Caution versus Rhino2

[Guest]

How do the Cautions compare to the R2 in terms of how full the shape is (camber) and also aspect ratio?

[Guest]

Caution is a bit of a niche product. Its gonna be tough getting an objective comparison to other brands I reckon. Only true believers by them. See answers above. Go with something you can test fly.

[RC-Kiter]

Only seen an german magazine test on the 2002 Apexx 15m last year and it came out very bad, lots of bar pressure and slow to steer. At that time (2002) they did not seem up-to-date to compete with the big company's.

I hope for their sake that they did their homework for 2003, from an bad to average kite in 2002 to a winner in 2003 is a big leap forward!

[Guest]

I am a cabrinha kiter and having tested the 2003 Caution today, I have to say I am very impressed.

The kite turns unbelievably quickly, but its predictable and you can feel what the kite is doing so its not awkward to get used to. It just feels natural. The turning also doesn't make the kite twitchy like what i have seen on the Aero2.

As a 2003 kite, this one gets a definite thumbs up.

[Dr.Gonzo]

Hola from Tarifa. I have flown both '03 kites recently in great poniente conditions. The rhino 2s seem to be flapping badly and sounds like a bi-plane making a low pass. Many are being returned I am told, flys well though with good hang time, as with any kite, good riders are ripping on it. The Cautions are a very well built all round performer. Hang time is not spectacular but its not designed to be. For wave riding or really carving a board around you can't beat it, this is what its designed for. You see a section coming at you and you can turn all sizes on a dime, de-power and throw it back across the centre of the window and still easily hold an edge to carve smooth and stay on a wave, the rhino will lift you or nail you downwind more as will other high lift kites like X2 or Skoop. Power up the caution and all the grunt you need is there to get back upwind. Bar pressure is positive when grunting hard but the kite turns so fast very little movement is needed to work the kite, even the 15. On longer (30m) lines bar pressure is much softer and hang time is improved. imho.

Hasta luego hombres, mas poniente manana!

[fat blokes can fly]

Hey Gonzo (is that sean) guess you've been in or around the kite and board tests. What in your honest opinion was your unbiased favourites/the groups favourites.
P.s I'll be in Tarifa from the 4th Feb for a week with my boys, heard it blew really strong all week?
Cheers
Adam

[Guest]

First off my reference point for this thread is the 2003 Liquid Force Tension kites; which from what I understand may be the same kite in design and construction as the Caution kites. I have not personally compared the two so I can't validate that, but from the description some people are giving of the flight characteristics of the Caution kites it matches my experienced exactly with the LF Tension kites. This statement in a previous post sums up my experience nicely with the LF Tension; \\"The kite turns unbelievably quickly, but its predictable and you can feel what the kite is doing, so its not awkward to get used to. It just feels natural."//// That's it in a nut shell for me, the kite just feels so natural and intuitive. It does turn quickly but at the same time doesn't yank you off of the edge of your board. The power delivery is so smooth throughout the entire wind window, and even in the turns the kite has a nice consistent pull. The kite reacts very fast to a small amount of bar movement, but at the same time you feel totally in control and safe. I think in part this is due to the smooth delivery of power that the kite generates. With some kites you can feel apprehensive if they turn too fast because the kite may end up accelerating across the power zone causing a huge power spike. With the LF Tension it doesn't seem to matter where you have the kite in the wind window because it pulls so smooth whether you have the kite in the center of the power zone or at the edge of the window. Imagine a kite that can produce close to the same amount of power in any part of the wind window, including the center of the power zone, without any huge power surge or sudden drop off in power. Then even if the kite turns really fast it wouldn't make much difference because you would know that no matter where the kite ends up you are going to have the same nice consistent pull instead of a sudden boost in power. That is how I would describe my experience with LF Tension. As far as construction is concerned I think it is the absolute best I have seen so far. I think one of the kiteboarding magazines needs to step up to the plate and do a real life durability test of all the new 2003 kites. Include dropping them in the surf for a good pounding test, a radical all flying lines slack (luff) to sudden full power test, and the always favorite full power Tomahawk to land and full power Tomahawk to water test. Then we can really see who makes the most durable kites to date.

[Dwight]

.........., the kite just feels so natural and intuitive. It does turn quickly but at the same time doesn't yank you off of the edge of your board. The power delivery is so smooth throughout the entire wind window, and even in the turns the kite has a nice consistent pull. The kite reacts very fast to a small amount of bar movement, but at the same time you feel totally in control and safe. I think in part this is due to the smooth delivery of power that the kite generates. With some kites you can feel apprehensive if they turn too fast because the kite may end up accelerating across the power zone causing a huge power spike. With the LF Tension it doesn't seem to matter where you have the kite in the wind window because it pulls so smooth whether you have the kite in the center of the power zone or at the edge of the window. Imagine a kite that can produce close to the same amount of power in any part of the wind window, including the center of the power zone, without any huge power surge or sudden drop off in power. Then even if the kite turns really fast it wouldn't make much difference because you would know that no matter where the kite ends up you are going to have the same nice consistent pull instead of a sudden boost in power. That is how I would describe my experience with LF Tension.

You just described the features that made me a North fan when I rode the Rhino1 in 2002. This is a feature North was well aware of, and kept in the 2003 kites too.

It sounds like I would like the Caution/LF as well. I guess you can understand my passion for kites that fly like this.

[Guest]

On 2003-01-20 03:49, Anonymous wrote:
With some kites you can feel apprehensive if they turn too fast because the kite may end up accelerating across the power zone causing a huge power spike. With the LF Tension it doesn't seem to matter where you have the kite in the wind window because it pulls so smooth whether you have the kite in the center of the power zone or at the edge of the window.

It's the power spike that makes a kite good for jumping. The bigger the power spike, the higher the jump.

[ZenWind]

On 2003-01-20 03:59, Dwight wrote:

.........., the kite just feels so natural and intuitive. It does turn quickly but at the same time doesn't yank you off of the edge of your board. The power delivery is so smooth throughout the entire wind window, and even in the turns the kite has a nice consistent pull. The kite reacts very fast to a small amount of bar movement, but at the same time you feel totally in control and safe. I think in part this is due to the smooth delivery of power that the kite generates. With some kites you can feel apprehensive if they turn too fast because the kite may end up accelerating across the power zone causing a huge power spike. With the LF Tension it doesn't seem to matter where you have the kite in the wind window because it pulls so smooth whether you have the kite in the center of the power zone or at the edge of the window. Imagine a kite that can produce close to the same amount of power in any part of the wind window, including the center of the power zone, without any huge power surge or sudden drop off in power. Then even if the kite turns really fast it wouldn't make much difference because you would know that no matter where the kite ends up you are going to have the same nice consistent pull instead of a sudden boost in power. That is how I would describe my experience with LF Tension.

You just described the features that made me a North fan when I rode the Rhino1 in 2002. This is a feature North was well aware of, and kept in the 2003 kites too.

It sounds like I would like the Caution/LF as well. I guess you can understand my passion for kites that fly like this.

Hi Dwight

Yes I can indeed understand your passion for a kite that performs like this. It makes kiting so much more enjoyable, and allows you to focus more on what you want to accomplish on the board instead of what the kite is doing. I do think my riding ability can only improve using the LF Tension. I have read your posts on the North R2, and it does seem that there are similar philosophies in play with both of these kites. There are probably others too that share in this aim, and any kite that performs like this is a contender in my book. I just didn't know what I was missing before, and now there is no turning back. Take care.

Gene