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....
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.