erikw

HQ Symphony 1.8, 2.2, and 2.7 sport foils. I got these kites in fall of '07, and I write this review in mar 08, so I've had a bit of time with them. I see I am still unable to write a short review. Sorry, y'all. I've tried to make it easy to read, at least. I'm about 155 lbs, 40 yrs old, and fly lots on beaches with very little room to fly, so all static up to this point. I've got too many kites, about 6 of which I fly a lot: the 2.2 and 2.7 symphonies, the 2 & 3 m china special legends, and the 5m china ace. I'll have an 8m soon, just in time for summer light winds! I originally got these HQ kites to help get me kiting, but had some problems with delivery and got some pansh kites instead, so by the time I got these I was well past the sport kite stage and well into the scudding and learning to jump stage with my lovely red chinese 5m. But these HQ symphonies have become regular flies. They are very controllable, so i often fly them when my beach is too crowded (often: I live in Hong Kong) or too small (high tide) to fly my bigger 4-line kites. They are strong, and can haul around my 100' (kite!) tail in just a little more wind than it takes to get them up. They all have the capacity to generate significant power in strong winds (about 15 / 20 / 25 mph for the 2.7, 2.2, and 1.8 respectively). And they're guest-friendly. They all have a white upper surface and a rainbow motif on the lower surface, making them lovely kites to fly, the colors all rich and full of light. They are all a longish AR for their 2-line status and their size, ranging from 3 or so from the smaller kite to the biggest at nearly 3.5 AR. Each size has its own design: it isn't simply scaled up or down for each size. The size refers to the width of the kite, not its area. My 2.7 is 268cm by 78 cm, for example, with A, B, and C rows tied to the canopy at every other cell. 20 cells in all, the outermost three on each side without vents, a number of round holes in each rib, maximum wing thickness at the root (middle of the kite) of 11 cm. All the canopy attachment ribbons are stitched into the ribs. The leading edge vent is nice and narrow -- 4 cm at the thickest, and so it can take a few pumps on the lines to fully inflate the kite when taking off in light winds. My 2.2 is 220 cm by 70 cm, with A, B, and C rows (except for the tips A&C only there) attached to the canopy at the tip and first cells, then at every other cell until the root cell, which has canopy attachments on each side of it. 15 cells in all. And this kite has a double cross over, not just a single like the 2.7. The leading edge vent is narrow, but stitched into a length-ways linked diamond shape, with the outer two cells closed. All canopy attachments are sewn through into the ribs. The maximum thickness at the root is also 11 cm -- the 2.7 is shade thicker on a recheck, but the 2.2 is nearly as thick. I gave the 1.8 to my nieces for Xmas, and so it isn't here on my floor exposed to the mercy of my tape measure. I remember it had the same level of construction, a crossover bridle of some kind, and had an edge of performance. My nieces are 70 and 80 lbs, and it was too much kite for them in 30+ mph winds! They were barely able to handle a radsail 145! The bridles are good: strong, lean, and short, with a nice angle of attack that allows full use of the wind window, yet a minimum of overflying, but still has plenty of power: a nice balance. The 2.7 has two extra crossover lines, which extend from each power leader up across the root of the kite to link to the canopy right above the other power leader, making an extra X in the bridle between the power leaders. The 2.2 has four extra crossover lines, and is even more stable in tight turns. These two kites don't bow-tie, they can fly some very tight semi-collapsed turns with one power line completely slack (and so fast you don't know which way the kite will be heading as it comes out of the loop), and they are marginally easier to recover from crashes than a two-line split bridle set-up (altho recovery here like with all two lines is still largely a matter of luck, you're just lucky more often! :}) I fly them a lot with long tails. The 2.7 has pulled a hundred-foot tail loaded with thirty lightsticks in winds of BF 3-4 with no troubles. Sure looks cool at night, like a twitchy dragon looping in the sky. The 2.7 sometimes goes up in gusty offshore wind on 40 m lines to put it up above a 20m high wind shadow caused by trees at my beach. It gets me scudding in BF5 and starts lofting me in BF 6 going on 7. With an onshore breeze it gets me scudding in BF 4, but usually with a onshore breeze I'm flying a bigger 4-line and working on my jumps by then. A past poster on the 2.7 commented on the kite's surprising and rather unpredictable power when deep in the zone in decent winds. I'd have to agree. It accelerates and adds to its own apparent windspeed in the power zone, despite its mostly good manners at the edge of the window. So when it gets powered up in smooth strong wind it can definitely pull hard, and then accelerate (unpredictably to a 6-mo newbie like me -- you race kite guys probably know what this is about) and pull harder, and then with more wind and higher in the window possibly lift, but you would need long lines and reflexes like a fruit fly to pull reliable jumps out of this thing, imho, and I know I'd be thinking whiplash if not about putting on my helmet. I don't have the skill to fly this thing reliably when it's pulling me around, moving fast, and busy moving faster as long as i keep it in power (mind you, we're talking 20 mph gusting to thirty and this is in the gusts. In 10 mph its a bit of nice light yoga with the odd wonky-wind distraction). I haven't pushed this kite's limits, it's pushed mine. The 2.2 is quite a bit tamer, but I had it up in gusty BF 4-5 with a bunch of grade six kids, and about twenty of them had a go, but none of them could hold it in a loop in the power zone. (I was standing behind them, guiding them when needed with my hands on their elbows, and wearing modified kite killers that allow me to take a step back and take control of the kite... kids pick up kites fast!) And my two-line stunt kite buddy was just about to pin those stalled-out 360 maneouvers (axle spins?) with it when the wind died, so it has a bit of stunt potential. Not surprising with its double crossover lines. and the 1.8 you've already heard about. All the kites are precise in their handling. The bridles are short and have no stretch (unlike pansh, for example -- I recently checked my 5m and the total stretch from 10 lbs to 150 on one power leader was nearly 10 cm!) and the lines are pre stretched. The only similar kite I have in precision of feel is my 1.7 flexi sting flown without the brake lines and brake bridle in two-line mode. The HQ's are an 8/10 on my quality of control scale. with the flexi sting a 9.5/10 and the pansh 5 ace about 6/10, and a nasty cheapo 2-line at 4/10. The flexi sting is the highest quality kite I have flown, and so it's my benchmark. So they all have a degree of performance lacking in many two-line kites. Yet: had gusty light winds today (BF 2-3) and my 2.2 and 2.7 got two more people hooked on the sport (likely... we'll see... hee hee look at me i'm a wind junkie) despite shifting power zones and wind windows. So they are all also good all-around performers, and good kites for guests in marginal conditions. I often keep one ready to go on the beach when I am flying the bigger 4 line kites, and pick it up to loosen up when my arms get pumped from flying without a harness. And of course they're my first choices for a guest kite. And they pack down small. The 2.7 can go down to the size of two large paperbacks, and the 2.2 down to the size of two normal ones, with webbing handles and an extra set of lines. They go with me anywhere I travel, my 5m china special being #3 to come along. The HQ symphony range is a high-quality range of 2-line power kites suitable for beginners, yet offering an extra edge of stunt-kite performance and high-wind pull that will keep them in one's quiver, and not just as "guest" kites. They are small enough to be safe in most winds, but can also deliver thrills with decent performance in strong winds. If you are considering getting into kiting, and have the coin to consider an intermediate step on the way to that 3 or 4 meter 4-line that really gets you into power kiting, do consider these: they have lasting value. the 2.2 is the pick of the range, in my humble opinion, as folks say the B IV 6.5 is the pick of of the flexi blade range. It's the best all-around stunt / sport / intro 2-line foil. the 2.7 is the same, but with bite: it's significantly less safe than the 2.2. I mod my kites, and I'll likely have a go at my 2.7 soon, with an eye to adding two more crossover lines, swapping out the chunky (4mm?!? on a 2 sq m kite?1?) power leaders, and a go at seeing how it flies with a brake bridle in 4-line mode, though I've got no idea how that will work out. "BF" above refers to Beaufort wind force. cheers, erikw

Review: prism snapshot 1.4 Me: fortyish, outdoor guy all my life, outdoor educator for most of my working life, a canadian based in hong kong for the past ten years. 11 stone, 5 foot 10. It's raining with no wind, so this wil be very wordy indeed. be warned. caveat: I don't really feel qualified to give a review, as the snapshot is the only foil kite I've flown. I've just got one of the pansh aces, the 5.0 power kites from china (I got one of the last $99 US ones! whoo hoo!) But I do have fifteen hours of flying time in a wide variety of conditions, and I've been a sailor for the past 32 years ( did my first solo tacking and gybing at 8yrs old) so the wind has been a part of my awareness for a long time before i got into kites. I'll try to keep my evaluations in objective terms as much as possible, as my experience so far doesn't really support useful subjective impressions. In a few more weeks, all going well, I'll have a quiver of more than fifteen kites, including depowerables and a couple 5m + wind: I live in hong kong, on lantau island. This time of year, we get winds mostly from the south, BF 2-5 with a strong land breeze that can do up to F3 on a hot day with no wind. There are several beaches here, most pointing somewhere near south. Typhoons bring some beastly winds, and the squalls and thundershowers can throw up a pretty good gust front just before the rain hits. My most exciting times flying have been in those gusts, in the few minutes before the torrential downpour and lightning comes in -- getting the kite down and it with me safe under shelter is often nearly as exciting. I've flown in all of those conditions, except typhoons and have about 15 logged hours on the snapsot. The snapshot is well constructed, with a clearly marked and well-tied bridle that has two crossover lines in the mix. When I dry it off by flying it with my hands on the bridles and holding it up, all the lines look even and tight. After about 7 hours, and right after my first flight in an thundershower gust front (BF 2-5, with lots of wind direction changes) I started noticing some twisting in some of the bridles lines, as if the filaments on the inside of the sheathing were adjusting to different lengths under tension (likely the knots tightening up in the gusts) so that the lines started to look like they had a slight ridge spiralling around them lengthwise. My first kite, remember: I think this is just a sign of getting worn in. Nice winder, good slippery lines with nice crisp feel: I get the sense that every variation in a gust is transmitted to my fingertips. Flying: I've never put the straps around my wrists, but usually pinch them, and sometimes use my first two fingers if the wind is gusting BF 4 or so. I've dropped the kite a few times, but only because I've tripped or tried to answer a mobile while flying. Once, in the strongest winds I've seen (2 hrs of gusts and calms, up to BF 5) my fingers got a little sore for a day or so afterwards. I weigh 11 stone: it might knock me down in typhoon winds,. but i imagine I'll have a bit more skill by the time that happens. I'm likelier to break the lines. They're thin and slippery, when dry I can fly with over ten twists in the lines, but half that if the lines are wet, and max of three twists if wet and sandy (those numbers would be for a nice steady BF 3, a few seconds of dry BF5 will dry them and shakes all the sand off). The kite will fly down to a steady 4mph breeze, but with a real small wind window (30-45 degrees wide) and very low tolerance for sharp turns. if I spread my arms wide and concentrate I can hold at a zenith maybe 20-30 feet off the ground in the lightest wind it will handle, and can maybe get about forty feet to each side of the zenith before risking unrecoverable collapses. At 6 mph, my wind window well over ninety degrees wide, my zenith a bit past 45 degrees, and I'm starting to have a little fun. At 10 mph, the kite fully awake, and I've got most of my wind window, about 150 degrees, and the kite will zip to the zenith, but doesn't like it up there, really unstable. At 80 degrees up the from the horizon, it's a lot better, more stale, but sure doesn't like hanging out up top. I haven't been able to land it yet without crashing or collapsing it, but I'm getting close. It turns slow and prone to collpase at the edge of the window when using pull turns, more quickly and more stably with a push turn, but I'm just getting used to push vs.pull, have only tried that for a couple of sessions. Combination push/pull turns will get a bit more manueverability, but I'm still working on that part of the learning curve. No dirt-outs, and it only takes a few seconds of rolling in surf to fill with enough sand to affect its performance in low wind. Getting the sand out is pain, as the vents between cells are too small to allow much circluation. Filling up the middle cells with water and swishing the water from tip to tip by holding the kite by its leading edge and angling from tip to tip, back and forth, then pour out through the leading edge, and repeat, works ok, but immersion in a big tub of fresh water and gently swirling the sand out works better. Like I say, I don't have any real comparision (yet) but I believe its quite a stable kite, easy to fly, and a bit quick just because it's so small. It doesn't really accelerate and create its own apparent wind, but has a precise reaction to the edge of the wind window: no fuzziness with a clear wind, if that makes sense. Doesn't handle turbulent air very well, likes to lose power and sink, but responds well to gusts, and small enough so it and its flyer can take most any gust in its stride. Think I'll need to upgrade the lines for typhoon wind flights, but by then I should have a 1.7 sting 4-line as well -- same sort of kite, I think. Not going to bother giving this kite subjective number ratings and all the rest, don't know enough yet. This kite was cheap. well-made, flew straight out of the big, and has taught me lots. But I think a 140 to 160 pound guy would be better getting a 1.5 to 2 m kite to play on, and it would deliver enough power to keep things interesting but wouldn't be much threat to personal safety. The 1m size is good for fun, and very portable -- I think it will be travelling with me lots, as it packs down to nearly the size of a paperback with winder and lines -- but I'm not sure I could find a wind that would require more than two fingers without shredding the foil. But haven't seen more than 20 mph winds yet, really, even in the gusts. I'd give it to an eight-year old without hesitation and without a feeling that i should be buying armour for the kid. It's that small. Anyways, I''ve had the snapshot for about a month, and the Ace for a couple days. The ace is all set up, but I'm waiting for the right wind for its first flight, as it has a fearsome reputation. I've got another six kites coming from the UK, a nice mix of two and four line kites in the 1.5 to 3 m range, and was planning on a nice safe steady start up the learning curve, but the shipping is slow from the UK, and the service so far non-existent. Pansh sent five emails from three different addresses, none with duplicate info, and have so far provided the best on-line shopping experience I've had, aside from having to use exploder (still on the hard drive, wow! hadn't used it for two years, being very happy with firefox and the like) for ordering. So there you go... a big novel for a tiny foil. enjoy.... Erik w By : erikw