Postby Westozzy » Fri Sep 28, 2012 1:34 am
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.