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These kites seem about the same - I'm leaning towards the C4 (I love the large fill valve and like the catalyst) but have read some poor reviews. I would love any feedback.

The only poor review I've seen of the C4 is by plummet who goes on and on and on and on and on and on about how he doesn't like it for freeride any more.

They are completely different kites. What do you want it to do? What do you want it to feel like? C4 is basically a C kite with a little more depower, RPM is a pretty straightforward hybrid.

i would also like to hear some reviews from people who have tested / owned both... How do they compare in the following departments, boosting, bar pressure, slack, drift, durability, low end / top end etc..

cheers guys

From what i understand they fill that spot between beginner kites and full blown c kites. I also forgot that the RPM has pullys and the C4 does not.

dyyylan wrote:The only poor review I've seen of the C4 is by plummet who goes on and on and on and on and on and on about how he doesn't like it for freeride any more.

I'm actually with the stupid - my first C4-s were 2010-s, which were honest freeride/do-it-all kites. Then i've got 2011 which was already changing into something else - 15m was a huge disappointment as it was sitting a lot deeper in the window when the 2010 and had considerably more bar pressure, 12m was sweet though... After testing some 2012s it became clear that Ozone is working really hard (and rather successfully) at turning C4 into RPM and after trying other kites from other companies I've unloaded all my C4-s for good as I have zero interest in all that wake-mambo-jumbo.

That being said - you have to decide what do you want from a kite. If you're a hardcore waker - can't go wrong with either. But if you're an average Joe looking for a "general-purpose"-kite, you might want to look elsewhere.

The C4 is a fun kite and quite fun to ride but if you are looking for a more free ride kite than head to the catalyst. I really like the 2011 C4's and haven't tried anything newer than that so I can't comment beyond that. The Rpm that I use to own was a nice kite as well but I didn't like the pulleys on the kite and found it to have some delayed steering.

James

Plummet was talking about the free ride potential, as a kite for wake style unhooked stuff the new C4 is really good. Hence for more free ride orientation ozone have pitched the catalyst as it's replacement. My brother still has an 8m 2011 C4 and I've been on it. Wicked little kite and half decent in the surf to. So as far as C4 free ride plummet is correct, so maybe you can add two people to your extensive research.

Looking at the riders on my beach they breakdown along these lines...

Wake styles on = C4 : Flexi Hadlow : North Vegas : Naish Torch : Slingshot Fuel....etc

Hybrids (C style) = Flexi DS : North Dice : Naish Park : Slingshot RPM....etc

Hybrids pretty much everything else.....

This is totally unscientific but a couple of years ago I would have seen riders who like C style hybrids on C4's but that's not the case now.

Yep great point above.

balugh...thanks for that. I like to ride a little wake-style but I'm not fully committed. Sounds like your recommendation is to stay with the RPM then. thats good news because they are generally cheaper.