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I had flown through a few kites before I first tried a Flexifoil Rage and at this time I was landboarding a lot, mainly using a 5.5m Helium. The 4.7m was powerless, gutless and was not all that stable in comparison to the grunty Helium. Some of this could be due to a bad setup on a bar, but I was less than impressed. I first bought a 1.8m as a bit of an impulse off a seller on RK. My aim was to try and find a kite I could static fly in all winds (10-35mph – less static, more scudding in the upper regions!) and would be compact enough to take anywhere when kiting is not the aim of the day. I had struggled to find a small 2m kite that would fly well unless it was blowing 20mph, but to my surprise the Rage was actually quite a nice kite to fly in any wind. It's fast, light on the brakes (yet still very effective with the slightest of pull), stable when flying without much brake input & easy to hold a stall throughout the window, which makes pure static great fun. images/reviews/Rage2.jpg I never really got on with buggying till a day of good wind came along and I hopped in the bug with the 1.8m. The manoeuvrability of this little kite means power can be built up through working it, and with the combination of the light brake pressure, this is easy and fun. The great thing that I hated for boarding was the little grunt. This is what makes a great kite for a timid buggier like me as its quite docile and won't rip you over when you are not expecting it. I soon learnt that with such a small kite, anything substantially below 25mph, I was never going to get back upwind to my starting point. Enter the 3.5m Rage, again off a RK seller. Primarily bought for going away as a compact kite to static fly, and again it has the same characteristics as the 1.8m so great fun for static alone, but matched with a borrowed buggy (thanks Fibre!), I love it. In anything above 15mph I can get trundling along, and you can make so many mistakes that most kites would luff and bowtie or spank you, the Rage tends to float and wait till the line pressure is back again before slowly pulling you back on to a line. The stability is great, not sure why the 4.7m I flew a couple of years back was that poor but then I don't think these kites should be on a bar to get the most out of them. images/reviews/Rage3.jpg I have had a couple of hours on the board with both sizes. The 1.8m is a waste of time on a board. I can never see the wind being high enough to properly support you. It will never have the grunt you need. The best kites I have flown in these very small sizes are the HQ Crossfires. They are slow enough and gunty enough to get you going. The 3.5m is ok but needs a solid 25mph to really make the boarding the easy and fun. The pull starts to appear throughout the window making park and ride a possibility just lean back. They become a handful in these higher winds relating to landing, so perhaps a more grunty kite in lower winds would suit a beginner boarder. U-Turn Helium or Ozone Samurai would be my choice for low lift boarding kites. Pros: - Flexifoil quality – Light material yet strong, well built & finished. - Great package – Handles, lines & kite killers top notch and bag is alright too (they could reduce the cost with just a stuff sac though). - Long length brake pigtails – Adjusting brakes to suit is easy and neat at the kite end. - Light handling – Very controllable kite without wrist breaking brake pressure. - Docile pull – Normal wind range this kite won't surprise you. - Colour Scheme – Midnight looks great, shame they have stopped it, but Samba is a good replacement! Cons: - Expensive – A little too pricey for many to consider as a first kite. Maybe not edgy enough for most people's second kite. - Handles on 1.8m – Too large, much better on small Ozone handles - Lines on 1.8m – 20m, not had a problem myself but some people may like 25m for inland use. - Ground control – Can sometimes be a bit of a handful landing and keeping on the ground in higher winds. Who would welcome this kite? Any beginner as they seem to take a lot of beatings, they are good to fly way below their wind ranges and the lift is pretty absent unless flown in quite high winds. If you were considering landboarding, personally I would look elsewhere, but for buggy cruising they are just the ticket for me. One of the biggest negatives is the price new, but if you see them secondhand grab one, even if it's just for your non kiting buddies to have a go on!

Just bought a Flexifoil 2.4m 4 line kite after reading lots of reviews on this site and heading advice I got on this site. It was a choice of either a 3m or a 2.4m and I chose 2.4 as it is my first power kite and I will be flying it with members of my family who are somewhat smaller than myself. I am about 14 stone........ Ordered the kite online from ExtremePie, got a good deal and superquick delivery. Opened the package and was pleasantly surprised by everything : The carrier bag was nice, The instruction booklet was precise The kite was beautiful - lovely crisp rasta design The handles and line looked to do Assembly and first flight all happened on the local football field. Everything went together easily, it couldnt have taken more than 10 to 15 minutes to get the lines on the kite on one end and the lines on the handles on the other end. A credit to flexifoils easy to read instructions. The breeze was very light, not more than 5mph but got the 2.4 into the air for a sedate first flight - I was impressed by its ability to fly in light winds but the kite REALLY impressed on its second flight. The second flight took place on the Black Isle, North of Inverness. Big piece of grass behind the beach and a good 10 to 15 knot breeze, which gusted a bit more now and then. The kite was really exciting to fly and reminded me every now and then that it WAS a power kite and that due care had to be taken. Its fast, turns easy and is lovely to fly, its forgiving up to a point but if you make a mistake, it will hit the ground with a speed. The brakes worked fine after the lines were shortened by about an inch and a half and the kite killers did their job well, bringing the kite down immediately which was kinda reassuring for all concerned. Everyone had a go, the girls were a bit giggly and shrieky and had to be held in place by me or my bro (16 stone). My son Cal (Dragoon) all 9 stone of him seemed to be in a fight for survival. It was good fun, best hundred odd quid I ever spent !! Conclusion: This is a brilliant kite for static flying. You get pulled along a bit but if youre looking for big air or buggy tow then get a bigger kite. This is for the dude or dudess who wants to fly a fast, responsive, exciting kite without moving around too much and it is a super introduction to the sport. Build quality and presentation are excellent - a really good package. Highly recommended !!!

Although initially appearing maybe expensive for a small foil, I have to say in my experience of the kite world, you def get what you pay for except in rare circumstances, like the one we bought for 20 euros in a french supermarket, but the expense of generally finding such kites is unreasonable if you want one now! The buzz was aimed by flexi as a kite that any serious flyer could keep in their kit bag and on days when they didnt want to set up and had 20 mins to have a quick fly before going out etc its fine. Also family and friends can have ago with the buzz whilst you fly down the beach and wonder if your watchers will be there when you ge back. Its very easy to fly and responses are exactly like those of all its bigger brothers from the stable. Its predictable copes with gusts, and will fly the window very well, the feedback is good and very little input needed to get it 'buzzing' around, it can be flown by lazy and quick hands alike and will respond, even if you crash it, its quite easy to launch on your own from the handles, just flick it sideways with one line, let the wind move it and roll it over, as soon as an open cell points skyward and flick on the opposite handle and up it goes. An easy size to handle and you can shake sand etc out very easy. You get 2 18M flexi lines which i think are 100kg and a winder, a very cool stuff bag which it all goes into within about 5 mins or less, you can get it out and flying in about 3 mins. I would def recommend the Buzz to anyone interested in flying kites as a starter, there is no maintenance with this kite, as long as you can tie a larks head knot within 5 mins from new you can be flying it. It does what it says on the tin so the only variable is the flyer, hence fun is guaranteed as long as there is at least 5mph of wind. There is no upper limit to the Buzz wind range, i did read that someone went buggying with one in 40mph+ winds and no reason why you couldnt. So to sum up, yes £50+ is a lot to pay for a small foil, but its worth it and will last forever and your friends, kids and family can have a go and not get carried away or rip your £300 kite. I guess the est benefit is the kids starting out on a kite like this. By : Styve100