My wife and I have have been having a blast with the Charger 10 & 12 here in Thailand. It has been a sketchy season this year. El Nino has not been good for Thai winds. It has been windy for 4-5 days, then no wind for a week or more, so we have had some difficulty in getting a real impression of the new PL kites.
Coming from Venom 1's, they are without a doubt a completely different experience. The turning speed of these kites is very fast and much different than Venoms. They are not so different that someone who has flown twinskins before will not feel comfortable on them, just happier. The autozenith is still there as well as the stability these kites are known for.
In order to get used to the turning speed of the 10 Charger we have been flying it with the tip straps loose, as it was insanely fast when first flown, generating tons of power on the up and down stroke. I was overflying it on the up stroke and found it flying way past zenith and yarding me around. Now that I am used to the slower flying speed with tip straps fully loose it will be really fun to tighten the tip straps to see what it is capable of. Over the next two months there should be some days where we can get out on the 10 and see just what it is capable of with tight tip straps. My wife needs about 15 knots to ride and stay upwind. For myself, I need 17-18 to be fully powered, though this will probably be revised when I tighten the tips. I am hoping that the bottom end of this kite will be around 15-16 knots or less with a different board. The days where I had the most fun was when I had 20-25 knots. In this way it reminds me of my Venom 10 where the more wind you had the more fun this kite is. I used to think my Venom 10 was a fast turning kite, but the Charger has put it to shame and generates much more power with it's fast turning speed. It will be interesting to see what the top end for this kite will be. I would imagine it will easily be 30+ .
The Charger 12 is not quite as fast as the 10 of course, but a huge improvement over the Venoms. After some time on it we think it has nearly the same power as a Venom 16 with much faster turning speed of course. At 55 kilos, my wife can ride the 12 Charger in 12 knots and stay up wind easily. For me at 74 kilos I need 13-14 knots to stay up wind, but a solid 15 to be reasonably powered. I have riden it in 20 knots and it seems 25+ would be easily within it's range. These impressions are with all straps fully tight.
Both of us are riding the Ocean Rodeo 140 X 40, which is NOT a particularly good light wind board. It will be interesting to see the difference another board makes. Where we are riding there is no current other than the wind current. So in that way, it is a truer test than somewhere where there is a current running the opposite direction from the wind.
Looking forward to others impressions of these new PL kites!