PKD Brooza Mk1 3m

Introduction

Although there is now the Mk II of this kite this is a review of a 3m Mk I.

After I had decided that the buggy was the form of traction that I wanted to continue with, it was time to upgrade the Beamer II to a more intermediate type of kite that would give me pull but minimum lift, I also needed something that wasn't going to luff as most of my flying is inland. After looking around the web for something a little different, and reading what people had thought of different kites, I opted for the PKD Brooza ready to fly option.

The Bag and Contents.

The Brooza's come in the sizes of 2m, 3m 4m 5.5m and 7.5m The bag is colour coded to that of the kite. It's a stuff sack come rucsak the reason as I say this is its basic but with 2 straps for backpack carrying perfect for being able to stuff the bag into your pocket when setting up. Inside the bag comes a nice crisp kite, a set of handles which are covered in a hard rubber, they have small cleats on the bottom of the handle allowing you to change the brake length on the fly, they also come with a strop between them. A set of 22m lines grey in colour. A PKD Lanyard, set of different size stickers, 2 sew on patches, spare cleats 2 ground stakes, a set of kite killers and 2 orange sandbags.

The Kite

The kite comes in Red / White with a black bird like logo on the rear of the kite, this looks totally striking and is perfectly sewn onto the kite, its certainly a head turner! The inside of the kite is plain white with a PKD logo. The other kites in the Brooza range come in their own colours so its easy to recognise a kite size by colour. The build quality of the Brooza is really good, all the cells and bridle attachment points are reinforced which helps the kite keep its shape in lighter winds. The bridle is all in bright colours, and nice and strong.

Setting up.

The winds were quite strong the first time I actually got to fly this kite. After putting the lines out the kite just wanted to fly and didn't want to sit on the ground. Fortunately PKD supply you with 2 bright velcro bags allowing you to fill them with sand to hold the kite down, saves digging handfuls of sand to throw on your kite!

https://www.extremekites.org/uploads/rk/reviews/brooza.jpg

Performance.

With a pull on the lines the kite went steadily skywards straight to the top of the window and sat there, it didn't fall back into the power zone nor did it want to fly over my head. You also don't get that sudden jerk on your arms due to the reduced amount of air intakes in the leading edge this makes the kite inflate slower than normal. In lighter winds I found that you do have to turn the kite a little to enable the kite to fill with air. With a gentle tweak on the brakes and a pull on the handles the kite turns so smoothly, it seemed to just turn on the spot. With some static flying moving it around the window my grin was stuck on my face. OK time to get in the buggy.

Brooza and the Buggy

I took the kite to the zenith and sat in the buggy. I gently lowered the kite into the power zone, and we are off with a smooth acceleration. The kite holds a perfect shape in the sky, even when taken to the edge of the window it doesn't lose its shape or luff. As I gained my confidence and picked up speed so this kite just wants to go faster and wants to keep pulling harder. Upwind I can nearly fly into the wind allowing me access to anywhere in the field or beach. This kite can generate more power and speed than I have ever experienced. Other fliers that I know of have made speeds of 50+ mph powered by a Brooza.

Downsides of the kite.

Well there aren't many! In my experience with the kite the only problems I can see is I found that the strop is a little too short. This I have since cut off and replaced with a longer one for my needs. Also the fact that the kite doesn't want to sit on the ground this is remedied with the sandbags and also adding another stake to the handles to put a little power on the lines. I found in a buggy that the kite killers are a little too long and got tangled more than once, so again these have been changed for a shorter pair.

Conclusion

This kite is awesome and a dream to fly. Build quality its superb looks beautiful in flight its exciting, forgiving, challenging, predictable, smooth rarely luffs and pulls like a train. Upwind capabilities of the kite is amazing. In short this kite is superb and will leave you grinning like a chesire cat! So much so I now own the 2m 4m and 5.5m (2m and 5.5 are MkIIs)

The MkII.

The MkII has an adjustable bridle the pattern is on both sides of the kite so the flier can now see the fantastic motif and also has dirt outs with the material of a softer fabric. They have made an existing kite even better - if that's possible!

By : nudge