The Negative Review Thread

[El Cuajinais]

Since it is very difficult to find unbiased reviews on kiting gear, I am starting this thread in hopes that kiteboarders from all over world will post which gear has caused them problems.

The premise is that because every magazine and website review out there is just gushing praise, they are all useless in helping us to determine purchases. (So you could say they are useless, period). As consequence, we have to turn to the reviewers on forums like this one who do an admirable job, but have tried just a small portion of all the equipment available in the industry. Needless to say they cannot make broad comparisons across the entire industry.

However there is one thing we all can do. We can post short sentences like “My Waroo 2007 exploded in mid air.” Or “The blunt is a nice board but the bindings are uncomfortable.” Or “My Warrior 2 harness popped open during a session.”

Two of these of these examples are not subjective. Even then the comfort statement would start to gain credibility if many posters share the same opinion. As you can see this would be very good information to have. This way we can at least know which equipment NOT to buy. I realize we will not get any gear performance information this way. But we will get good reliability information. And equipment first needs to be reliable in order for the owner to be able to enjoy its performance. The thing I would emphasize is that the entries should be just a single sentence, that way it's a lot easier to read down the list.

[El Cuajinais]

My Slingshot T2 control bar broke but I was covered by warranty.

[Peter_Frank]

Since it is very difficult to find unbiased reviews on kiting gear, I am starting this thread in hopes that kiteboarders from all over world will post which gear has caused them problems.

The premise is that because every magazine and website review out there is just gushing praise, they are all useless in helping us to determine purchases. (So you could say they are useless, period). As consequence, we have to turn to the reviewers on forums like this one who do an admirable job, but have tried just a small portion of all the equipment available in the industry. Needless to say they cannot make broad comparisons across the entire industry.

However there is one thing we all can do. We can post short sentences like “My Waroo 2007 exploded in mid air.” Or “The blunt is a nice board but the bindings are uncomfortable.” Or “My Warrior 2 harness popped open during a session.”

Two of these of these examples are not subjective. Even then the comfort statement would start to gain credibility if many posters share the same opinion. As you can see this would be very good information to have. This way we can at least know which equipment NOT to buy. I realize we will not get any gear performance information this way. But we will get good reliability information. And equipment first needs to be reliable in order for the owner to be able to enjoy its performance. The thing I would emphasize is that the entries should be just a single sentence, that way it's a lot easier to read down the list.

Hmmm hmmm - the idea looks good at first

BUT, I am not sure it will be a benefit for us users, really...

For one, above two examples ARE quite subjective - believe it or not

The "Mid air explosion" could be a manufacturing error, but also a ripped sewing or other defect the kitesurfer has caused.
And the harness opening could be because it was not "locked" correctly (as most harnesses with these systems has a lock).
But you are right - this could be valuable and in some cases not that subjective...

For two, if doing so, listing the "problems" there has been - then those writing "deliberately biased" before, might just change strategy in what they write Or maybe even write about "other" brands instead

And finally, when looking for a good kite - I would personally love to find a kite that flies/works REALLY good in most fields (to my personal liking), and then if there was a "problem" with the kite or gear, I could choose to live with that, or it might be able to solve/change it

The worst I could imagine, was a kite which never have had any issues at all - but flies like a sick dog performancewise

So unbiased reviews dont exist - nor do they do so in windsurfing with more than 40 years experience and the EXACT same issue has existed here

Not a very constructive post, I know, but just some thoughts and experiences which will make me consider just one more time if it will change anything
As the negative "issues" there are with kites shows up in this forum anyway. For very HEATED debates often... But they are there, and one can choose to believe it or not

Kindly, Peter Frank