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The Pansh A15, an A18 review

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foilholio
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The Pansh A15, an A18 review

Postby foilholio » Thu Dec 17, 2015 1:33 am

Hi I'll repost my post from the other thread cause toby mutilated the topic and first post so it kinda all doesn't make sense. You have until Christmas/new year to grab a bargain :-) I'll continue to add here as I gain more experience with the kite. Unfortunately I am recently addicted to high wind, and there is a currently a lack of low wind where I live , hehe.

Cheers!
Last edited by foilholio on Thu Dec 17, 2015 4:07 am, edited 1 time in total.

foilholio
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Re: The Pansh A15, an A18 review

Postby foilholio » Thu Dec 17, 2015 1:34 am

Kite 18meter is 3.6kg still folded. Will weigh less after some changes.

the 350kg 220kg line set seems high quality. The 350kg front lines are slightly thicker than flysurfer 300kg front lines. The 220kg rear lines are slightly thinner than 200kg flysurfer lines.

Unfolding the kite, couple of things noticed. The split air intake is only one, which I think is the same as the Aurora, bit gimmicky only giving one but hey they may just be a gimmick period.

The magnetic blow offs are changed to high strength magnets. While significantly lighter and stronger they only close a portion, maybe a third, of the trailing edge. Looks like air will bleed out quite rapidly. Also the two sides of the trailing edge can now become stuck together which might make relaunch interesting. I will "try" them, but positive note removing the magnets and sewing the trailing edge looks like a 5 min job. Compared to the modifications the Aurora needed that is nothing.

The deflate zip. Compact and effective. While I hate zips on kites this one works well, for now....:-P Couldn't spot any of those other little zips that litter pansh kites, but they are hard to spot so I don't conclude yet there are none.

Internal straps. This is interesting and on first look it looks like the construction of the kite went wrong :-/ There is a significant amount of straps not aligned with bridle attachments near the tips. But the straps seem to veer off purposely from their bridle row to a different one on the tips. It looks some what intentional some what a very big mistake. Oh dear. Thinking positively I can imagine that the straps are some how working with the bridles at different points. But to be honest it doesn't look right at all. Either the bridles attachments are in the wrong place or the straps are. The strapping is significantly different than http://www.panshkite.com/syssite/home/s ... rkite9.jpg Flying it will be the true test though, if it flys well then I guess everything is fine, if not well that sucks.

If anyone else has an A15 could you please check the straps in the tip area if they align with the bridle attachments. Thanks.

I had a look at the pictures here http://www.extremekites.com.au/topic/15 ... prototype/ and the strapping design seems similar/ the same to mine so maybe it's worry about nothing.

I checked line lengths all were roughly within 1-2cm of each other. I shortened both a front and rear line that weren't even, not using the fifth.

Well I got to fly the kite, now I only got to play a bit on land but I am frothing :-) :-) :-). Awesome, unbelievably good. Where to start. The kite is neither a Speed3 or a Speed4, it is something new. Pansh should pat themselves on the back. It has better stability than a speed3, and maybe better than a speed4. There is large amounts of depower available. The bar pressure is very light. The kite has really good pull when you fly it. It has good lift. The Double cell trailing edge or mini ribs really clean up the trailing edge like its a super high cell count kite. I think the low end on this will be better than the 22Aurora. Cant wait to try it on water. I haven't seen any negative affect from the magnetic blow offs. Infact I think the weight concentrated on the trailing edge helps create a positive pitching moment, tilting the kite back improving its drift. Arg I want to own them all lol. The ELC's are cleaner than flysurfer ones. The zip works really well, makes packing down a big kite like this a breeze. I think the size and length of the zip is much more appropriate than some of the monster zips flysurfers have had. I weighed the excess stuff from inside the kite, bringing the kite weight to 3.56kg. Which is heavier than the lotus 18 at 3.2kg but lighter than the sonic at 3.6kg. I read elsewhere that the A15 is 2.8kg, I don't see how that is possible compared to my A18. The AR of the kite is definitely a lot lower than speeds or aurora, it is more like the original speed4 aka psycho incognito.

Now a negative, kinda big one. The stitching on the bridles is the same as can be seen on Pansh's website, if not a bit worse. It's doesn't leave much confidence that it will last long. At the half price special I am happy to have a kite that'll last 2 years. but I wouldn't be paying full price with stitch work as skimpy as this. I would hope in future they reduce the stitch spacing by 30 to 50% and maybe add some reverse stitches as Kitexpert advised. If you are planing on buying one just complain about it to Pansh before you order and they hopefully will quick smart change it for everyone after a few complaints/requests. Although Pansh are very unresponsive after you have bought, they seem willing to bend over backwards while still in the sale stage.

I must also say the kite looks really good with custom colors. I drew a kite in paint and played around with many different combos and lots looked great. It would be great if the Pansh website had something to design your kite.

Also add the bridle is evenly tensioned A to Z with a little positive camber and the kite holds a lovely shape. I don't think any of my worries about the strapping are valid at all. Pansh truly seems to have cottoned onto some very advanced kite design.

I'll keep updating as my experience increases with it, might even make another post lol.

foilholio
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Re: The Pansh A15, an A18 review

Postby foilholio » Thu Dec 17, 2015 1:38 am

Forgot to add the turning seems good, but I'll need to go on water to really crank it because the powers spikes from this thing are immense. It's a bit race foil in that way. Maybe something with the trailing edge.

corbett
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Re: The Pansh A15, an A18 review

Postby corbett » Thu Dec 17, 2015 1:50 am

Interesting :) .

I assume you just bought lines and not bar?

What brand and model of pulleys are at the kite?

Would you hang 20 feet above land on this kite? would you trust it? I suppose this is what Plummet would ask.

Does Pansh give out bridle plans?

Keep the thoughts coming.

PS: don't worry about Toby, I heard Switch and North are considering revoking his moderator privileges.

foilholio
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Re: The Pansh A15, an A18 review

Postby foilholio » Thu Dec 17, 2015 3:37 am

Hi corbett I have seen your work over in that new switch thread, you seem a bit angry at these distributorless brands? Bit strange as you posted interest in pansh before? Most guys I have met who are anti switch or the like seem to have a bit of skin in the reselling game somehow.

To answer your questions, most can already be found if you look a bit.

No bar. I ride custom bar setups. The pansh bar is a bit average and the chicken loop has an out dated pull release. But the quality is ok. I don't like the aluminum depower hole though.

The pulleys are sprenger kite blocks as used on flysurfer kites. They are higher quality than ronstan with the weight the same and lasting longer.https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&sit ... +kiteblock

I am going to push pansh to supply pulleys, little rings and ELCs. All the current suppliers of these are very expensive with no cheap shipping. The little rings are great for constructing bars or mixers. The ELCs are a great little invention for connecting kite lines.


I am not really into land kiting anymore as I find it too dangerous. Many others use pansh kites for land use. You can find videos of jumping on them. They have only since 2012 been making water kites and are mainly a land brand. The quality of the A15 or Aurora is sufficient for land jumping. I wouldn't use the smaller kites for jumping with heavier riders as the fabric is too light. As has been mentioned on another forum before, the only part on the pansh that really needs changing to give it that extra security for land use is the A main which is not strong enough. The new lines from pansh are really strong looking and would give me the same confidence as flysurfer lines.

Pansh has no bridle plans and lacks a lot of information. They are hardly the only kite brand to hold information closed. Flysurfer in comparison for a very long time now has set the standard for openness with info. I must say though now flysurfer is taking a bit of a step back as some info is becoming harder to find and maybe nonexistent. When I think of Pansh's behavior it doesn't surprise me considering Chinese culture. Everyone is stealing ideas from everyone so if you want to keep an advantage you need to keep hush hush. To be honest this is not something the Chinese have a monopoly on and you'll find it though all of the west. it's more of a crowded civilized culture thing. It is probably more noticeable in the Chinese, and I will offend the western sense of exceptionalism here, they have been civilized longer than most of the world.

Wow where are we going now?:-)

foilholio
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Re: The Pansh A15, an A18 review

Postby foilholio » Thu Dec 17, 2015 6:19 am

On the pansh line set being uneven. I have been checking adjusting all my flysurfer front lines, for a while now, they pretty much were all uneven, some by more than an inch.... I just noticed yesterday that on one of my flysurfers ,which is basically new, the bar was crooked. WTH I'll check out the rear lines, yep 22.5mm out. I wouldn't be surprised to see the problem from most kite brands. I think lack of factory space or time to make the lines to a high accuracy would be the problem. From now on I am going to check adjust all new lines before I use them.

On the lack of pansh not providing line plans, look at the Aurora thread on tubelesskiteforum. If enough people own the kites, measurements or adjustments can be found and shared. But it is annoying considering Pansh could simply copy paste some numbers.

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Re: The Pansh A15, an A18 review

Postby corbett » Thu Dec 17, 2015 1:58 pm

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Last edited by corbett on Wed Oct 19, 2016 7:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: The Pansh A15, an A18 review

Postby corbett » Thu Dec 17, 2015 2:12 pm

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Last edited by corbett on Wed Oct 19, 2016 7:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.

foilholio
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Re: The Pansh A15, an A18 review

Postby foilholio » Thu Dec 17, 2015 2:47 pm

OK I understand now you had a problem with switch over something.

It's a pity about that flexfoil sale. Maybe someone posted about it and toby deleted it :-)

I don't think they are parasites as such, but the whole obsession with the brands/gear they sell, trash talking, the I own the beach slash I run this town attitude and their maggoty team riders that are only their to sponge cheap/free gear, well it all leaves a bad taste. If you have half a brain you dont need their services, better off steering clear.

You binned a kite over a couple of bridles?

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Re: The Pansh A15, an A18 review

Postby corbett » Thu Dec 17, 2015 2:55 pm

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Last edited by corbett on Wed Oct 19, 2016 7:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.


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