I would be interested to hear comments from anyone who has flown both the GKSonic and the Rapture2, which somehow seem to be the winners in the bow arena so far.

How do they compare in terms of range, performance, safety?

So far - having tried neither one - I get the impression that:
- the GKSonic is better in terms of range, safety, and ease of relaunch
- the Rapture2 probably better in terms of performance (and price, of course ... err, although you may have to get 2 of them...)

Any advice much appreciated,

Can only say saw the Sonic 2 weeks ago and put an order in for one the same week, should be here mid november. Looked very impressive and safe !

Has anyone gotten their Rapture II yet? Please help us out with some feedback.

Thanks,

Ed

I really wonna hear some info on this thread, so if anybody tried the rapture - plz give me some info. Especially if youre not in the business bed with either companies....

checkout the kite forum on windwing.com. some of us have had the kites delivered and starting to post impressions and also questions. I have yet to get decent conditions to try mine out in. Can - say the reverse launch works. - You can't do a folded tip self launch. - Has huge depower range.

Yea I'm getting so frustrated I'm thinking of buying both... for one thing, these kites are difficult to get hold of, they are made by small companies that can barely keep up with very high demand at the moment. Second, no one seems to have tried both (for enough time to get a good idea, at least), which is somewhat strange... maybe has to do with geographical distribution.

My impression from reviews so far is that they are both spectacularly good kites, definitely front line flyers - don't choke them with the back lines.

The new Rap2's made it by the SF Bay Area not long ago and a demo was at a local beach and most everyone got a chance to ride. I recently received a Rap2 and have a had few sessions and have posted impressions also. Then of course, there's starting to surface some feedback at the windwing forum. Here are the various links:

http://www.bayareakiteboarding.com/viewtopic.php?t=2385
http://www.bayareakiteboarding.com/viewtopic.php?t=2438
http://windwing.com/forum/forum_topics.asp?FID=3

Cheers,
Ollie

I rode the Crossbow 12 on one day, then the Rapture II 12m and the Sonic 11m back to bak the next day.

I did not like the Rapture II. I think the guy had the Rapture set up badly and it had very high bar pressure and needed lots of bar travel. This forced me to ride in an extreme poo-man stance to the get the trim right.

I really enjoyed the Crossbow and the Sonic. The Crossbow has quite heavy bar pressure but the short travel on the chicken loop means you can easily get into a comfortable position and control the kite with quite small movements.

The Sonic has very light bar pressure and is absolutely effortless to ride. THe auto-relaunch thing is amazing to watch. I guess the Sonic is my favorite of the three kites.

I think the Rapture II could be a good kite if it was setup properly.

As far as bar pressure, it is important to set the forward attachment point according to the feel you want when using the Raptures. The more forward you go, the more bar pressure you will have. Windwing allows you the option to adjust the bar pressure at the kite as well as at the bar. The B-SAFE bar uses friction while the CC-bar uses rolling resistance.

OzBungy, apparently your Rap2 settings were not correct. My experience is not bar pressure at all.