2m slingshot trainer: good to get friends flying and get the feel. It's real zippy and fun to fly, but 2 lines make it hard to launch when it crashes

3m Beamer III: the kite is slow in the air, but has a steady pull when the winds are over about 10mph. Seems to have a small wind window, wont hang out at the zenith unless you work it.

3M Twister 2: Way more fun and much stronger pull compared to the Beamer. I would estimate that the pull is almost double compared to the old beamer. This is the version before that r version. Super fun, fast and zippy with a strong pull, but it takes a little more practice to maintain a steady pull compared to the beamer.

4M twister 2: Pulls like a train! 10' scuds on grass when I would send it across the wind window. Much slower than the 3m twister, but faster and more responsive than the old beamer. I tried for a while to see how a pendulum jump would work with the beamer, and I couldn't even get 20+ lbs of upward pull. The first time I tried with this kite it lifted me off the ground. The wind was probably 10-12 mph. I still need to practice more to get the timing and redirect down better. It has a much larger wind window compared to the beamer, and will fly right up to the zenith without working it back and forth like the beamer. It still has good pull and is fun to fly when the winds suck, ~5mph. In light winds any brake input will fold the kite.

Some 14M LEI depower. There was a guy at the park with a 14M kitesurfing kite. He let me fly it when the winds were ~5mph. He was having trouble keeping it in the air and my little 4M twister was doing pretty good, and even pulling me a few feet on grass. I figured this one would have WAY more pull. It turns super damn slow, but I expected that for a big kite. The winds were low enough than I had to have the bar all the way down or the kite would fall out of the sky. What surprised me is that it didn't really have much more power than my 4m. I could work the 4m and generate apparent wind, but this kite turned so slow that I couldn't work it much. It was fun to fly with a harness and I might just have to pick up a LEI! I got his number and will try and hit him up when the winds are a little better to get the feel for a depower when it's a bit scary to pull the bar all the way down!

I've only been kiting for a few months, but I already want more kites! I have my eye on a 5M voltage, but the wife says I'm cut off until we get the shop built and all the stuff unpacked from our recent move. Maybe christmas time! Thanks to the guys on this forum for selling me kites, and keeping me stoked. I sold the beamer to my cousin so I'm down to 3 kites.

I'm guessing the 6 year old Beamer had some bridle stretch or the brake lines were too tight. That's the kite I learned on and it only flew like that when there wasn't enough wind.

Your experience with the big lei isn't surprising. It didn't have enough wind to perform like it was meant to.

Always nice to get fresh perspectives, thanks for posting.

sweet info

I went out and flew the beamer and twister 3m kites back to back one last time. The beamer is way more stable, spins on the brakes without much or any collapse. It reverse launches well and is easy to control on the brakes. I would say that it is ideal for a beginner. With ~5-8mph winds it would not pull me at all.

The 3m twister (older version before the ii) pulls way harder and would pull me across the grass. It's way faster and flies much better at the zenith. It has way more lift! The beamer has 0 upward pull at the zenith. It gets twitchy on deep brakes and likes to deflate. Sometimes it likes to make its own mind on where it wants to go when you are untwisting the lines and needs to be powered up again before you can untwist. I have overflown the window a bunch of times and had to run back to get it to inflate. I never had to do this with the beamer. I much prefer to fly the twister, but the beamer is much easier to teach others how to fly.

I'm selling the beamer to my cousin to get into the sport and want to pick up a 2 to 2.5m 4 line beginner kite to teach others. 3m is a bit much to teach people unless the winds are real light. I hate teaching people on the 2 line because it wont reverse launch! I've been know to run backwards like a mad man to avoid going out to reset it!

It's been a while, and I have tons more experience and 2 more kites I got rid of the beamer and the slingshot. Big Mikes kites was a pleasure to deal with!

2M Hornet (from Big Mike)
This kite is a blast and is easy to control. You can nose dive it and slam on the brakes 5' off the ground and it will stop dead. You can spin off the brakes easily, do 180* turns in a second, hold it at nearly any position, and cruise across the sky. It's a great kite to teach people 4 line power kites, and fun to fly when your arms are beat.

5.5M twister 2013 (from Big Mike)
This thing has some pull! The winds have been real light around here. It hit maybe 8mph yesterday, probably mostly 5mph, but I can still get 4' of air on a pendulum jump. It has a nice float. The turns are slow and sometimes I wish my arms were longer so I could pull in more. The brakes require substantial force to activate fully if the kite has any speed. I think it flies better than my old twister kites (the ii before the iiR).

After flying these 2, and my 3 and 4M twisters, my arms were jelly! In these light winds I couldn't get much sudding on grass with these kites, and it was hard to catch any air with the 4m. I wanted to fly all of them to see if I wanted to sell any of them because of overlap, but I think I need all of them..... and the 7.5M twister!! I love the workout I get flying these static!

Quote: Originally posted by jgorm

2m slingshot trainer: good to get friends flying and get the feel. It's real zippy and fun to fly, but 2 lines make it hard to launch when it crashes

I started out with a B3 which I still fly when the lakes are all ice. Slingshot has a 'Ready Relaunch' kit for the B2 and B3 which provides a third line and wrist leash. Relaunch is much easier with the 3rd line.

Just throwing this out for those that may not know this is an option.

Your pretty much committed now. You have to buy the 7.5 twister to finish your collection. I'm a big fan of the 4 meter twister. Its the perfect size to fly static and get a good workout. I'm sure the other sizes are great too, just haven't flown them.

Quote:

[quote=265654&tid=26338&author=ssayre]Your pretty much committed now. You have to buy the 7.5 twister to finish your collection.

I hear that! If things go well I should make $700 tuning a car on sunday. Maybe I can use that to justify the twister to the wife! a 7.5 twister 'static' on handels will be a rush!