Er Presidente wrote:@ Tautologies: thank for your post, but we still waiting for you to say ONE thing you don't like about Naish kites and boards. According to you, Naish are perfect, no matter what.
This is a tough one, but never no matter what. I think gear is conditionally good. It has advantages and disadvantages. There is no absolutely perfect product. If there was we'd have only one kite.
In terms of usage I have a hangup on quality and that stuff needs to work for what it is designed for. I think I've tried to say this before, but the gear I've tried, if used as designed and it works, then the gear is good. For instance up until now (they are growing on me), I have not been the torches biggest fan (I've liked the 14), but for me to say it is a shitty kite when Langeree and others are doing what they are doing on it would be nonsensical. I can see what it does well...but it have been a little too gnarly for me. We have a lot of different preferences.
For instance I would never take the new fish out in double overhead and expect it to work if you know what I mean, but I have not found design flaws.
As with any gear I've ridden, I try to focus on the positives. For instance, I am looking to get some advice on boots. I've decided on Ronix due to reviews, and due to my testing of a few other boots before that I really did not like. I am not going to start slamming those boots. It really does not do any good, and people feel really offended if someone goes off on their preferred toy.
How can you say that Octopus system is better than the Slingshot OnePump? There is a video on the web which shows how to change octopus bladders. And I think there is a reason why in every Naish kite I have owned (2008-9-10-11) the manual never mentioned "how to repair a bladder"....
See I did not say the octopus. was better than the one pump. I see advantages and disadvantages with both systems as with any gear. Personally I would say the one pump (any) system would not decide my purchase, but given one with and one without a one pump system I would pick the kite with a one pump system. Frankly I think there are so few problems with one pump systems that I find it hard to understand why people even worry about it. On the open c shapes, with only three struts it is definitely not a worry.
Naish are FANTASTIC kites, and I hope designers read the forum and appreciate their users input. Remember North and their crazy 2 stage inflation (one for bladder, one for LE)?
At least they were quick enough to switch to the SS one pump right away...
The North system had a separate hose travelling the whole length of the LE? I do remember that. The justification was the need to have different pressures in struts and LE?
One marketing director guy here (not naming names) used to justify why his company did not have a one pump system when he said he needed different pressure in the individual struts for his kite to work. I'm not sure how he would be able to feel the difference. It really doesn't matter though.
It is all good.
CG