So, I'm wanting to get a water kite, and I have just LOVED every flexifoil I have flown, so I was thinking I would try and get myself a flexifoil Atom08.

Opinions, suggestions?

I've not got out on the water yet, but have messed around on my landboard, but wanna get out on some water soon.

Best Kites ... good quality, sle, cheap
www.bestkiteboarding.com

Flexi Atoms/Ions are expensive, but its a Flexi. Agree with Rip, Best Bularoo and Waroos are nice quality at a great price. I had a go on a Bull about a month ago a was very impressed. Im not qualified to say its the best kite. It is however a Best kite...... On water I probably fit in this category. "oh thats the guy with the foils, and he doesnt suck as bad as he used too".........

There are lots of good kites out there, so many that it's mostly a matter of taste or style of riding, but having said that add my vote for a Best Waroo or Bularoo. 07's are great kites and can be had at very good prices (if you can still find them). I've also had good after sales support from Best and they offer a 30 day, no questions asked, money back guarantee.

Another brand to consider is Eclipse. I've never flown them, but they are very popular here on the Banks and they now offer a full 1 year warranty.

if you are looking for a "water version of the Blade" :

the Flysurfer Speed kites are most similar to the Blade in terms of float, upwind, high AR, power, etc...

Another vote for Best as best ! It's the price line that pushes them to the top while quality is still there IMHO.

North and Ozone kites are good from my personal experience.

best please!

ozone/north/naish/flexi/flysurfer/slingshot are good!

Best are popular on our Beach also Eclipse and more recenlty FreakDog/ Cabarete DR

whats up with Eclipse?

Eclipse has just announced they give 1 year full warranty on their kite against any damage. you ship your kite, they ask no question, and they repair. shipping cost is yours. how good is it ?

they use to give a Kitefix kit with their kite, but not anymore.

:!:

I guess a more important better question would be which would be the best water kite with the LARGEST wind range able to use in the most types of wind.

3m Beamer ! :tumble:

Probably a 7 or 9m Waroo.( due to price ) or similar Bow kite. Ocean Rodeo is another good one that sells at a decent price new and used. Built tough so the are good on land as well.

I'm getting some amazing range out of my Pulse !!!

3.5m Profoil (without a 36" rip) with a 10' longboard works nicely. Ok, time to go public..........................Ive ordered a 16m Bularoo and bar/line set up. And yes (take your shots) the pump came in the package. Time for a change and my brief but sweet demo on a Bullie last month is responsible...............Now, can I still post here?:puzzled:

What about a Peter Lynn Venom II 13 or Synergy 12 for different wind conditions, water/land and overall range...Aren't there any PL fans here :tumble:

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Ive ordered a 16m Bularoo and bar/line set up

Tridude - Please post a review after you've flown it. I wanted to testdrive the Waroo (they didn't have any Bularoo's) at KiteExpo but got skunked due to lack of wind. After BS-P-A-M-L-I-N-K-s comments, I'm seriously considering getting one!

I used to be a peter lynn fan but the bar pressure is really heavy for water kiting IMO and it gives me mad tennis elbow - they are amazing kites to learn on though because of the zennith, allows you to learn to get into the board really easily BUT it also puts you in bad habits of forgetting about the kite redirection and holding it overhead which isn't so good on other kites

Bula Bula Tridude ! :singing:

Always welcome.

This winter I was out and the 9m Blade was just keeping me going. A fellow was flying a 16m Waroo and was the only other person riding

He spanked that thing around like a 7m

If I hadn't gone Flysurfer I would have gone to Best kites.

This should do you until the Neo comes out. Then we'll have you back playing for the twin skins

NOTHING wrong with Peter Lynn. The newer models are amazing in their range

i get my instinct 13m out in 20-40mph winds, works well. cranks upwind and jumps hhhhuuuuuge...only takes about 5 mins. to rig it.

anything one-pump gets my vote

A friend once said, "while you're still pumpin' I'm already jumpin" Now who was it that said that? Naw, it couldn't be Tridude, he wouldn't cave to the dark side! Oh, by the way tridude, I want to give it a try when I make it down to Charleston.
:D

lazy doesn't work for me, perofrmance is worth the pumping.....

The pump vs not to pump debate has been vetted on other threads, but for WIW, pumping is no big deal. And if your kite has an octupus system, I bet you get it pumped up before a PL twinskin can fill enough to fly. Probably faster than my Kitesurfer XXL fills too...

krumly

I flew PL's almost exclusively for the past 5 years and just converted to all inflatos earlier this year. A PL Venom / Venom II is a great kite, especially the smaller sizes, but I decided to go with Waroo's / Bularoos for a number of reasons:

1. Price - I upgraded my entire quiver with all brand new kites purchased from the manufacturer and didn't pay more than $500 for any one kite. You'll likely pay 2x that for a new PL and 2.5 - 3x that for a Flysurfer.

2. Turning speed - I fly mostly the bigger sized kites and my 20m Waroo turns MUCH faster than my Phantom 15 or Venom 19, especially when underpowered (such as surfing down the face of a wave).

3. Bottom / top end - the Bularoo/Waroo's faster turning allow me to kite in conditions I never could even think about before. With my Waroo 20 and my CrazyFly 145x49 I'm able to kite (and have FUN) in 12 - 15 mph winds, with my Venom I needed at least 18 mph. My Bularoo 16 has about the same bottom end as the Venom 19, the same top end as the Venom 19 but turns a ton faster so is much more fun.

4. Stability - I've found my Bularoo/Waroo quiver to be close in flying qualities to the PL's. You don't get "let go of the bar and it flies itself for an hour" that the PL's have, but you also don't have to constantly watch the kite. I've flown other inflatos (Cabrinha, North and Naish) recently, but didn't like the "nervous" instability they possessed. (I'll also note that more guys fly Cabrinhas here than Best, but I think that's mostly because the only kite dealer here was a big fan of Cab's for a while).

5. Relaunching - Relaunching a PL really takes a lot of technique and sometimes a lot of luck. I'd say that over the years my relaunch success rate with PL's was between 50% (with Phantoms) to 80% (with Bomba's and Venoms). Relaunching a bow/sle is really a no brainer, and I've had 100% success in every condition I've tried so far. I had a mini-session the other day with my Waroo 20m in 10 mph winds and dropped my kite. To my surprise I was able to fly the kite backwards off it's LE, let go of one line and swing it around to relauch (FS style relaunch) in 10 mph! Never expected to be able to do that, but it worked!

6. Self launching / landing - self landing a PL blows everything else away IMHO. Self launching a PL in strong winds can be a bit hairy (I've been dragged down the beach during a "hotter than planned" launch more than once). Self launching my Bularoo/Waroo's are pretty straightforward (same technique as a C-kite, fold and sand a tip) but self landing is a bit tougher (requires some skill and practice).

7. Pumping - Pumping up a kite just sucks. If you're able to stick to smaller sized kites (10m or less) it's really not a big issue, but pumping up a 20m kite is no fun at all. "One-pump" is a lot easier, but also carries the risk that the entire kite will deflate if one strut gets a leak. My Waroo 20m at least only has 5 struts which is a lot faster / easier to pump than my Rhino 06 20m was (7 struts and a mile long LE).

8. Durability - No doubt that foils in general will be more durable and will likely last much longer than an inflato. Inflato construction quality has improved over the years, but its biggest strength (a rigid air foil) is also it's greatest weakness (leaking bladders and battens). If all other considerations were equal, I would have stuck with PL's just for their durability and longevity. But the performance and cost difference really made me make the switch.

(Side note - did another 10 mile downwinder Friday afternoon with my Bularoo 16 and my wife was on her (our) Bularoo 10m. Awesome session!)

Hey BK,

Always love reading your write-ups...very informative!

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(Side note - did another 10 mile downwinder Friday afternoon with my Bularoo 16 and my wife was on her (our) Bularoo 10m. Awesome session!)

Geez, sounds like every week you're having a long downwinder and an incredible session...Might be time to pack up the wife and kids and move to the OBX!

yeah, if I drop my bar, my kite hits the water and start relaunching totally depowered almost all by itself... i've never been spanked..I'm the first one in and last one out.....most the time....

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Geez, sounds like every week you're having a long downwinder and an incredible session...Might be time to pack up the wife and kids and move to the OBX!

Not every day is like that, but I have been lucky recently. Today my luck ran out unfortunately. The wind blew directly on shore and never got over 12 mph. Managed to get a very short session with my Bularoo 16 and small board (too lazy to pump up the 20 or go home to get the big board). I had to keep sining that puppy, but I did eventually get out and at least got a bit of exercise. As days like this normally go, I waited on the beach for 4 hours for the wind to fill in and it finally did, right after I finished packing all my gear back in the truck and was half way home! Oh well, I'll just have to do 2 long down winders next time!

I was just picking on tridude. He knows I'm messing with him and I was just picking at his new vulnerabilities. BS-P-A-M-L-I-N-K-s reasoning was some very valuable information though. I might need to look into one of these pumpers myself. Yes, I love to be made fun of too.

nice Kahuna.......are you doing that offshore or on the sound/

BK

would you say the waroo turns as fast as your bularoo, knowing the shape is a bit flatter ?

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nice Kahuna.......are you doing that offshore or on the sound/

Ocean, I'm not much into flat water kiting (but it's nice to have a choice!).

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would you say the waroo turns as fast as your bularoo, knowing the shape is a bit flatter ?

You know, that's really hard to say. First, I only have 07's so don't have any idea what the 08's are like. And also the only Waroos I have are the 5m and 20m, the complete ends of the lineup, so I'm probably not a good person to ask. I will say though, that my Waroo 20m is surprisingly fast turning for its size. That and my Bularoo 16 are my most flown kites and the turning speed on the W20 is fairly close to the B16.

The way I understand it, the big differences between the 07 Waroo and Bularoo are 1) construction and 2) the Waroo flies closer to the edge of the window which gives you a bit more upwind pull and better lift for jumps. Those two things aren't as big a factor for me as stability and durability so I went for the Bularoos. But now that I have both, I'd say the other two factors I like about the Bularoos are the 1 pump (soooo much easier to pump) and the Bularoo has fewer pulleys on the bridle and each pulley has a safety line (which would be easy enough to add to the Waroos).