-Usable in fairly high winds as well as low winds
-Power
-Ability to do simple stunts
-Not too slow
Vote away guys! I'm leaning towards the mirage xl but will see :-) if there's another that should be in list and matches what i want please let me
know! My price range is no more than £300 really.
Also if anyone has 1st hand experience with any of these please share :-)
Welcome to the forum! Since this is a Power Kite Forum, many of us are not well informed about stunt kites. Some of us are as passionate about them
as we are our power kites, but it probably isn't the norm. Maybe someone can come along and offer some well founded advice.
Coastal Wind Sports Team Rider Landsegler Disc wheels
PTW Hero Buggy - XXtreme ApeXX Buggy US 88 - Libre Hardcore IvanpahBuggyExpo.com Youtube link
Bob Muse
HQ Montana X 8m, Montana IX 12m, HQ Ignition LEI 5m,
PL Phantom 12m, 15m, Big Blu 24m+, Synergy 10m, Venom 10m, 13m , Phantom II 12m Vapors 3.8, 5.4, Crosskite Sonic 7m, PKD Combat 10.3m
Uturn Butane 2.5m PKD Buster 3m Genetrix Hydra 7m Ozone Yakuza GT 14m
If you are asking for loops and spins than that is one thing. If you are looking for axle's, Flick FlacS-P-A-M-L-I-N-K-s, Fades then that would be
another.
For loops and spins, I would suggest a foil kite. These will give you the power you are craving and have some good speed. If you are looking for the
other tricks, then a framed dual line stunt kite would be the best choice as foils are not able to do those types of tricks.
There are no framed stunt kites that I know of that will deliver the power of a foil other than the larger Power Blast series Revolution kites.
If tricks is loops and spins, then I highly suggest a 2m or 3m power kite like the Ozone Octane, HQ Beamer or the Peter Lynn Hornet.
Larger framed kites tend to be a bit slower. They won't be as fast as their smaller siblings.
Where kites like the HQ Delta Hawk and HQ Batkite split their conversion of wind power between speed and power,
the larger ones skew more towards power and less towards speed.
Not sure about the Topas, but the Mirage XL has a fairly high aspect ratio and doesn't lend itself to spin based and slack line tricks.
In addition, the wingtips of the Mirage XL are terminated by a rubber "cap" that look like an extruded U with a hole going through the x and y axis.
The caps can be extremely prone to line wraps and snags.
John Chilese was able to do the following tricks on the Fazer XXL:
Jacob's ladder rungs
Flic-flacs
Fade launch
Lazy Susans
Axel to fade
Snap stall (not pretty or snappy, but recognizable)
Cascades (barely)
Not a huge fan of of the panel layout of the Topas 3.0
except in sunset
and "warbird" color schemes
and whoever chose this custom color scheme for the Topas (4.5) (shown here with a Thor's Hammer to the left and a Pure 3XL to the right) had an eye
for inestimable understated beauty.
"Hot launching" any of these kites should be avoided. In the right winds they will develop power quickly and it can catch you by surprise. Smaller
kite parts (most notably upper spreader and stand-offs) will be difficult to locate after the kite disassembles itself in the ensuing crash.
ATB,
Sam
"I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was 12 - Jesus, does anyone?" - The Body by Stephen King
@Beamerbob - Totally forgot about that post! ..aye i was going to get one back then, dunno what happened but never got around to it! so here i am again lol
@awindofchange - I dont really like the look of foils.. Maybe as a second kite i will get one as it's something different, but for my 1st i want a
delta as i do really like the look of these
@indigo_wolf - Thanks for the info, very thorough with lots of details, i do like the look of the Topas 4.5 but cant seem to find one anywhere i'm
guessing its been discontinued? ..you say that the wingtips of the Mirage XL are terminated by a rubber "cap".. is there a simple way to mod this to
eliminate this problem? But i would still much prefer the topas 4.5.... that thing is a beauty! ..looking on there website it may have been replaced with the Matador which is 4m span? ..ive seen some vids of this
but it seems VERY slow compared to the mirage XL? but this could just be that the only vids ive seen of the matador have been in low wind maybe?
As for stunts... nothing drastic just simple loops etc... not technical flying as such! ..but would like something that can go pretty quick when wind
picks up
Thanks so much guys for info.. at least i'm getting closer to the right one i want!
Annoying though that ALL the best big Delta's seem to have been discontinued... Pure3XL, Thor, Topas 4.5 etc!
@indigo_wolf - Thanks for the info, very thorough with lots of details, i do like the look of the Topas 4.5 but cant seem to find one anywhere i'm
guessing its been discontinued? ..you say that the wingtips of the Mirage XL are terminated by a rubber "cap".. is there a simple way to mod this to
eliminate this problem?
Annoying though that ALL the best big Delta's seem to have been discontinued... Pure3XL, Thor, Topas 4.5 etc!
It might be possible to make or have someone else fabricate a different nock for the Mirage. However, if you are not trying to do tricked beyond
loops and side slides, it probably won't be needed.
The demand for large framed kites has dwindled over the years. Hence, a lot have been discontinued.
Sad to think that during the production of the Audi "Kite" commercial, something like 80 Thor's Hammers were destroyed.
One that im now leaning towards is the Matadaor (4m) ...this seems to be the biggest one available thats still in production, the one id really like
is the Pure3XL but it aint production no more ..unless anyone knows of any other
large dual delta's still in production? but like i say the Matador looks very nice & 4m is a nice size i guess
Any info on the matador would be great, not sure if it comes with lines & what size the transport bag is?