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Hey everybody!
I am looking to make some new investments on some kites. I have been flying with the F One Bandit V since I began 5 months ago. However, this is the only brand I have really tried excluding the kites I was taught on for my kitesurfing lessons. So most I know either ride North or Cabrinha. Can someone give me a comparison between all the different brands - North, Cabrinha and F One - and possible recommend the best model from each of the brands to act as an all round choice!

Thanks so much. I'm so lost with regards to choosing.

/Frederik

What type of kite are you looking for? Freeride/freestyle/wave. Maybe its good to give some more information so we can give you better advice...

KappuhH wrote:What type of kite are you looking for? Freeride/freestyle/wave. Maybe its good to give some more information so we can give you better advice...

An allrounder capable of all disciplines. However mostly freeride.

Sounds like the North Rebel. Its probably the easiest kite to progress on and offers a huge wind range and fits most peoples ride disciplines. Since this kite flies off the front lines, you get almost 100% depower making it super easy to learn trick timimg and landing. You will likely never outgrow this kite unless your style is mega loops and unhooked wakeride.
Good luck. Theres a lot on the web writen about all these kites.

Bandits are great kites, stick with em if you can.

Johnny Rotten wrote:Bandits are great kites, stick with em if you can.

used to fly bandit 5`s, now I fly another brand. I have owned or flown all brands. All are rally good these days just different. Everyone will say what they fly is the best. The bandits are awesome kites that are really good at everything.

+1 on what Johnny Rotten said.

flybykite wrote:Sounds like the North Rebel. Its probably the easiest kite to progress on and offers a huge wind range and fits most peoples ride disciplines. Since this kite flies off the front lines, you get almost 100% depower making it super easy to learn trick timimg and landing. You will likely never outgrow this kite unless your style is mega loops and unhooked wakeride.
Good luck. Theres a lot on the web writen about all these kites.

I have to disagree.
Didn't try the 2012 but had a lot of time with the 2011 and 2010 Rebels. From my experience the Rebel is good only for boosting big air and is pretty shity at everything else.
Also didn't understand wht a kite that flies on the front lines is 100% depowerable and makes learning trivks easier. usually the kites with to light bar pressure make things more difficult for beginners/intermediates because they can't feel where the kite is positioned.

If i were you i would stay with the Fones Bandit.
Hands down it's the best allrounder out there.

All three are solid brands, and I don't think you'd go wrong with any of them, but they are fairly different from each other in their offerings, so I'd recommend you try them all if possible. I believe F-One has only one kite in its lineup, the delta shaped Bandit. Cabrinha does not make a delta kite like F-One, nor do they make a direct-connection (non-bridled) kite like North. They are focused on bow-shape (or similarly flat) type bridled designs. They also have a 3-strut hybrid kite akin to North's Neo. North has a delta shaped kite called the Evo (similar to the Bandit). We also have a bridled flat kite (which would be our most similar to most of Cabrinha's designs) called the Fuse. We also offer a direct-connection 5-line freeride kite called the Rebel, which is our best seller. Finally, North is the only one of those three brands with a direct connection "C" kite, the Vegas, but that is more for freestyle than freeride.

Quick answer for what you should try from North for all-around freeride: Rebel. It does everything that most freeriders want amazingly well, but more importantly it has the direct connection feeling, the positive bar feedback, that you cannot get with a bridled kite. It works great for beginners, is very forgiving for progressing intermediates, and has all the performance necessary to be a competition wave kite.

Longer answer: for straight-up freeride and waves I'd recommend the Rebel or Fuse. If you are doing some freeride and some unhooked and some waves, you may want to try the Evo or the Neo. The Vegas would be the best for unhooked freestyle and would work fairly well for freeride, but would not be the best choice for the waves. I'm not familiar enough with the other brands to recommend specific models.

I'm sure this over-simplification of the three brands has major holes, especially in the other brands' lineups. Please don't get angry if you love one of the other brands and I said something wrong. I just can't handle anger this morning. Simply correct or expand on what I've said.

Hope this helps somewhat, and remember, nothing anyone says on this forum will help as much as demoing the gear.

-Dan

Well I own a Bandit 5, owned the 2012 Rebel, have flown the fuses and the Cabrinha Switchblade.

The guy above is right in that they are all very different kite (except the rebel and fuse).

Honestly all these kites above will do what you want. As you are knew in, I can't see you getting too specific about your riding just yet hence again they will all do the trick.

The bandit is my big kite though so it wasn't a replacement for the rebel. The rebel is an awesome kite, but I would have to agree with one of the crew, when it comes to looping, freestyle and OMG I will get buried by the avalanche of the huge masses of rebel riders, it is not great in the waves. In this category they are highly, highly overated and it beats me why they even market it as a wave kite. Those like myself who have used and use wave kites it is not even in the same spectrum. Not going into why have already said this is other posts. I think the rebel is the biggest selling kite worldwide (I think) for a reason, but you have to be careful with this as there is also a large mass of people saying how good they are at everything. They are NOT. They are what they are, a bloody good plug and play boosting, freeride kite that work okay in the waves. Try and loop the thing you had better have your shit in order or they will spank your ass.

Now the Fuse is the rebel of four lines so that's easy. it is again a bloody good booster.

The Bandit does do everything, including looping and is much much much better in the waves than the rebel. But it is a delta, they have certain characteristics that make them a handful in their top wind range. The rebel well I could take that nearly to its limit and f*** me do you boost big. The bandit doesn't touch the rebel in the boost department. A lot of big boosting crew use this kite for a reason! That being said get on an edge or a VX and you'll go bigger, but these are technical kites not for your experience. The rebel is a no brainer at jumping and as the dude said above the direct feel is amazing, it is the one thing I truly miss. But ya can't have everything.

Switchblades, they have changed a lot this year, but worth a demo. So the ones I have ridden 2012 is probably not worth commenting on, but they will also do what ya want.

Now sit down and think about really where you want to go. If you just want to freeride and boost, I'd go the rebel or fuse (or switch). If you do want to start chucking some freestyle and looping into your equation maybe the bandit. But the Bandit 5 is a bloody good kite and to me flies to the edge of the window just perfectly for you to then pull the bar in and slot the kite in that delta grunt zone. That being said the bandit is not over grunty at all, it actually has a very smooth pull that can be adjusted nicely on the fly.

You need to demo man and be bloody honest what you want. They are all brilliant kites, you need to decide what you are after.

ps Just thought of something else, the canopy rigidity, stability on the rebel is the best of this lot. Not canopy flutter that you get on the bandit...just another thing you might want to consider.

oh yeh the bandits bar set up is fucking ancient and is a disgrace(sorry but it is, no swivel, WTF and a pull release - i was using that shit in 1996, stupid, stupid, stupid decision for such a great kite). New north bar is something else.

Try them all, and make up your own mind.
I am a cabrinha fan and for all round versatility recommend the vector.
Even my hot young team riders were imprssed with this kite for its excellent all round characteristics.
Rgds
Nico