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Blade IV 4.9m (Borrowed for a weekend) Blade IV 6.5m (Bought once I’d saved the cash!) Used for landboarding, Flown on handles on harness Previously flying a 3.5m Bullet - separate review - 4.9m First flight- static flying at the beach. Got to the beach - wind estimated around 25mph, so lots of caution required. I set the angle of attack adjustment to the ‘normal’ setting Explanation: There is a simple adjustment on the bridle for changing the angle of attack. At one end of the scale (low angle), the kite gives little pull at the edge of the window, lots through the middle, and fly’s fast. At the other end (high angle), it slows the kite, produces more pull at the edges and less in the middle. Launched at the edge of the window, and the difference between this and the Bullet was immediately apparent. This kite will pull strongly all over the window. Glad to be wearing a harness, I got it moving about, and was extremely pleased with the results. Very smooth and predictable. I found it vary easy to find my limits with it, and push them just enough to scare me a little, but not too much! This kite will pull your head off if you let it, but easy to control. Got my first ever pendulum jumps in, soon got more confidence to get higher. Landed the kite to set the bridle adjuster to high angle of attack. Kite went up again, but with this setting, it likes to be worked around the window to keep a bit of power in it. If it sits still, the wind can drag it backwards from the edges of the window. This ‘feels’ like a stall, but is easy enough to get out of- I give a tap in one of the brakes to change where it is pointing, then zigzag it back up the window to ‘get it mad’ again. Of course you could just turn it round and point it through the power if you can hold it! Using this setting is not so much of an issue if you are moving about on a board, but a bit of work for static flying. - Second flight - Much more wind than previous day and beach covered in foot deep craters from the surf, so no board again. Best guess on the wind was around 35mph+. Weighing in at nearly 19st, this was still a fairly close call weather to get flying. Set the kite back from high angle of attack, to normal as I didn’t need to be fighting to get the kite where I wanted it in the window. Replaced the very worn looking strop line. Flying was outstanding, getting big jumps from standing, huge pendulum jumps. Was hard going flying, but I was still controlling how much it scared me. Most tricky bit was getting upwind as I was not able to just walk into the wind with the kite at the edge- instead found I had to tack into the wind like I would on the board! I could have landed the kite, and put it onto a low angle of attack (or even very low) to make it more manageable around the edges, but I was having far too much fun! Replaced the well worn strop again, and returned the loaned kite, and wished I had the cash to get one right away! - 6.5m A few months later, return to shop with cash to collect. Went for a 6.5 over 4.9 as I’m likely to get more use out of the size in normal winds. For my weight, anything between roughly 10 to 20mph is ideal. Been out in 25mph which was ‘lively’, and been out in 5mph which was hard work keeping it in the air. In higher wind I use a higher angle of attack, and lower angle for lower wind. I prefer the higher angle to get the grunt around the window. Boarding is far easier on the Blade compared to the Bullet simply because of the pull from all over the window. The Bullet was, in comparison, an all or nothing kite for boarding. There was a very fine line between happily powering along, and then suddenly wiping out. With the Blade, I’ve got more confidence to open out my riding. I’ve jumped from being able to go back and forth across the wind on nice hard packed sand, to ploughing through bumpy/soft stuff, sliding and starting to jump! The Kite Kite and Lines are the usual good quality. I don’t quite understand the decision to offer ‘standard’ and ‘extreme’ lines? Can’t really see anyone going for lines more likely to break to save a tenner? Bag is an improvement on the Bullet simply because it has somewhere to keep keys/phone etc away from the main compartment. Personally, I find the handles disappointing. Comfort is good, but the material around the top or the handles is not that durable (it had worn through on the demo kite- which to be fair, will have taken some stick). One of the plastic caps on the bottom of the handles fell off the first time out. There isn’t much of a tail to tie a strop line (5mm cord) onto which is a pain putting it on, but good once it’s there as you get more travel to turn the kite. I could also do with the handles being a bit chunkier. Overall, this kite is everything I wanted it to be. Flies like an animal when you want it to, but is easy to keep under control. Makes it easy to push your limits without the unpleasant surprises from the kite. I am particularly impressed with the flexibility that the bridle adjustment gives. It is frequently said that the Blade is not a kite for novices, which I’d agree with, as it could happily pick you up and dump you on your head if you don’t know what you are doing. As a beginners landboarding kite, I’d suggest that the opposite is true. For someone who is already competent handling a kite, it would definitely be easier to get rolling on a Blade than any beginner kite I’ve tried. The following are kites I considered as alternatives Ozone Haka- Would like to have tried one out? Comments about the braking characteristics had put me off a bit- I like using brake input, and it seems that the Haka behaves like a 2 liner with brakes to get you out of the poo. Probably not a massive issue if you are on a bar, or only ever use the brakes to drag the kite out of the sky. HQ Crossfire - Again, would like to have tried one? Stuff I’d read did not get me as excited as with the Blade. Might have been a better 1st kite for me rather than the Bullet? Mac Bego- Never heard of ‘em, but would like to have tried as it seems to be frequently touted as a Blade alternative on various forums? Most comparisons seem to be against the Blade II, so I’d at least be sceptical about comparing it against the IV? “ALL” Depower Kites- Didn’t want to part with that much cash (for now), though quite keen on a ‘Scorpion’ at some point down the line? Second Hand- Like that ‘new kite’ smell…