This thing is big. I mean big. Unpacking it indoors takes up a small room. It arrived today and looking out of the window when I got home I thought 'oh no its too windy to fly this thing!'. Still I went out anyway. Wind meter said 4 - 7, gusting up to 9mph. Thought I'd give it a go. Not really windy enough to get any serious buggying in with my largest up until now, my Skytiger Hi60 (5.6m), although that would be enough to get rolling, so what the hell - I got it out.

First thing I noticed- the bridle on the brake lines was very long, and the only knot was way on the end. Hooked up my Ozone lines to the knots already tied and before I took off it was obvious there was zero tension in the brake lines. Tied another knot about 15 inches up the brake bridle line to guess where I'd roughly get some tension. Took off pretty easy with a big tug, gradually got some air in it and sailed right up to the zenith - very stable and just sat there.

Next thing I noticed - pulling on either line on the top lines when standing static has virtually no effect at all... this thing flies only on brakes, andyou need to pull waaaay in on the brakes to get some turning going.

Landed it and over a couple more trial and error attempts shortened the brake lines by about another 10 inches. Now it flies with some tension in the brakes, makes turning easier. Flies with a slight curve on the trailing edge.

This thing flies good and steady. It's slow to move, like a big semi... but when it gets moving.... man does it pull! It pulls like a tractor! The interesting thing though was even in the gusts up to 10mph you can feel the power, but it comes on really steady - no jerking or yanking your arms off. The other thing - when standing static with it up high, the gusts were slowly lifting me off the ground and setting me down again... never felt this before from my other kites!

In the buggy the pull is very consistent... it pulls very steady and good. If you turn the thing up and down through the wind this thing is so big it just generates its own wind :-) A couple of times I stopped and put the kite down and realised that there was no wind at that point.. it had died down to nothing, but as I was rolling and I was curving the thing up and down it was generating enough pull to buggy..... excellent... this is exactly what I was looking for... if you can feel a bit of wind on your face then this thing is big enough for some buggying... perfect for evening wind in Sacramento in the summer!

The build quality of this kite is pretty good. I didn't notice anything that caught my eye that prompted other people to question the quality. The stitching all looks good, the seams all are good, and the material feels lighter than some other ripstop I have on my other kites... but thats good considering the size of this thing - it probably weighs a couple of pounds.

The line it came with looks suspicionsly like thick string. Haven't tried it yet but I'll keep it as spare. The handles look pretty decent and have a neoprene handle cover. They look longer than my other handles so I'll try them out next time I go out - will give a bit more leverage to get this thing turning.

This is the largest traction kites I've flown by far, so it took a while to work out how to fly the thing - swooping it through the wind seems to get good pull for buggying when the wind was down low around 5mpy, but when it picked up closer to 9mph it was happy so sit parked at at 10 o'clock and sit with the brakes slightly applied and just generate pulll. I probably need longer lines as well. Flying on 75 foot lines was just enough to get it to down turn and head in the other direction. I'll have to see how long the other lines are, or get out some tangled 150 foot lines that I have stashed away somewhere.

All in all I am more than pleased with this kite. For $200 you can't go wrong. I'm definitely going to get a couple of smaller ones to round out my quiver. I was thinking of sinking $400 or so into a smaller Yakuza, but for that price I can guy 3 or 4 more of these kites and be competely set for all occasions... :-)

You make me want one.. I was trying to get the 5.5 up today and it just laughed at me. Same winds as you were describing.

Wish i wasn't about to have a kid, i'd buy one right now.

-Dusty-

Set up some pictures of the beast.

Here's a picture of it rolled out on the floor - I'll get some close ups uploaded and pics from in flight soon....

kevin, you have to let me fly this thing. I was thinking of getting a 7m blaze to round out my quiver. word on the pansh kites is they are a decent kite for the money but lines and handles suck ass.

sure thing. I'm really pleased with it - I thought I was taking a gamble on blowing 200 on the largest one but it's turned out to fly real well in a steady wind and pulls like a truck. It's sweet spot seems to be around 5-6 and upto about 10mph but gusts around 10mph were taking me up in the air... :-) I'd definitely get another one at these prices (a smaller one), although their new one, the Ace, looks pretty cool and $99 for the 5m is pretty hard to beat.

Last Sunday evening I was over at the school at the wind was between 4 -9mph, ave 6mph on my wind meter, and swooping it across the window was pulling more than enough to buggy under power and do some big power slides.

The supplied line is like rope... not sure what it's made from, but you could probably knit a wool sweater with it! The handles are ok.

I'll give yoiu a call if I go out - maybe Sunday?

lets go out sunday eve

I am with y'all.... lemme know..I can't make it to the beach....whaa...but lemme know if you go on sunday night....I gotta see this monster...I just picked up the 5.5 legend..but the wind has been lame-o.....the thing flys but it's just too heavy for 8-12 mph lumpy winds-o-the-valley

DQ

Good review khooke - thanks for taking the time to post it

Went out this evening - wind started off around 6 gusting to 14mph. Was apprehensive getting this monster out in 14mph gusts, but for the majority of the time the wind was staying below 10, so gave it a go. Even with the 14mph gusts this beast really is a gentle giant - it doesn't accelerate and yank your arms off and pull you out of your buggy (like my Century does - in gusts the Century scares the crap out of me because it accelerates so quick - one moment you're on the edge but in control, the next moment you're being pulled out of you buggy and dragged across the ground!)

Got some decent buggying in... right up until the wind died down to the point where you could barely feel it...

Here's a few more pictures of the kite in flight...

Another one

In flight

Close up detail

I flew this kite the other day in low winds, I got the nicest jump I have ever had, nice soft landing too. I was maybe 6-10 feet of the ground, lots of fun.

I've had this monster for a few weeks now, and I thought I'd post a follow up to say I'm absolutely loving this kite

Every time the wind is low enough to get this flying-side-of-a-bus out, I have so much fun with the amount of pull it produces that it's really put the excitement back in buggying for me (it never went away.. this kite just knocks it up a few notches...). In about 10mph it's about on the edge of 'sensible', and ok with gusts up to a couple of mph more. It will fly and give bugging pull in much less, but in only around 8-10mph it pulls enough for me to be on the edge of overpowered - it just really feels awesome to have that much power in such low wind! Puts a big smile on my face everytime I fly it!

hey. i live in england and i have one kite wich is 4.8m. but i have been flying along time and i know what i am doing with my current kite. the wind speeds here average 8-10 mph. i am 6.6 and weigh about 12stone (you will have to convert that to pound sorry) how much do you weigh. cos that blaze sounds a beast

Welcome to the Power Kite Forum, Doogle! What is your 4.8m, and do you just fly it static or do you have a buggy or something?

I weigh 160lbs, about 5'6 and buggy in a std 1997 Flexi buggy with no mods (std wheels, tires etc).

Here's a short clip buggying with the 12.5m in 10mph wind:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5SfY9SJZr8

I'll have a few more vids posted shortly in the SOBB section of this forum, since I buggied a lot with the 12.5m the first 2 days I was at SOBB07 this week.

Hey khooke, thanks for the review! These Pansh kites are crazy cheap! Why dont we see anyone selling these things on ebay I wonder :puzzled: . I'm seriously thinking about grabbing the Blaze II 12.0 within the next 2 months.

The only thing that concerns me is the Blaze II is a depower rig and I have zero experience with setting that up and dialing it in. From the Flexifoil manuals I can see that Kites that come with them are a snap to set up but Pansh doesnt sell a Line and bar combo so where is a good place I read up on installing a depower bar onto a kite that doesnt come with one and tunning it in?

Quote:

Why dont we see anyone selling these things on ebay I wonder

- I've seen a couple on ebay and the prices tend to start higher than you pay to buy it direct so be careful...!

I haven't heard anyone on here talk about the setup of the BlazeII depower - might want to try posting on RK forum since they always have a bunch of active Pansh threads over there...

I happened upon a fellow with just your problem one day. He had a new Blade 2 and not a clue. He was getting no place and trying to hook it up like a fixed bridle. I don't think he would have gotten it without my help.
You can buy just about any old 4 line de-power bar and it will work. The longer the better for a 12m ! Make sure that all lines are = with the trim strap out. the lines from you bar go on the back and the center lines hook on to pig tail that allows the front + middle bridle to rock back and forth on the pulleys as you trim in and out.

You will have it trimmed right when with the strap fully open and the bar pulled all the way in the kite just wants to stall and fall back a bit.

To bring a de-power down you pull on the lines from the handles not the center lines.

Just got mine today and went straight to the beach..
Wind was 6mph.. Brake lines were real long. Took me 3 times to get it right..

Up it went no problem, and floated straight over head in hardly any wind..

Flying it across the window pulled me down the beach.. Nice

Turning it Sucked.. Took all my strength... My Wrist are killing me now..

I think Longer handles will help.. I was using my normal Ozone handles.. I got home and see my Flexifoil handles are longer,so next time I will try thoses..

Kite is really good I have to say..Looking forward to more hours on it... :cool2:

BigSiler,
You may want to try pulleys. Here's John's plan.
http://groups.msn.com/AmericanKiteBuggier/handles.msnw?actio...