stackers to deltas

[bwaarp]

Very happy with 8+10 stackers but interested in some sort of sport kite-any advice.

[Dom_uk]

I just made the switch from two line power stackers (Super 10's) to Sport kites last week. I got pretty bored with stackers because after mastering them, I realised there was little you can actually do with them apart from showing off at the beach. If you are not buggying or boarding (something that I do plan to get into) and its just going to be you and the kite, then delta's are far far more rewarding. Some of the modern tricks you can do are stunning and there is always something more to learn. I'm a newbie to sport kiting and still just learing to control stalls (which is not as easy as it looks in an inland county with so many hills and trees), but already I'm completely hooked.
I looked all over the internet, read forums, reviews and asked loads of advise from experienced flyers, and in the end I went with the Prism E2. Its a stunning kite, amazingly well built and will do just about every known trick. It also comes with a 'Flight school' DVD, Wind meter and great bag. It's £120 but its almost competition standard. I love it.

[BigDavey]

Depends on how much you're willing to spend...

around 50 quid: Premier Addiction, Prism Adrenaline, Flying Wings Beetle, Flexifoil Atom

50-100 quid: New Tech New Jam, Flexifoil Pulsar

100-150 quid up: Prism E2, Benson Outerspace, Benson Gemini

Again, these are just a couple of suggestions as there are dozens of kites available and everyone may have different opinions on each dependent on the individual.

A lot of the cheaper kites come RTF (ready-to-fly) complete with straps and lines - The E2 going one step further by including a DVD and Wind Meter in the package.

Best advice to give is to meet up with a few other delta flyers and have a play with a few different kties to get a feel for what you like / don't like. Any kite's trick capabilities aren't likely to limit you for some time yet.

[dnahacker]

Trick kites are far more "twitchy" than flexifoils, the hand inputs to control then are much smaller and the kite is fa more senstive.

Even though you can cotrol a 2 line kite it is likely that you are gonna trash your kite ALOT, in the early days, now as i have told many newbies to the world of trick flying, " if u aint breaking em u aint flying em properly",

The best advice i can offer is buy something like an alpha plus (flying wings) it is a full size kite that has a reasonable tricks repotoire, but it is fairly precise in its handling , very forgiving, and best of all fairly cheap.

With winter coming and the wind being stronger andthe mud and crap about i wold say spend the winter flying an alpha (or similar, then next spring when you can fly buy something a bit more expensive and capable...

I disagree with the recommendation of the gemini as a first sports kite, it is a strange beast, i have known of several people gave bought gems, as first kites and flown em once and sold em.

[BigDavey]

Originally posted by dnahacker
I disagree with the recommendation of the gemini as a first sports kite, it is a strange beast, i have known of several people gave bought gems, as first kites and flown em once and sold em.

That said - the Gem was my first... Wouldn't part with it for the world - I'm gonna be buried with mine

TBH I'd forgotten about the Alpha Plus - But as I said there's dozens of variations - each bit of advice will be as sound as the other (from that fliers perspective) It can get a bit confusing when everyone discusses their favourites

Confuse-o-meter
0% |-------------------------|X|----| 100%

[dnahacker]

the reason i said an alpha plus is simply it is a 65 quid kite, stack in into the ground, use and abuse it LEARN with it THEN get a gem ir a STX or whatever... that you can appreciate and that you can actually fly without killing it

[BigDavey]

Hadn't realised the Alpha Plus was as aggressively priced as that. Nice one!

[dnahacker]

The Alpha is teriffic value for money it is a ready to fly package with a decent kine set, it is a full size kite that is quite mellow and has a good mix of presicion and trick capabilities.

It is from the same stable as the beetle which was kite of the ar for several years running, the beetle is a good kite but it can be a littl squirrely as it is smaller.