North Buster 5M

The North buster is another LEI kite from North to be reviewed by me. This kite is also rated as a beginners kite according to North and like the Toro is a little fat in the mid section. I don't think may shops would carry this model now as this model was replaced by the Toro as a starter kite.

To start I would like to say something about the construction of this kite. It is superb. Again a beautiful rucksack Nicely constructed with lots of pockets for storing all your little bits. I must say that North probably puts too much effort into the construction details of their kite bags. Maybe some of the price of the kit could be knocked off if they didn't have such a wonderful rucksac..... damn it another great school bag, to show of I'm into the kites.

Anyways, the kite is awsome again the stiching is top notched, with heavily reinforced seams. The kite fabric is also of an excellent quality and is smooth to the touch. Even after 2yrs of bashing from the trainees of the kite school. This kite was put through the daily routines of flying at the hands of beginners and crashed at least 10times per day. Yet it was still in a great condition. Much better than plenty of others I have seen. One up for construction again for North.

Flying the 5m kite was ok, pretty stable in the 15mph winds of the beach. It was fast through the wind window probably due to it's size at just 5m. There was absolutely minimal lift, actually none that I can even remember. The power was smooth and predictable, definately not the least bit scary. And again the action of the kite bar to turn the kite was small requiring very light touch for the kite to respond. I kinda got bored with this one after 30mins of static flying and desperately trying to do some tiny jumps which at this wind speed proved a little lame on my part. Unfortunately I only had a brief session on the board with this kite when the winds picked up. And as a rather mild mannered kite it was smooth but uninspiring. Very managable for the newbie such as myself.

Overall I would say this is a good beginners kite, smooth predictable very friendly. Good kite to learn board skills on, but again like the Toro, it is easily out grown, as one progresses. Hard to find in shops brand new, due to it being a tad old now. But would be a good starter kite if you find one cheap on ebay. The high quality construction makes it last for ages if handled with some care.

By : ishgoh