Ozone 2009 , I saw a bright light at the end of the tunnel.

[panchito]

Hi

My relationship with Ozone is the type of : love & hate

Love because .......they made wonderful kites when they introduced the 06 Instincts , not the fasted turning kites but for sure one of the most stable and probably the best wind range you could find those days in the market , great jumping abilities, no pulleys , clean set up . I end up with a entire quiver from 7m up to 13m .

Hate because ..... when the 07 line up was released and ...... I was speechless . The Lights were barely good enough for teaching , hard to steer , real doggy when the wind picked up , to much on/off de-power , the kites flutter on every hard turn . The Sports which were supposed to be the next development from the 06 Instincts lost all goodies I used to love , 0 bar pressure , very little de-power , crapy low end and the Edges ..... the same but even worst because of the high AR .

Eventually I found a way to modify them and it turned around to be that they are indeed wonderful kites with good bar pressure , lots of de-power & great low end and it makes me wonder why Ozone released such a controversial line up of kites ? sure , Ozone hardcore customer base loved them but the rest of the world not .

Little to say about the 08 line up , got better ( comparing to the 07 doggy kites ) but nothing more .
To be honest , at this point I would not even consider purchasing any Ozone kite in the future ,the 09 kites are already in the market since several months and had no interest whatsoever to give them a try but I got rid of my 07 lights ( modified ) cause I bought a Mutant some months ago and those kites not even with the mod. were usable for wave riding and started searching for a replacement ( I love my Edges but they are crap for waves ) and even posted the search at the Spanish local forums .

One day I get a message from Isa which is one of the Ozone dealers in Spain ( I know her since several years ) her user name here is " little kitesurfer " in this forum and told me that the 09 kites have nothing to do with past years and I should give them a try , I agreed and got the kite with the mail 2 days ago ; a 8m light .

Had the chance to tryout the kite in probably the most crappy conditions you can imagine here in Tarifa with NNE wind blowing from 15 till 35 knots side off off shore , on those conditions I don´t even bother pumping a kite but I thought if there is something wrong , it´s the best place to find it out .



So lets start ...

Bag ... nice , simple & clean
Bar...nice , clean set up , clean flag out and best of all : now you can replace worn parts from the bar without needing to ask for and entire bar again .
Kite : not much to say , looks well made , short bridles , 3 struts , no one pump ( don´t need it ) finally a new color design .

How does it fly ?

Very well , you don´t really miss the 5th line * ( i come back to this later ) short de-power throw ( Ozone pimped reviews called " progressive " I call it short ) fast turning , probably due to the hugh bar (55 cm one size fits all ) no problems at all with the handling of the kit even in extreme gusty conditions ( kudos to the new designer ) finally an excellent kite for wave riding , jumps fine , good lift & hang time ( nothing equals my Edges but still good for a low AR kite ) dead simple relaunch , I did not experience any inverting or funny behavior and the best of all the price of the kite , with a retail under the 1000 euros mark it has all the potential to be a great alternative to most of the kites with a price tag of 1.500 and more . AT this point I ask myself if Ozone is able to deliver a great kite with a very decent price why they charge 40% more for an Edge ? 3 o 4 struts and one pump with a different design is worth 400 euros more ? I don´t think so , specially in todays economy .


So .... nice & fun kite , got my approval with best notes .

Two things .... the " one size fits all " bar which is becoming standard with many kite brands is in my opinion stupid since it is either to big for the small sizes or to small for the bigger ones and
although you don´t miss the 5th line , I found out on several 4 liners Deltas, hybrids or Sle´s now on the market the short trow of the de-power , in this particular point my " old " 5th liners are way better simply cause this set up provides better support to the centre of the LE and allows to de-power more without risking of an inversion , this is not something unique with Ozone but in certain circumstances I did miss some more de-power throw .

Ozone really needed to take a new direction with their inflatable kites and I really hope they keep it.

Now I really want to test the new Edges and find out how the measure against my 07 mod kites ..... stay tuned , it will be interesting ....

I am glad Isa persuaded me to test the kite , thank you .

Saludos

Franz

[Tom Tom]

I can give you a heads up on the EdgeRX 9 & 13, although I have just tried them a couple of times.

I have been riding the same 9 & 13 setup on first Edge, EdgeII and now EdgeRX since 2007. Needless to say I enjoy the type of kite and general design.

The 08 was as you say an improved 07. I will say straight away that the 08's fit me like a glove. With all the changes I was sort of prepeared to be dissapointed witth the 09's. I was not.

That said, the comparison between the two are difficult to make - it really is a totally diffferent kite. It behaves differently in most aspects. Better in some and leaves me missing the 08's in some.

In short the 09 is a more user friendly kite. It is not as sensitive on position and timing as the 08's. It sits further back in the window and has more grunt. The feeling for exact right bar sheeting that you evolved with the 07/08s is gone. Jumping is hence easier, since the more forgiving nature will in my belief result in more effective use of the kite. Coming back from the winter sleep-in I directly pulled some of the biggest jumps I ever have. Stable? Yes, the further back thing makes the kite less prone to over-flying and back stall is non-existent. Turning is similar but with bigger radius. Bar pressure is a little higher but just different, in my opinion not better or worse. I never saw that as an issue anyway. Setup with the 4 lines is excellent. Bar feels big on the 9. In general it is still a raving performer and great riding kite with no nasty habits as I have seen. Different but I still love it.

So what do I miss? Well the reason I went for Edges in the first place was for that race-car feel of being 100% in touch with the kite. A bit un-forgiving and craving exact bar position it gave a feeling of direct connection with the power it could deliver. Turning was direct, no swampy slushu thing like other kites such pulley based or even the SportII. That feeling is sort of gone. It still delivers the performance, it is actually a lot easier to tap it, but the springs and shock absorbers have been softened. I have not decided if I like it or not. De-power. Well, for walking around with the kite you certainly feel the difference. The 08's if you pushed the bar all the way out would have the bar loose in your fingers, ripples in the canopy and very little pull. Walking out with the 13 in 20 knots you feel the force and lean back to compensate. Range I would say has been decreased. But on the other hand with modern kites you simply hold them perhaps to long and just because I did ride the 08 13 in 26 knots does not mean I sould not have went in and changed for my 9. So, again just different perhaps not not-as-good.

In all I like the things. The general package is better and more user friendly. Having tested the Sport & Lights I will say that they deiffinently share the feeling just are oriented in different ways. Last years I simply loved the Edge and did not like the Sport/Light. This year is different, in many ways they have come closer together and share traits.