Thought I would do a quick review on the Buster series from PKD since its a pretty good newbie kite.

First off, the build quality of the wing is awesome, but the bridle lines aren't that great, and you get what you pay for in the lineset. The handles are great though. They have an adjustable pig-tail on the bottom lines so you can adjust the brake tension quickly and easily. Another adjustment on the kite is on the main bridle connection. You can change the angle of the kite and make it perform differently.

For the factory setting, its about 1/3 faster than the flexifoil Blade 3m and about 1/3 less pull in the same winds. The main difference is that the buster makes on static (while the kite is not moving) lift, where are Blade does. The kite will make a small amount of lift while moving high in the sky. It makes an excellent buggy kite in higher winds.

It turns very well, and is a great kite for beginners, as well as for someone who is not looking for lift.

You can buy these and other kites at:
http://mysite.verizon.net/vze7sh41/powerkites/

Scoop

I bought a 2m Buster for the other half to fly in high winds - but we just can't get it set up right to fly! When it arrived it was all connected up and ready to go but didn't fly 'right'.
Despite much adjusting of the bridle and brake lines it seems to take an inordinate amount of wind to make it fly. HOwever, when it does get in the sky it will give a reasonable amount of drag but never gets to the zenith so lift is never even an issue :puzzled:
Have to agree with the comments on the lines, they are cheap and nasty to say the least, especially when compared to Ozone or Flexi lines. But then again what should you expect for under £100!

I have noticed the Busters have some unusual characteristics, and remind me a bit of Firebees in this way. In higher winds they tend to be twitchy. But like the Beamers, not a bad kite for the $.

Have eventually got my Buster to fly right :D Took a while and comparisons with other kites on the beach but now it goes it'll drag me down the beach and give me a good workout when the winds are high enough!

BUSTER 1.4

Got the 1.4 as a (very) high wind kite.
Not convinced by the build quality at first, but is much more convincing once it's inflated. I wanted to try it as a traction engine for my ATB in high winds, but have yet to really get going.
Don't like the way the kite behaves when you set it for power, but love it when it's set for speed (adjustable bridle like...). On its fastest setting in a strong breeze you need jedi reflexes to keep it in the air, zips about.

Incredibly cheap. Incredibly fast. Can get a fair amount of pull (for the size). Bargainous all in all. :D

BUSTER 5.5

i brought my buster as an ex-demo at only 150 quid but had the same problems as 'bondcw' it took about 2 weeks to get it to fly awesomely and sit right on the ground but is amazin now. I mostly use it for boarding as it provides huge speeds:D. It worked well with the handles it came with but decided to by an airush 80cm bar which i feel makes the kite act alot smoother. When it comes to lift i would have to dis-agree with the rest of u even though i understand smaller kites are in use but the 5.5 often pic me up to about 10-15 ft in say 13-16mph winds.

anyway..... there hard to set up but once u get it right u'll know all about it and fantastic kites for the penny's.

plus it's a shame about the bag but who care its the kite u use.

You have to be sure that the busters have a lot of slack in the brake lines. If there is to much tension in the brake lines the kite does not want to get of the ground and if it does fly it will fly very low in the sky. I have several busters and have been flying them for over 2 years.

Susan

Quote:

Originally posted by kitemaker4 You have to be sure that the busters have a lot of slack in the brake lines. If there is to much tension in the brake lines the kite does not want to get of the ground and if it does fly it will fly very low in the sky. I have several busters and have been flying them for over 2 years. Susan

I'll second that....Busters fly bexst with not brake pressure at all. They might even benefit from power rings to prevent dragging brake lines from tugging on the brakes. Haven't tried it yet, but it's on the to-do list.

best beginner kite made! mine has survied numerous crashes and even a large repair! i find it flys well on a two line bar and without the brakes i find you get more power out of the kite! 10/10 for a beginner kite

Well, Finally ended up getting my hands on one of the Buster I 9m kites, While it still has the old bridal setup and I'm not super happy about that, they seem up to the task. I was a bit concerned about how this large of a kite would fly. Most of the other larger kites I've been using are similar to driving a bus.

Well, Wind was between 6-8mph, launching this beast is a bit of an adventure, but once you get it in the air and full it's quite a pleasant suprise, Still not super lifty, but more than enough pull in the fairly light wind to get me going in the buggy. No speed records were broken today, but I was able to get going and still have really solid kite control. I have a feeling this kite in a couple more MPH winds would take on a life of it's own.

The one thing that really suprised me though is the turning speed, I put the speed and turning of this kite right around that of the 5.5m Buster, maybe a hare slower, but very close. If your looking for a decent light wind kite to add to the set, this may be worth looking at.


As for the other busters and brake lines, the 5.5m and over do well with about 3-4 inch extensions on the brake lines, for some reason they came from the factory with fairly snug brake lines and really like them a little looser.

hi all new to this forum but yes i had to do my brake lines aswell
4meter buster II

Strange, I have a 3m and a 5m Buster II, and I find that the brake lines are loose from the factory, I pulled them both 1/2 way in on the brake line pig tail adjuster to get the proper ammount of brake for my taste.

The old buster I's all came with the brake bridal a little short or something, the 4m's suffered a bit, 5.5m and larger really benefited from extending the brake lines by a couple inches.