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I have only flown stunt kites before and spent some time playing with a small powerkite several years ago. I've fancied getting a powerkite for a while now, it happens when you hit your forties, mid life crisis and all that. Another motorbike was out of the question and too expensive so the idea of a kite seemed reasonable. I did a lot of research (mostly on this site). I considered one of the Radsail pro's or a Beamer, but then thought a Crossfire would be fun as the idea of a bit of lift appealed to me. I hadn't even heard of PKD until I saw one on ebay, so I checked out the reviews and it sounded like it might be what I'm looking for. The reviews didn't seem to think it was that lifty but may have potential in stronger wind. I managed to get it for £90 including postage and it arrived the next day. I unwrapped it like a maniac and seeing as I'm self employed, phoned my customer up to say I was feeling under the weather and wouldn't be coming in today. Everything was fresh and crisp and nothing was showing any signs of wear, quality seemed fine. I prayed that my customer wouldn't be walking her dog near the beach as yes...you guessed it, that's were I was heading. I did some speed reading on this site regarding set up etc and off I sped to the beach. On arrival I had to spend a fair bit of time sorting out tangles which I found a little tricky and more annoyingly so because the handles have a strop keeping them together and make sorting them out a bit complicated, but seeing as I was going to para pack it later the worste was out of the way. The wind was a steady breeze so I grabbed the handles and checked the kite killers, gave a tug and up she went. The kite sat at the top very comfortably and within seconds I was moving across the window left to right, up down, all over the place. The wind picked up a little and I managed a few 8ft ish skids here and there. I had great fun but after about an hour or so I thought "yes great, but is that it....what now?,should I have got a bigger kite?," I Para packed it ready for it's next flight. Ok.... let's fast forward three days. It's blowing a bit and the trees are moving and my friend phones me and asks whether I fancy showing off my new kite...Err it's a bit blowy out there, I say. Ten minutes later we are on a local field as I refuse to make an idiot of myself on a public beach. At this point I cut the strop in the middle because it was confusing the hell out of me trying to get the lines sorted and I tied a knot in the loose ends so I at least have the option in the future. I later sealed the ends with a lighter Ready for lift off.....Sh*t........where has my kite gone, no worse, where has my upper torso gone, are my legs still connected to me, let go, no keep hold, brake..brake...brake...bloody brake....why don't the brakes work? Kite killers, that's it ..kite killers...let go ...let go...Agh! thats better, the kite hits the ground and I look behind me and my friend is about 100 yards away pissing himself laughing with a video camera in his hands. Do I need a bigger kite? No. Do I need to be a little wiser about flying in strong gales? Yes I tried again and managed to get the kite to the top this time and managed to hover and travel a few feet in the air but as soon as I lowered the kite I was off like a missile. The wind was getting even stronger now and I actually lost the bottle to try anymore. The kite killers were a God send in these conditions and saved me running for miles. I think this is a great kite for begginers as it's easy to control in light winds but you need to bear in mind that it can be a beast if you don't respect the weather conditions. I can't comment on line quality etc as I've not really looked closely at any others but i'm almost 13 stone and they held me in the air ok. Even if you pay top whack for this kite I think it offers good value for money and if you ever think you've outgrown it then try it in a strong wind. I think I'll keep hold of this kite, but i'll get a smaller kite for the gales By : anton6

I have finally got around to flying my PKD Buster II 2m. I bought the kite second hand off eBay before going on holidays to the beach. I had grand plans of spending some hours flying kites on the sand, but sadly children and visiting relatives got in the way. Yesterday I got the chance to scoot down to my local park to put the Buster II up for an hour. According to the Bureau of Meteorology, Brisbane was experiencing wind of 14 knots (26 km/h) gusting to 22 knots (41 km/h) at the time. Who knows what the wind was at my local park, but it seems about right. Bought off eBay, the Buster II still had sand on the kite and in the lines from the previous owner's last use. Ohh, and the lines were twisted. It took me a good 10 minutes to sort out the four lines. The Buster II launched easily. Initial impressions are that it is slower than my Prism Stylus P3. The Buster II also had a tendency to overfly and then collapse, falling to the ground in a tangle of lines. Time to do the walk of shame ... again. The Buster II gave me a lot more confidence to fly in the power zone than the Prism P3. After a little practice, with the four line set up I knew that I could de-power any time I liked. The four lines were also useful to stop the Buster II over flying. At the zenith, I could pull back on the brake lines to drag the trailing edge as well as reducing the efficiency of the kite, meaning that it does not over fly. I also managed to reverse the kite into the air after crashing leading edge first into the ground. Cool! Even though my PKD Buster II is only a two metre kite, it could easily drag me across the grass on my backside in the gusts. Heaps of fun! I am thinking of getting a mountain board to ride with the kite ... By : rantrex

I bought this kite as a nice cheap kite for high winds and a view to using it with a mountain board. The Package The kite comes in a basic yellow sack similar to the bag you used to put your daps in at school. The colour is predetermined by the size of the kite. The pack contains: The kite Lines and handles (already attached to the kite) 2 sandbags to hold down the kite 2 plastic kite stakes Some stickers A few spares for the handles Build Quality The kite seems to be of good quality and the bridles are colour co-oridinated with nice fluorescent line. The kite has the nice feature of having zips at each tip to allow you to empty any sand out that may have gotten in. The lines are of a good quality and as I've already said are pre connected to the kite. The handles are foam covered and feel comfortable in the hand, not as good as Ozone handles but then what is? The handles also have an interesting extra in that they have a little clip on the front which allows you to change the tension in the brake line. Flying the kite So far I have only taken the kite out twice and so I will just recount these experiences. Outing 1 Wind conditions were very light, only 5-8mph of wind. I took the kite out with a friend who wants to get into kiting and I also brought my Beemer II 3.6. There was very little difference in pull between the two kites and the Buster was far more manoeverable due to its smaller size and higher AR. I was able to fly the Buster like a stunt kite with low swoops and the like. It was very easy to get up and I even managed reverse ups without much difficulty, which is pretty good in such low winds. Outing 2 This time the wind was far from light, the highest gust I recorded being 39.6mph (not quite the 40, gutted!). This time the kite was a totally different experience, but not in a bad way! The kit erose predictably from the sand and sat beautifully in the Zenith without going near to an overfly. I could turn the kite easily and even with my 15st bulk behind it I was easily scudding down the beach. A couple of my mates are only 11st and they stuggled to control the kite a little as it was dragging them towards the sea! In this high wind the brake trimmers came into their own as I could add a large amount of base brake to allow the kite to be flown a lot more easily in the conditions. Overall I would rate this as a good kite for the money, I only paid £70 for it. It has a great wind range and would be a great kite for beginners to get used to a 4 line kite and riding a mountain board. I would recommend it to anyone on a budget who wants a good, unfrustrating workout. Rob By : robchepstow