I have to say that I hated the Crossbow. I flew one when they first came out with much anticipation, but I simply hated it. No feel to the kite at all, heavy bar pressure, and loss of power through the turns were the things I really disliked. Well I had pretty much written off the Bow type of design because of that experience. I got a chance to the a 9.0m Waroo, and I was not expecting much, but Wow what a difference! I have to congratulate Best on this kite. It is so far ahead in design to the Crossbow, that you can't even compare the two. I have not been attracted by all the crap and attitudes slung at Beat here on this forum, nor I have not been impressed by some of the responses that comes from the Best lover's camp. All that aside, the Waroo is the real deal. Super light bar pressure, but the feel through the bar is there, so you know right where the kite is. No frigging pulleys on the bar!!!!!! Tons of power and depower. This kite pulls nicely through the turns, and responds quickly when you want to turn it. Bottom line is this kite is the future for sure. Now I'm not saying there aren't areas that can be improved on the Waroo because there are. In low wind with the kite depowered the wingtips will flap a little in hard turn. There is a small bit of fabric attached to the TE of each strut that I think is there to help minimize this, but I think there needs to be a slight change in the profile design to make it disappear altogether. The kite bag is cheapy, but I understand if you want to keep the price down there have to be some areas of compromise. The kite pump is a joke, but again I will put up with those things to keep the price down. Did I mention that there are NO FRIGGING PULLEYS ON THE BAR!!!!
Well I really can't talk about the Best bar because I used my own bar, which is great because all you really need is a long chicken loop line and add some extensions to your depowering strap so you can reach the thing. Without pulleys on the bar the Waroo feels like a C-shaped kite, and depowering it works so so good. Anyhow I got no interest in promoting Best stuff, nor do I have any real reason to diss their stuff either; but the Waroo is the real deal. With the super light bar pressure and the ability to kill the power anytime you want to, you can kite for hours on end. I did find I was getting quite fatigued in one area of my body that hasn't happened in quite a while. In fact I can't remember feeling that fatigued in that area since way back about seven years ago when I first started kiteboarding and was finally able to stay upwind and jump. The area I am talking about is my face. My jaw was tired from smiling so much. I think I never stopped smiling from the first down stroke of the kite to when I landed it. My thanks goes out to the designers at Best for making this kite. Well done!