Had to order one to see how it flys. The red/black kite on this page says 3m and RTF for $65. The red/black kite on the linked page says 2.5m and a variable price(flexible/negotiable?).

Jessica Liang stated $65 RTF and $35 to ship it. The box is 2"x7"x13" and uniquely wrapped. Be very cautious opening the box with something sharp.



Now I've had a few kites at this point. The material of this kite is of the thinnest and lightest material I have ever touched. Paper thin. One could mistake the material for "tissue paper" used in fancy girl gifts:




Not a criticism; just an observation and comparison to typical materials used in kites of the types I have had.

The bag is of the type and style Pansh uses:



Rough cut PVC handles. They weigh nothing in the hand. I consider them to be "freebie" handles. Super soft foam like that used on some workout/fitness equipment:




I noticed it seemed to have long bridles. Took out the tape measure. 9' long.

So what size is this crazy kite? A little smaller then a 3m Octane used for reference.



The 3m octane weighs in at 1lb 3.2oz(550 grams) and the Skin weighs 7oz(200 grams).

I was quite taken by the clever method used to attach the bridles to the kite. 4 pics of 2 bridles front/back:



Now the true test will be to see how well it buggies. Power for size, upwind, speed, stability in gusts, and general flying manners. I'll get it out in the sun and get some wind to inflate it to see what it looks like up close. Can't wait to see how it fairs in the buggy.



Has anyone buggied with one of these yet? How are they?

I got the 4M, back when they first came out. I've flown it a couple of times with the buggy, but the times that I did, flying on 15M lines, I had the kite fall back a bit and fold up, then pop back open with enough force to scare me. Could have been just the fact that I wasn't used to the kite, but I haven't had the chance to use it again. It pulled like a truck, though! (with a bit more lift than you get with the NPW)

The cloth in mine seemed to be about standard, though. Construction looked about the same as yours, with the 'sewn in' bridles.

How long did it take to get? I need you to test it right away.

This is the "Skin" not the Uniq, correct?

Mine is on its way. I checked the tracking this am, and it had arrived in NY. I too wondered about the size of the kite given the difference between the numbers listed on Peter Lynn Himself .com and the kite factory. I was not aware it came with handles or what the bridle lengths are. I ordered mine about March 23, and it didn't ship till last Tuesday or Wednesday. Jessica quoted 25 days for delivery after the order was placed but it has taken a week or so longer (depending on how long it takes to get here from the NY sorting center). They don't have a bunch of these on the shelf - each order is made after it comes in, and in my case there were kites to be made ahead of me. i will see how it compares to my growing collection of NPW kites.

RTZ - thanks for mentioning to be careful opening the box.

Quote: Originally posted by soliver

This is the "Skin" not the Uniq, correct?

Pertty sure the unique is not available yet. Sometime in June?

Quote: Originally posted by ssayre

How long did it take to get? I need you to test it right away.

Sean with a little luck maybe I can bring mine to Indy over Memorial Day weekend and you can test if yourself.

That would be awesome randy

Quote: Originally posted by ssayre

How long did it take to get?

I paid for it on the 6th. Then they had to make it. It shipped out on the 22nd and got here today.

Wow- you did a lot better than me - I paid on the 23rd of March, and still don't have it. Jessica said there were delays due to the kite festival.

The PL skin looks good. Can't wait for the flight results.
Price is right. do they come RTF with PVC handles?

BTW bigE123 builds these as well. Might get faster delivery.

Quote:

BTW bigE123 builds these as well. Might get faster delivery

Thanks for the plug Cheeks but I don't build the "Skin" my other non-NPW builds are more like the Uniq/Peak.

This is the skin. Price is now $100 + shipping according to Jessica today, so I did not order, Now price too close to the PL Uniq Quad when I have to add $20 in customs fee, 25% european VAT etc.

And I can order the Uniq Quad 3.5 today for €209 and it will be delivered in 1-5 days (seems to be in stock in Europe). The Uniq is really RTF and with real handles + bag.

Chook and (I think) IMK both have the Skin and from what I can gather, it's a budget kite not in the same league as the Uniq. ChooS-P-A-M-L-I-N-K-s review of it is here: http://www.extremekites.com.au/forums/viewtopic.php?f=59&...

Got mine today. From what I can tell, I'm inclined to accept the 3m number. Here is a picture on top of my 3.5 m Hydra. its actually a little taller and the wingspan doesn't seem to be that much less. Hoping to fly it tomorrow. The fabric is quite thin, so it should not take much wind to fly. Agree with RTZ on the packing - they must have spent a long time on that - probably more than the handles. Line that came with it looks ok. Construction is probably better than Randy, so I guess i won't be able to get a job in their factory quite yet.

Quote:

Has anyone buggied with one of these yet? How are they?

As boobalooie57 said I had an early prototype and it was a bit flighty, would reverse or fold, for that reason I put a Z-bridle on which helped a lot but for traction with the bug it didn't quite feel stable enough. It's probably why the bridles are so long, an NPW would have @6ft of bridle.

I had an early version and I thought it was ok at first. However after a number of flights in various conditions I found it too unpredictable. It had a nasty habit of suddenly flying backwards during gusts/lulls. When flying backwards it still has some decent pull. I gave up on it as a buggy engine - just never felt comfortable. I was flying mine on both handles with a z bridle and on an Ozone Turbo bar.

Hopefully they've refined the design and you have a better experience than me.

Iain

My old profoils came with similar handles. You couldn't even add a strop to them stock. I considered them and insult to the otherwise good kite.

Now this may be very cynical and if I've got it wrong then I apologise in advance, IMHO I think this kite didn't perform as PL expected, so to re-coup costs spent has put it out to sell under license at a very cheap price, the quality probably reflects that, it just doesn't seem like it has the RTF package to justify being a true traction kite, it's more a fun / dip your toe in the water kite to see if you like power kiting. RTZ said the bridle connection is "clever", again IMHO it's just the easiest and cheapest way to do it, there's no reinforcement, light material, line sewn on ..... only time will tell. Rant over :D

The bridles are also interesting in that the power and brake lines seem to be connected by line a couple of feet long - its not a z bridle but a way of keeping the lines closer. Haven't seen that before.

If it flies ok at my local park that should say something since the spot is difficult with turbulance and the like. My NPW's fly well there, while a lot of times the foils can't cope with the gusts and swirls. If its not too windy I should be able to fly it today.

Today I flew it for the first time - wind was weak and sketchy most of the time, but here is a teaser - consider it a preview of coming attractions:D. Overall, my impression is positive - but stay tuned.

Looks like it might have some pull to it, given decent wind...

Quote: Originally posted by Randy

Today I flew it for the first time - wind was weak and sketchy most of the time, but here is a teaser - consider it a preview of coming attractions:D. Overall, my impression is positive - but stay tuned.

I like the way it sounds just like an airplane

Or maybe that's just a lawnmower in the background

I'm back from JIBE where i got another chance to fly the Skin a few times. Unfortunately, I don't have any video from my session pulling my landboard on the beach. I also flew it a little static on the beach, one morning in very light wind.

My reactions are generally quite positive as far as its flight characteristics and performance. This is a kite for pulling things - nothing more or less. It acts a bit like my NASA's, but its a fairly slow and deliberate flyer. On the beach I flew it right after flying my 2.5 M NPW 5-P (20 foot lines), and it showed considerably more power and its seemed better getting upwind. It is mainly just a matter of 'park and go' - no sine waves needed to pull you where you want to go. I ran it for a while, but in truth it had more pull than I wanted or needed, and went back to my 2.5 M. I did have a bit of trouble landing it on the beach, as it was pretty powered up and didn't want to come down. (I had the same problem with my NASA's, so probably that's on me.) It seems to want to fly with a finger above the power line, rather than below. Is it a foil or is it a NASA - seems a bit of both.

I had a bit of trouble with it because moving lines and handles around between my various kites at JIBE I lost track of where the flying lines should connect on the Skin. This may seem trivial, but its not - the brake and power lines are connected on this kite, and there are a number of places that might be the right spot. (Of course, only one combination is right.) I spent the dawn on Thursday trying to figure that out - no instruction manual - not even in Mandarin. For a while, it was RubiS-P-A-M-L-I-N-K-s kite. Eventually, I did solve it and flew it off the handles in really light wind. Seems to me it will work pretty well in 'street kite' mode.

I flew it static at my home park with some rather weak and shifty winds, w.o any problems. It seemed very slow and deliberate, but once it was in solid enough wind (and not much) it was ready to pull hard.

I'm impressed with the design. I got to see some of the other single skin type kites at jibe. What stands out is the simplicity of the design - very few ribs. It sort of seems to me like it was inspired by a NASA with the eye to making it need fewer bridles. I'm impressed by simplicity, so that's probably just my personal taste. While the design seems simple, the construction seems rather complex. This doesn't seem like a kite (such as a typical NASA) an amateur could build. Lots of shaped seams, complicated shapes in the panels.

As noted by Ian and others, the construction is more what you would expect from a prototype, or light duty kite. I wouldn't hesitate to pull my landboard with on a smooth surface, but would it last long pulling a heavy load? I don't know. For me that doesn't matter - I'm using it for light duty. Hopefully, it won't let me down.

I'm sure flyers with more experience than me could give a better review, but there aren't that many of these kites around, so I'll put this out as a starting point. Here's of video of my first time at my local park. Sorry - no footage from JIBE.

Hi Randy, good to see you had a real good time at Jibe!
One thing you mentioned was landing an NPW when fully powered-up, I've also had that and one way I've found to get over this is to add an extra brake line bridle, if there are no middle wing bridles add one to the centre seam at the TE or if there are mid wing bridles swing the TE bridle on to the brakes, I fly mine slightly slack but when you need to back stall, it gives extra for bringing it down and keeping it down ;-)

Thanks Ian, I will have to try that. I decided the only thing harder to do at the beach than at home is landing the kite. The reason is that at home we have a constant cycle of gusts and lulls. You can always wait a little for a lull, and the kite will come down and stay down. Doesn't work that way at the beach (which is a why we go there.) Jan Claes said the 5-P is really bad about not wanting to land, but its not the only NPW with that issue. So I would bring the kite down, tie the brakes to the pin and then it was a made dash to dump sand all over it. (Should have brought my sandbags with me.)

What about the side landing that I do with the NS2's ? That may work with an NPW wing.....

That works really well with my NS2. I've done that sometimes with my other NPW kites too. I tried to land by the side with the Skin, but it ended up in some tall grass with reeds and I was worried I'd puncture the fabric as it was bouncing around. Fortunately, no damage and another kiter tackled it for me. :D Problem with the 5-P was more the crowded beach area where we were all parking our stuff complicated landings. Short lines pretty much solved that too.

I buggied with this crazy kite some more today. My impressions so far is it is a grunt truck. All power, no speed. I was in some sorry, sub par, atrocious, dithery wind. I'm sure the wind never gusted near 20mph. More like 10-15mph today.

Top speed I got out of the Skin was 17 mph. Felt overpowered. Can this kite do 20mph? What's it's top speed?

It is still prone to flying backwards with power. Very strange when it does so. Hard to get it out or to stop once it decides to go.

The 9' long bridles are one thing; but having tied/knotted bridle connections instead of sewn bridles makes it a real mess to sort every time I get the kite out.


If there is anyone here who is an advanced buggier and gets strong enough wind to make use of this size; I can send you this kite so you can test it out and experience it. See if you can get more than 20 mph buggy speed out of it. Feel it out first before you take off with it because like I said; when it starts going backwards; it keeps going backwards. Very hard to make it stop or change direction.

This is the strangest kite I've ever flown.

I haven't had a successful session with it so far; but it seems to have very good upwind, and does have more power size for size. Doesn't seem lifty or lift prone at all. Lots of power; but I haven't seen any hints of speed from it yet.

When I was on my way to 17mph with it; it just seemed to keep getting more and more powerful and the feeling of being overpowered with it. The whole time I'm thinking "how am I going to go fast with this kite?". I don't know if it has any speed in it.