter wind, so why have a more agressive kite?

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Originally posted by Houston AirHead why did you decide to get a manta 12m? why not both frenzys, did you figure if your going to be flying it in lighter wind, so why have a more agressive kite?

I ordered two Frenzies. The US distributor was/is having stock problems. I've been told that if I decide that I don't like the Manta, it will be replaced with the Frenzy that I actually ordered (assuming that they have any by then). In the mean time, at least I have a kite.

maven, could you do me a big favour ? could you put your kites on a kitchen skale and measure their weight ? i am asking, because i have this thread about "weight per projected area" that is a relatively good indicator about light wind suitability. thread is here:
http://www.kiteforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2360753&...

it would be very interesting, how the manta, the lightwind opencell kite from ozone, compares to flysurfers.
i know there are a lot of other factors that are important for lightwind performance, but measuring one (mass) is better than just marketing buzz.

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Originally posted by herc maven, could you do me a big favour ? could you put your kites on a kitchen skale and measure their weight ? i am asking, because i have this thread about "weight per projected area" that is a relatively good indicator about light wind suitability. thread is here: http://www.kiteforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2360753&... it would be very interesting, how the manta, the lightwind opencell kite from ozone, compares to flysurfers. i know there are a lot of other factors that are important for lightwind performance, but measuring one (mass) is better than just marketing buzz.

No can do. I don't have a scale that would get any closer than 1 or 2 lbs.

So, did you fly them today? And was it the Radical that Todd was talking about (which kite tossed you?). Just wondering, you are o.k. aren't you?

It was the 12m Manta that tossed me, I'm fine. I flew both the Manta and the Frenzy.

I can't give much of a review on the Manta yet (other than that it's powerful). But here are some thoughts on the Frenzy. The Frenzy turns very fast, goes very far upwind, and has an insanely light bar pressure. It does have back line tuners, so I can adjust the bar pressure, but these are just my thoughts on the factory default settings.

Great to hear you're fine, sounds like you had fun! Can you tell we had very little wind today up here, and it didn't get above 10 deg.F here today, and I'm still without wheels so I've been sitting here far too long???

Additional thoughts that didn't make it out of my head yesterday:
The bar (both kites) was obviously designed for snow kiting, as every last piece is easy to use with gloves on. As are the zips and openings on the backpack.
The Frenzy has an awful lot of depower with the clam cleat, though there didn't seem to be much moving the bar (back line tuners may help that).

@maven: thanks anyway. maybe you will run across a finer grained scale sometimes. or do you have a Wii and WiiFit ? with that (or some ordinary person weight scale) , you could measure using the difference principle: first weight yourself, then go again on the scale and weight yourself plus holding the kite.

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Originally posted by herc @maven: thanks anyway. maybe you will run across a finer grained scale sometimes. or do you have a Wii and WiiFit ? with that (or some ordinary person weight scale) , you could measure using the difference principle: first weight yourself, then go again on the scale and weight yourself plus holding the kite.

I'll see what I can do, but don't expect to get you anything any time soon.

The 7m Frenzy is being swapped for an 8m Manta at Tug Hill. So if you desperately want to know something about the 2010 Frenzy, now is the time to ask. :wink2: If you want to see the Frenzy being launched look at Todd's new video --> here.

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Originally posted by Maven454 The 7m Frenzy is being swapped for an 8m Manta at Tug Hill. So if you desperately want to know something about the 2010 Frenzy, now is the time to ask. :wink2: If you want to see the Frenzy being launched look at Todd's new video --> here.

So you're ditching the Frenzy for the Manta? Funny since you originally wanted both Frenzys. Why the swap? What do you like better about the Mantas?

I liked the way it handled a little better and felt like I got more feedback from the bar. Though as stated above, I didn't try tweaking the back line trimmers on the Frenzy :dunno:. When I ordered them I wouldn't have minded going for the Manta, but it wasn't available yet and I wasn't sure I wanted to pay the extra cost. With the way things worked out, I only paid for the Frenzies :D. So it's a sweet deal! Plus I like having both of my main kites be the same model. That should help me me get really familiar with all of their handling characteristics.

Hey Maven, what exactly does shortening the backline trimmers do for you? I have messed with mine a bit on my '09 Frenzy 11M and it didn't see to do much of anything, other than eventually slip back on their own back to the original position, with the little white marks showing inside the plastic ladder lock.

If anything, pulling the trimmers in a bit seemed to make the turning a bit more sluggish, and the 11M seems to be sluggish as it is, not as quick turning as my '07 10M frenzy was. Do the Mantas turn that much quicker than the frenzies? Whats been your experience so far?

How lifty are the mantas?

@kiteyakker: Tightening the trimmers is supposed to result in a higher bar pressure. Both the Manta and the Frenzy have a really, really light bar pressure on the default settings. Since it results in shortening the back lines, it should increase responsiveness some what as well. The 7m Frenzy did seem to turn a little faster than the 8m Manta, but that's not really surprising given the size difference. I suspect that if they were really the same size, they would turn at the same speed. The Frenzy only really seemed responsive when the bar was pulled in and I'm hoping that tightening the back lines with the trimmers will help that.

@power: Fairly lifty. I had a couple of small hops just using the kite to get up on the snowboard.