Speedkillz wrote:eree wrote:Faxie wrote:...
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Wow. Just... wow. I have been riding a quiver of Switch Kites for quite some time now. I have access to and regularly demo kites from a wide variety of manufacturers. I choose Switch Kites because I have never flown a more expensive kite that has done anything to make me even consider throwing down that much more cash.
As a typical "featherweight" weighing in at 255 pounds and standing 6'3" tall, I can appreciate what a well thought out series of posts you have. I am not that great of a rider, not a team rider, and I ride a low-end TT board (Cab Spectrum 144cm). Funny thing... even though I weigh nearly TWICE as much as some of my fellow (featherweight) riders, I seem to be far upwind of most of the rest of the crowd at Kailua. You can see me usually up past Flat Island and near the Mokes. Yes -- on a TT no less when others are struggling to gain ground on directionals. Ever ride in chop-city (Kailua)?! Not a smooth patch of water to be found... anywhere. My kite never bogs down or beats me up on the water-moguls we have out there. I try lots of maneuvers outside of my ability level every time I ride and most do not end well. I crash... a lot. Somehow I still manage to get up and riding again quickly. Must be all of that "crappy low end," huh? One of my favorite tricks to learn... kite loops. Sure I still crash a lot, but my kite stays out of the water. Once again, that must be because my kite has "very slow turning speed," right?
What is my kite of choice? Why, the Nitro III 14m of course! This kite does it all with style and control. I am usually frustrated that I screwed up a trick so when I water-start I send it... HARD. I hardly touch the water for a couple of seconds. Seriously, this kite RIPS me out of the hole if I tell it to. However, a gentle first dive and I simply pivot up onto my board and ride away. RARELY do I need more that an initial power stroke and then settle it into a locked in position at 10 or 2 to be up, and screaming upwind. Tons of depower from the bar if I need it and it sucks up the gusts and squalls like a champ. So much smoother than anything else I have ridden. I am upwind in as low at 10 knots and I haven't found the top-end yet... although I admit to being difficult to intimidate. The kite turns nicely for such a big'un. Power throughout the turns and still able to loop it in control. Super easy relaunches are the norm. Oh, and I self launch and land at Mokuleia every time -- no drama at all. This thing does what I tell it to, when I tell it to. I can't ask for anything more than that. I have sold my other kites. This one kite suits me just fine.
Your posts remind me of a petulant child screaming at a parent that they want to take the animals home from the zoo. No amount of appeals to reason and sanity will suit you. You are unhappy and want the world to know. To those reading this and wondering why I am dignifying anything said in previous posts with a response -- it is because I have had such a great experience flying these kites. I am a grown man that flies a kite for fun. I smile and laugh like I have not in years when ever I get out on the water, and anything that facilitates me participating in an activity that makes me that happy will always get my praise. Switch has been great to me. They make fantastic products that put a smile on my face, sell them at prices that I can afford, and have been extremely responsive to questions I have had. They solicit my advise on new models... and I don't feel at all qualified for that! Imagine if Horacio Pagani asked you for feedback on his latest super car and took your feedback seriously. That is what I feel like when Bill and Felix ask for my opinions on changes that they are making to a product or an entirely new product. They continually say that they ask me BECAUSE I am a big guy... BECAUSE I am just an average intermediate rider... and BECAUSE I ride on both the choppy side of the island and in the waves up here on the North Shore. They are very concerned about getting caught up in focusing too much on design for only one type of rider... namely pros and experts. They want all of their customers to feel the thrills we kite surfing types are lucky enough to experience. Believe me, I sure feel the stoke! If only I could become a team rider... sigh. I should have bought one sooner (my only regret).
ok, i just read it now and i can not understand why did you wright this?
i hope you are able to comprehend this:
i can do stuff with the other manufacturer kites better than with the switch kites in the same conditions and i like them much more
is that sufficient? oh yeah, and my other manufacturers kites are more expensive and not advertized as being best upwind angle kites.
but it is getting clear to me that almost everyone who bought the kite from the switch has the unhealthy, almost pathetic need to justify the purchase by praising almost supernatural capabilities of switch kites.
why? because they cheaper and you are embarrassed for being cheap?
i hope you are not...
you are having fun? well good for you. years ago someone having fun with the switch kite, honestly or just lying to me, cost me lot of money. i pay for my toys with my own earned money like most of the people. so buying cheaper switch kites for me turned for me losing money.
and i felt i had to share the experience
again
another thing Speedkilz, you started with nitro3? i started criticizing switch when there was only the first and only nitro. may be it is thanks to guys like me you can enjoy the nitro3 now, don't you think?
since then they made profile of the nitros wing higher, changed the bridles and wing tip shape and now with the nitro4 another one of their holy cows is eaten - the thin leading edge is getting fatter!
so, yeah, switch is getting better after all. but it is disappointing that all of these points of improvements were known for years now and the designer of the switchkite was working with the kites long before he started at switch...