Radsails 145

If your like me, you will have watched people fly these strange looking kites and wondered what its all about. You've then gone onto the inter-web and found something that looks like a power kite but costs an arm and a leg (and some gold teeth). So, as like most people you turn to trusty e-bay for a bargin. Well the genral rule is, keep clear of e-bay bargns, but then you spot the Radsails 145 for £20. You think its not a very big kite but then again it is only £20 and Radsails is a propper kite company. What do you do? Do you ask people if it's any good? Do you checkout the Radsails web page? Do you go to a kite shop and ask about the £20 kite in the window? Well, here is what I did. Buy it.

This was my first power kite, yes, it's a power kite, yes it only cost £20, yes it is good value for money. When I took this kite out for the first time I found it very easy to set up. It only has 2 lines so its prety stright forward to attach them. You can launch it by yourself but a willing assistant is recomended. As for me, I just lay it on the grass, gave a tug on the lines and up it went, easy as that.

Ok, ok, your right, its only a small 2 line kite so if your looking for lift / traction then errrr nope, your not going to get much from this, but you will learn the flying skills you need with this kite. Thats right, for the beginer this really is a good kite. Face it, you dont want to part with £150 hard earned to have three or four full speed dives straignt into the ground, whack, but a £20 kite hmmmm sounds like a better idea. Trust me, as a beginer, you will crash your kite into the ground a lot.

Once you can keep it in the air for more than 15 seconds you realise that this little kite is rather responsive, zipping accross the sky at a good pace. The controls are nice and easy and the kite reacts well to your input. Being quite small it does require a bit of a breeze to keep it in the air but not as much as you think, about 5 mpg min should do, as for the max wind, 20 mph would be a good top end, this will result in the lines stretching but in the end we all have to live with that anyway.

Right, I have gone on for long enough, so here is my conclusion. This is a great little kite, but, it is a little kite. If, like me your looking to learn how to fly, crash and even destroy a kite, buy this one, its a bargin for £20 and it takes a beating. If you want real power or something that will reverse launch look for something a bit bigger with 4 lines. My Radsails 145 has pride of place in the boot of my car, ready to fly where ever I go.

By : stevenqneuk