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Hey Guys, I am selling my light wind Core Riot XR2 17m and thinking of upgrading. My options would be to either stick with the bigger 19 m XR2 or spend the extra money and get the newer 19 XR3. Has anybody compared them and is it worth the upgrade?

Hi Mactnka,
I own a 15 LW2 and a friend of mine just bought the new 3, same size. Unfortunately, we did not yet compare them in the water (no more wind here). On the beach, the "only" visible difference are the bridles, far shorter in the new model. We actually planned a kite trip in Sicily end of this month, maybe there will be an occasion to test them. In this case I will for sure report.

Thanks pmaggie, any feedback will be much appreciated!

i bought a 17m XR3 recently to try since north are discontinuing the Fuse.

Sorry not a comparison to the XR2 but i was disappointed it only has single thread for ripstop vs triple thread in smaller kites. Kite torn LE to TE on 1st real crash.

Kite not as grunty in first stroke, about 1 1/2 to 2 strokes and apparent wind gets flowing and it rides very nice.

Is it quick enough for kite loops as advertised at least? The xr2 17 is fast for a big kite, but i heard the 19model is faster since its higher aspect ratio. And the xr3 should be faster than them in the same sizes.
The xr2 is also single ripstop material. I guess its the price you pay for a light wind kite.

Needs a wider bar for 17/19m imo.

Emailed asking if have bigger bar in works and got the marketing brush off. Guess they don't want to spend money in tooling up since it's a one piece mold.

We owned 17 & 19 XR2 for a year
I rode the 19...my wife the 17

For 3 months now we have XR3 17 & 19
Same thing i ride the 19 and she rides the 17........already been out 45 sessions on the 19

With XR3 and the shorter bridles i still keep the setting on the least amount of bar pressure

But for turning speed i went from superfast mode to fast mode instead (central setting) for 17 & 19

Additionally i set the back lines as loose as possible on the last knot of pigtail

I even removed the top knot of the pigtail to gain an extra inch ( so now it has only 2 adjust knots)

By doing this it helps depower the kite quicker when you push bar out .... similar to the XR2

Having shorter bridles has many benefits but the amount of depower when bar pushed out was less

Having the back lines pigtail set to fast mode ( center) let's the kite spill wind more effectively

As compared to having it in superfast mode all the way out at the wingtip..the kite hinges out less

By doing what we did....... the bar pressure now matches the XR2 we both liked so much

We both ride exclusively in the surf on surfboards

The bar is perfect size for both kites by the way

I constantly loop my 19 at every chance i can during transitions..it is so easy to do on that 52cm bar

What i like the most is how fast i can deflate and pack the 19 now compared to the XR2

Sure it pumps fast and easy....but the deflating speed of that big kite is incredible

Core Tex Lite for 19-17-15 is single ripstop
Core Tex Triple ripstop for 13.5 and under kite sizes

You can also Launch the Core 19 w a sandbag easily. I've seen SupaEZ do it many times. It will work in a Swamp also!

Thanks SupaEz for the thorough explanation of settings and review of the new riot lw! Sounds like you are pretty devoted to the brand and I have to admit I understand why that is. It's hard not to appreciate such a user friendly kite with so many strengths. I love all my cores too. After playing with the settings on my 17 I got to fully embrace it too so I may just stick with it. I'll try other bars out of curiousity although I agree the Sensor bar is quite the tested machine for any size kite. So again thanks for all the reviews and keep riding!