HQ Crossfire 4M

After reading many reviews here, I decided on the Crossfire 4.0. I have flown delta wing and parafoil stunt kites for many years and my wife and daughters fly as well. This is my first experience with any type of 4 line kite.

The "Big Zipper" on my bag was defective, but HQ sent a new bag immediately. GREAT customer service.

Orlando isn't the best place for wind, but we have our days. Finally after about a month of nothing, we had a good weekend with 10-25 mph winds. I was pretty intimidated after watching "The Art of Airtime with Erik Eck" (a must see) but decided it was time to give it a try. There were 3 or 4 guys from Hawaiin Kiteworks out there flying and Roger let me try his very small traction kite with 4 lines. I got very comfortable with that in about 15 minutes and was ready for the Crossfire.

The kite looked good coming out of the bag for the first time. The 4 lines were a pain to get off the figure 8 winder. It has 2 bungee cords on one side that hold the string on and they kept getting caught in the string. Other than that, everything else seemed great.

It was pretty gusty so when I first launched the kite, even at the side of the wind, it pulled me forward about 10 steps. (I weigh about 200 lbs.) Because I am new, I kept trying to use the brakes to control the kite and it was not flying very well. I was quickly frustrated. Randall came over and moved the knots on the brake lines all the way out so I basically had no brakes unless I let go of the kite. It sounds like a radical thing to do, but it made me fly the kite and get used to it before I started depending on the brakes.

I don't know if I would recommend this for everyone, but it worked really wel for me. Because the wind was so strong, I could only fly at the sides and the top of the wind but I got the kite moving. After a few minutes I landed the kite and gave Robert a turn. He was jumping in no time and telling me he was going to immediatley save money for a crossfire.

When he was tired and it was my turn again, I was able to start getting some air and having a lot of fun. We moved the brakes up one knot so I could at least land the kite when I wanted to. I was very happy with my progress for the first day out.

Overall, the Crossfire seemed like an awsome kite. Robert (who has more experience with traction kites than myself) was very impressed as well. He offered to trade his Beamer for my Crossfire, but I wasn't having any of that. We were both suprised at how the kite luffed rather easily at the sides of the wind, but if you kept the kite moving, it never happened. It seemed to tolerate being at the top of the wind better. Robert commented that his 4.0 beamer was much easier to control on the sides of the wind, but didn't have near the pull of the crossfire.

I can't wait to get out again. When I get a little more comfortable with the kite, I am going to try some buggying!

By : rsherwood