)! I was fortunate enough to have Dimitri willing to send down his own Infinity v3 for me to demo and see what all this LW kiting is all about. I am not a LW specialist and I much rather be lit on a smaller kite than sailing along on a sluggish monster. I prefer lively kites that like input and if the kite is park and ride than it is not for me! I currently own a 3G screamer 10m Ltd (my personnel favourite kite), a 3G Judge 8m (another great kite), various North and Ozone kites to fill out the quiver. All in all, I own too many kites and need to reduce them down as too many overlap. The first thing that I noticed as I had the kite on the ice was that this thing is freaking huge! The model that I used has the large inflation system, one that Dimitri is prototyping at the time (now available on the surf kite), and made pumping up the kite about the same as pumping up my smaller kites. I could not imagine using the regular 9mm valve to pump up this kite and would be a area of contention for me. Fit and finish of this kite is very nice and it just looks sharp in the sky. Many people who watched me ride this kite, all commented about what a nice looking kite it was. Construction is top notch and I was initially impressed right from the start. Love or hate this brand, there is no arguing that they are some of the nicer looking kites on the market.
For being such a large kite, I was shocked that the kite wasn't the sluggish beast that I initially thought it was going to be. Steering was much better than I though would be possible and it rewards an active flying style of riding. Yes this thing will park but it really comes into its own when you give it steady input. Upwind was easy but does require that you weight the back heel and give it some good ole fashioned edge. I had this kite out on the snow in lulls of 3-5knots and as high as 20. It really comes into its own from 7-12knots and at its upper range is can get too powerful to ride (but why ride a kite that big when a 12-14m kite would be a better choice).
Now I am far from a great jumper but this kite jumps well! I have come to appreciate the high boosting jumps that I see other kiters doing and it has put a desire to get it dialed in. Now this kite will not have the massive hang time that the Screamers are known for but it can still get you up there. What really shines about this kite is its freestyle capabilities. This is the kite to get if you want to learn some new tricks and do it in manageable winds. Yeah you can mow the lawn in some light winds but this kite wants to do so much more. I don't have a desire to kite in the lightest winds possible and would be happier doing something else. What I do want is a kite that will work well in the 8-10 knot range and increase the amount of days that I am on the water.
The new bar with the long awaited QR is a nice set up. I have been using the older system (which I have had no issues with at all) and really see the overall improvements that Epic has made. The QR is mindless to use and very simple to reassemble. I have longer arms so the power/depower straps are nicely in reach and once set, stay put. The foam on the bar is soft on the hands but I can see how it will show signs of wear if you don't heed some care with it. My only real complaint to the overall bar comes down to the colour...White is nice but doesn't stay pretty for long. My older black Epic bar appears to look newer than the 4G bar.
The real money of any kite review comes down to how this kite actually performs... this is a powerful performance kite. Yes it will get you out in Sub 10 knots but so will the other LW kites that are on the market. What this kite does so well is it enables us weekend, family committed, work abused kiters to get out and be able to pretend that we could one day be better than what we are. Is it the best LW kite on the market for getting out in the lowest of winds possible ....NOPE! If you are looking to mow the lawn in a snails fart than buy a huge foil. If you are looking for a kite that will allow you to be progressive and learn while the wind is light, than this is your beast!
James
I liked this kite so much that I went out and bought one. Just the amount of days that this kite will open up to ride in is well worth the money that I spent. I am grateful to Dimitri and Helen for allowing me to demo this kite and for the excellent customer service.
