I have seen a few of these selling quite cheap on ebay recently was wondering if they are any good, and what build quality , control , lift etc ?

are they good? qualified yes.

the sail itself is very good.

the bridle is usually of good quality, but frequently it needs a lot of adjustment right out of the box, making it not a good kite for a new kiter.

the lines are extremely average, in some cases they will stretch unevenly over time. also, they are not very abrasion resistant.

the handles totally suck, be prepared to buy new ones.

the kites come with small stuff sacks and no kite killers.

despite all this, they fly well (once adjusted) and are a fantastic price, but be aware that even if it's new, it's a "fixer-upper" because you'll have to buy kite killers, sort out the bridle, etc.

as far as flying and lift, they have many models. I fly an Ace6.0, it's a very high AR (4.6 I think) kite with a lot of grunt and lift, definitely not for high wind days.

If you buy them, don't buy used on ebay, get new. The amount of money saved V.S. the performance lost isnt worth it.

If you are talking about the ones posted by Dakites. Buy with confidence.

That is Dlish, A well respected contributer to this site. ( see good trader list ) Send him a U2U to see if he has any deals. Sometimes he has other stuff he can unload cheaper than his Ebay price.

Oh...my bad, I thought you were talking about used kites, yeah no for sure, Dlish can get you some great deals, and all his stuff is new. He is an awesome seller!

Dlish 4 sure...

As far as the bridal issues and line stretching goes, I'm under the impression they have resolved these issues on the new kites...
I know for a fact the Blaze needs break line attention (shorten the break bridal piggie tail by quite a bit) for it to fly right... The kites I own have been great out of the stuff sack...

As far as Pansh goes I've been extremely impressed with them for the price... I have 6 currently and I'm still looking at getting more... I agree the handles are cheap, but do the job well and will last till you get sick of them and get new ones...

HQ is another brand worth looS-P-A-M-L-I-N-K-n into, high quality and relatively inexpensive for starting out... good value for your $$$ and Dlish could help there also...

I am looking for a kite which would give good lift to start kite jumping with. Which would be the best pansh kite to go for ?

i am just over 12 stone in weight .

the Ace is a pretty lifty kite, I have the 6 meter and it will pick me up handily. (in stones I think I am 16 or 17) since you are so light, I think a 4 meter is plenty.

the Ace is also not an especially easy kite to fly, if you are getting started I wouldn't reccomend it.

I put in over 200 hours on two line small kite in all kinds of winds for a few months (june to october '07),

then about 50 hours on four diff 2-3 meter 4 line kites (october / november 07),

then didn't have much trouble with the ace 5 (dec 07 til now),

I felt I was being really careful and slow with the way I went up that bit of the learning curve, essential I felt as I taught myself to fly and have yet to meet anybody flying something biggish on land, but I have had huge fun every step / scud / jump of the way so far...

Cheers for all your help

Think i am going to go for a 5m ace .

I am pretty new to kiting , but i have not had any problems so far with the beginner 3m kite i have been flying

i generally pick things up pretty quick, and i have about 20 years of extreme sport experience behind me, in climbing , bouldering , and mountain boarding , so i am used to be dumped unexpectedly on the floor from a great height without warning.

wish me luck , may be back here soon asking advice for a smaller kite if all goes wrong.

the five is the one I bought..its a great kite and a good step up....I flew it against a blade 4.9 and is was just a bit less grunty of course and those blades are meant to fly you high.so there was a lift difference..but here is what I noticed...in conditions where the air is slow moving 10 mph or less and you are static flying...the kite will fold its wing tip on the edge of the window especially when jumping...the redirect is crucial for this kite or the wing will get slapped.......but in 10+ its pretty good without gusts (10+ beach wind i.e.)..and when in those conditions its a great buggy engine...i did a 2 mile+ run with it and it never gave me excuses not to fly...this kite seems to be power hungry


2 cents

DQ