HQ Beamer II 2.5M

Introduction

After two years of kiting (with limited kites and success!) I finally spent some of my own money rather than waiting for presents and bought myself a 2.5m Beamer MkII. My other kites are a battered Stacker 6 and a very mud stained Firebee 4m.

This purchase is designed for winds too strong for my 4m Firebee, and to give more of a thrill than the Stacker 6. I'm over 6ft tall and weigh about 13 ½ stone (on a good day) so I felt the 2.5m would be a better bet than a 1.8m. And lets face it – we all like bigger kites!

Relying pretty much entirely on the shop rating system on this site I ordered my kite from Skymonster, the new section of Marionville Models. Cost wise it was about the same as everywhere else, but it was delivered super fast.

Package

Firstly the backpack. Compared to the Firebee backpack it's very substantial and a pleasure to look at. By now I'm sure everyone's heard of the big zip on the front. This is very much a marmite design so I wouldn't pass comment on it, except to say you know you have a HQ kite when you see the zip. There are two main sections to the bag (excluding the big zipper one) and two side sections. Inside there is plenty of room for a kite, handles and lines. The smaller pocket holds all your other bits nicely (in my case my phone, wallet and house keys).

Moving on a really nice inclusion was a great big ground stake for securing the kite whilst setting up and resting. This is very substantial, with a big orange top so you can't lose it. It has a blunt end so no danger of impaling yourself on it and comes in a wallet of it's own.

The lines that were supplied with the kite are white dynemma, with none colour coded ends, 20m in length. This seemed a little short and I'd have preferred 25m lines but this is only a minor point. They where all the same length though so a big thumbs up there.

Now a lot of people from other reviews seem to dislike the handles. I think I have to agree here. They are thinner than flexi handles and the grips are kind of like a dense foam. What I find worst about them though is the distance from the power line to the top of the handle. This is shorter than flexi handles and the result is I don't feel like I have such a good grip on them. This is personal preference though. They certainly do the job. The kite killers are basic without bungee cord, but again they do the job.

The manual supplied is fairly substantial and has a good section on the basics of buggy driving (not that I need this), but ultimately most of the manual went unread.

But most importantly...

The Kite

The kite material is very crispy and light. It has a very nice 'russle' to it. Other than that I've not got much to say on the material – it's good. Around the air inlets on the leading edge are some reinforcements. These are fairly thin and not overly rigid. All the stitching looks good and the bridle line is a lot better than the line on my Firebee. It's thinner, although it's only attached with knots, rather than sown in. Overall though the quality is defiantly there, considering the cost of the kite compared to Ozone, or Flexifoil.

Setting Up

I was expecting setting up to be a breeze (no pun intended) although I choose a rather windy day to do it on which didn't help matters. First up I checked the line lengths. As previously stated they were perfect. Next up I attached the handles and then I got the kite out. The bridle was kept tidy but a little attachment at the centre of the trailing edge. This is a good feature, similar to that found on Flexi kites like the Blade. However for me I parapack so will not be using it.

After that the left power line was tied up with the left brake line, and the same for the right. Untying these was fine, but then by mistake I unattached the whole brake line, thinking it was another unneeded knot. I only found out when I attached the lines and tried to lay the kite out. It was not pretty! A quick reattachment and I was ready to go again.

On the brake line there are several knots for setting up the brakes. I started with minimum brake (although should have started with maximum brake) only to find that this was not enough. I soon managed to get the brake sorted though. To be honest though compared to my Firebee this took quite a bit of setting up.

Flights

My first flight was very brief. The winds were about 25mph and the kite was pulling just on the ground. I launched and the kite spiralled and then crashed back into the ground. After this I decided it was probably best to take the kite out in lower winds first.

My next flight the winds were around 10 – 15 mph, but gusty. I felt this was about perfect to test the kite out. Previously I had parapacked and within 5 minutes I was set up. This time the kite behaved itself when I launched, and generated a surprising amount of power. In terms of speed it was a lot quicker in flight than my Firebee, although not surprisingly slower than my Stacker 6. It had a very solid feel to it, and flew exactly where I wanted it too. It needs a moderate amount of wind to fly (about 10mph) but then the power gets very strong by about 20mph. With a strong wind the handles felt like they might slip out of my hands, and I think these may get replaced with time. There even seemed the potential for a bit of lift at times. However I bought this kite specifically not to have lift, as I've heard small kites tend to generate 'sudden' lift which may be fine going up but not coming back down!

There were no flights or scuds this time though, and after a little while the wind died down and I had to go home (having left the 4m at home). My last flight was with winds of at most 10 mph. Again the kite did fly but took some work keeping up. In the air the graphics look good, very vivid and bright, however the shape is a little square for my taste, but this is not that important. It's how it handles that is important. With my limited flights the kite seems very responsive, stable and capable of generating some good power.

I'm still adjusting though as it is quite different to my Firebee (which I'm really used too now) so I have much to learn. One big plus was the lack of luffing that the Firebee can suffer from. A little niggle though is the brake line by the bridle. Because of the adjustable knots it hangs loss and looks unsightly. I've yet to work out how to rectify this issue.

Conclusion

There are few cheaper kites out there and this is a great package. The inclusion of a ground stake and kite killers makes this superb value. However I think I may still need a smaller kite for silly winds (I'm looking at the Flexifoil Sting for this), and I feel the handles are quite poor. Minor grips aside though and this is a very controllable kite that will hopefully provide me with years of pleasure. I suspect if I ever get round to boarding or bugging this will be a great little traction engine. All I need now is £240 for my 6.3m Crossfire, for those weak winds!