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Re: What the deal with Core ?

Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2014 1:04 pm
by Starsky
I was really just commenting on the one design fits all aspect and how that will affect sales. Once they reach a certain level of market share it will come to a point they will be well served by broadening their color pallet.

I have no comment on how they perform, how they are built (tho they certainly try to max out that German engineering angle) and I rather like their bar.

To touch on the hype of their engineering prowess, its as much a joke as the next company. They have a segment on their site talking about how the kite arc flares when sheeted in and reduces when you sheet out both expanding and contracting the projected area of the kite. What a load of horseshit. That has been the case with every inflatable kite ever produced. My first ever kite... a north buster circa 2002 that I bought used in 2003 did that and so has every kite I have ever owned since. Even the Germans pump the hype train. Or how about the graphic to help you choose between kites for your style of riding!!! Look down the page of the link below and see that they have the audacity to imply that both models of kite are super awesome at everything. They do have the humility to take off a half circle graphic of perfection for each model, but its gonna be tough to out do that next year!

http://corekites.com/us/gts3

I honestly have heard mostly good things about core, so not baggin on em, just pointing out that they are really not all that different from the next company.

Re: What the deal with Core ?

Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2014 2:38 pm
by MACTNKA
Hey Starsky, i think you've been missing out the C kite Core has. Yes it is as exceptional as it gets. I owned the Gts2 and sold it as i thought it was all around kite and it turned out to be fastest kite ever built, with a very focused megaloop design. If you check out photos of Steven akkersdjik megalooping you'll notice these are the only photos of a megaloop, where the kite is actually lower than the rider. That's why he is consistently, on the podium of megaloop events(3rd in king of the air). The gts 2 may not be the highest jumping kite but it certainly is the fastest looping. And about the Xr3 the improvement I found from the Xr2 is also speed. They managed to keep it as intuitive as before, plus the shorter bridles so harder to tangle, but they added a lot of speed to it. Something that made The Xr2 clumsy for surfing but now the Xr3 looks great fun. Other than that they are all business(two years for testing), which makes it worth it to buy the new ones although the design is still the same. That's all about preferences. You can have a flashy piece of junk, or you can stick with a conservative masterpiece of engineering. I think Core is the Porsche of the kiteworld:)

Re: What the deal with Core ?

Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2014 3:23 pm
by Starsky
I'd love to test their kite. It looks the biz in shape and layout. It would have to measure up to a torch.... the Ferrari of the kite world.

I'd call the fuel the Porsche, and I have one of those in the quiver too.

Any all rounder is gonna be relegated to Bmer. They gotta cut out a couple of those filled in circles if they wanna truly call it a supercar!

Re: What the deal with Core ?

Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2014 3:38 pm
by knotmyfault
...... I think Core is the Porsche of the kiteworld:).....


Yes it is !!!! :lol:


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Re: What the deal with Core ?

Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2014 7:22 pm
by Faxie
Starsky wrote:I was really just commenting on the one design fits all aspect and how that will affect sales. Once they reach a certain level of market share it will come to a point they will be well served by broadening their color pallet.

I have no comment on how they perform, how they are built (tho they certainly try to max out that German engineering angle) and I rather like their bar.

To touch on the hype of their engineering prowess, its as much a joke as the next company. They have a segment on their site talking about how the kite arc flares when sheeted in and reduces when you sheet out both expanding and contracting the projected area of the kite. What a load of horseshit. That has been the case with every inflatable kite ever produced. My first ever kite... a north buster circa 2002 that I bought used in 2003 did that and so has every kite I have ever owned since. Even the Germans pump the hype train. Or how about the graphic to help you choose between kites for your style of riding!!! Look down the page of the link below and see that they have the audacity to imply that both models of kite are super awesome at everything. They do have the humility to take off a half circle graphic of perfection for each model, but its gonna be tough to out do that next year!

http://corekites.com/us/gts3

I honestly have heard mostly good things about core, so not baggin on em, just pointing out that they are really not all that different from the next company.
Cabrinha does that as well. Giving properties every kite has a name as a separate feature, and use that for marketing. With their 'depower on demand' and 'Dynamic Arc' crap. :rollgrin:

Re: What the deal with Core ?

Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2014 8:54 pm
by robertovillate
pmaggie wrote:Another plus of Core is the after sale service. When I bought my first XR, after about 18 months I had an issue with the bar: while I was riding, the QR activated by itself. I simply recovered and relaunched. After a few minutes, again the QR released. I was pretty sure I did not activate it, so back on the beach I tried in any way to simulate the problem but nope, it was working correctly. I decided to write to Core, just to understand their opinion (note that the kite was 6 months older than the warranty time). The answer was: "We are sending at our expenses a courier tomorrow to fetch your bar and we are going to check it". Tuesday morning the courier came. Wednesday they wrote me "we think the QR spring is defective, we are sorry for the inconvenience. We are going to change it. We are sending the bar back to you tomorrow". Friday morning I had my bar back in my office, and all for free, well after the warranty time!!
That's the deal with Core: you get a superb product, well built, with top performance for its purpose (it's a cross, not a dedicated kite) and with the best after sale service I ever encountered in my life. Maybe you prefer colours, your choice...
Not affiliated, I repeat.
That's a great testimonial to Core as a top shelf company. How many other kite companies perform service like that? Aside from great service the kites and bars are top quality all around. Customer service might not be the only reason to buy a brand, but when you add that to good performance it's a pretty nice package. I have not had one problem with my Core kites or bars (several quivers owned) in 6 years, and I love the way they fly! I ride 90%+ strapless in waves whenever possible and have been flying XR, XR2 and XR3's. I want to get a few GTS2 as well, maybe 7m and 10m.

Re: What the deal with Core ?

Posted: Wed Jul 09, 2014 1:50 am
by Jbrook
I think they are one of the few companies that wait till they actually have a much improved product before they release a new one. Probably doesn't make them the most profit but definitely is a way to work kinks out of a new kite and or bar before releasing something that needs to be recalled or change a few pieces, like a defective valve or something with the chicken loop. I do not ride their kites yet, I will try one soon. I do ride a Carved Imperator 5 and just love it. Also I have never had a board last 2 years and this one has. I have broken a bunch so I am really happy with this tt. Plus I live in Brasil and equipment is expensive and you cannot always find what you are looking for. Just my 2 cents! :thumb:

Re: What the deal with Core ?

Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2014 3:05 pm
by deniska
I love my riot XR3! It's my favorite kite now.
However, there are a few things that Core could address to make their kites even better:
- replace the sponge-like material on the bag.. it's a sand magnet!
- the de-power line wears out way too fast, especially if self-unswivelling is used (I think they addressed this in a new bar)
- the super wide valve is great, however after using it for a year, I had to pull out LE bladder and remove quite a bit of sand from it. Maybe they would need to rethink the design to raise it a bit, or put a velcro cover on top, like Ozone does.. I have a couple of Ozones with pretty wide valves and they never allow any sand inside.
- I love the white/yellow color scheme. I think there is good rationale for using white (less sun damage, etc). But not everyone kites on pristine white sand beaches and clear blue tropical water. Outside of those environments you quickly get visible stains that are hard to remove..So it would be nice if they could come up with darker color variant for those who have to kite in "brown" water/sand environments..

just my 2 cents...

Re: What the deal with Core ?

Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2014 5:56 pm
by Jbrook
Last post was great from the guy, there should be more constructive posts on this forum instead of all the brand bashing and useless stuff people write. :lol:

Re: What the deal with Core ?

Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2014 9:02 pm
by PinkNorthPride
Starsky wrote:
I honestly have heard mostly good things about core, so not baggin on em, just pointing out that they are really not all that different from the next company.
Hmm, every person on the team a kiter? Not many companies can say that these days.

There are also some technically superior features of their kites, triple filament rip stop, same grain aligned multi panel segmented leading edge, built somewhere they look after their workforce not China. The Bar is probably the lightest on the market, I like that twist release system, like the colour scheme and I just like their whole deal. They are very different from the big corporates like Pryde/Cabrinha, North or Best who are just doing it for the money to please the shareholders..

Just scratch beneath the surface, there's lots cool about Core and compare to a Fuel, it's US Muscle car over European Hi Tech Engineering, Mustang v Audi R8, or Porche..