17 turbine used today in 10mph -16mph, flat conditions, and what a nice day hot and sunny.
first off I really wanted this kite to be outstanding, and on seeing it and feeling the materials I was buzzing, quality quality quality, superbly finished and little wear/abrasion pads in all the right places, blowing it up was surprisingly easy,I thought I was in for a workout but not so, its a lot shorter than the Dyno, with 3 tiny struts, was this going to be a stable kite? I was thinking,
Blown up it looks just like a Bandit, bit like half a circle but with a pointy arrow head graphic,
The wind was very gusty cross offshore (inland sea lake on Anglesey) so stability was a worry as I was thinking out loud "don't let me down and fall out of the sky", it went up in very sketchy gusty 6-12mph and held steady and strong above me, brilliant! power came on smoothly and as speed picked up the pull was smooth, the kite was rock solid and I must say the shape and arrow head pointy front was stunningly good looking, wow what a great looking kite in flight!! upwind work was a pleasure, as good as the North as far as feel and trim-ability, bar pressure was about the same as the Dyno, but with a longer sweet spot, feel was not quite as solid as the dyno, but as I have just said the Dyno's sweet spot is condensed in a shorter power line stroke, shorter arm guys like me would like that better I would guess.
kite speed
You have to understand that I have owned old school massive heavy slow slowwwww very slow kites, that would kick your arse down a death run from hell, they all did, all of them were ruddy awful, so we all stopped using them years ago,
convincing anyone to use one of these modern kite monsters will be one hell of a job, I have no connection to any brand or any shop/outlet, but I have got to insist you all try one of these utterly superb kites, now before you do you have to decide why you might want to, all the 3 latest ones I have flown are so different, all great, but miles apart in what they offer, apart from one thing they all share, great light wind fun, all of them through a light /medium bar feel, massive de-power and great range, so no more death runs using your bum in the water to slow down as we all had to do, one of the kites turns very quickly indeed, enough to loop with if that's your bag, (Dyno) and then possibly the best looking kite on the water is the Turbine, and the longest hang time ever on any kite is the 15 speed 3.
what suits me is the Dyno 16mtr (18mtr with me next week)its the Dyno's speed through the air and the ability to boost big & loop, its not as well built as the Turbine, and for racing I don't know which would be best, possibly the more skilled guy using it, all fly upwind like nothing else in next to nothing, and I would say they all would get me going in the same wind speed.
what's that some of you are saying? you would rather be earning brownie points with the family than flying around the water amazed at the performance from such nimble race machines that get you out on the water and flying around at double the wind speed, then fine, more space for me, yeharrrr, open your mind, errrr yes- your wallet as well. don't moan at the price as the F one 18mtr from 8 years back was £1100 gmb, and that was utter rubbish compared to today's refined race kites.

as for the cost of our sport, as I also come from a windsurfing background and long time motorbike enthusiast, cash for time spent yeharring blows motorbikes into the gutter, and smiles /mile on windsurfers V kitesurfing is a no brainer,

361 days to go (early retirement)

...that was one long confusing run on paragraph of thought. You lost me halfway through and I really wanted to read your opinion. I thought it was a Turbine review and then I was reading about Dyno, FS, FOne.... I guess I have a short attention span.

Can you summarize in one list, what kite do you like best? How do they compare?

Seems that you put a lot of thought into it. Would be nice to see a stupidly clear comparison that any idiot could understand.

+1

I can see your point, I do not want to say any one kite is way better than the other, I would be shot down by the many who would think I am writing for a brand who sells them, and I don't want to invite the light wind waste of time believers to have a moan,
I am just trying to let the guys know that the new "race" kites are not anything like the ones that have made light wind kiteing so unpopular,
Anytime anyone says anything positive about light wind kiteing here in the UK the Knockers come on saying " Its a waste of time, rather be walking the dog sort of talk"
all 3 kites are brilliant for different people, I did write up a review of all the other kites mentioned over on the UK forums, this post is really a follow on from them,
sorry for the confusion
If I was able to sail every day, as I will be able to do in 357 days, (early retirement) the big kites would get the most use by far, so its worth knowing that the new age big race kites are now real fun to use with massive range/de-power
and its worth noting that a bigger board works better with all these kites, I use a 132 x 41 for all my 12mtr and below days, but use a 137 x 44 with the bigger kites, they feel so much better suited to the power delivery of all the big kites I have used/owned in the last 8 months

Nah bullshit - go for it. Tell us what gear you own, how long you've kited, what kites you've ridden, how you like to ride and then tell us what you think of the kites and give us your opinion on where they are strong and weak.

Just include nice paragraph breaks

I agree.

If the old kites you are referring to are dogs like the Naish ARX or Wipika Airblast, I don't have much interest. I would really like to know how it compares to newer 16 or 17M kites. Like the Zephr for example.

If Colin is the Colin that posted on the Flexi forums in the distant past he has been spot on with his evaluations over the years and has not restricted himself with one particular brand.

Finally tried my 2011 turbine...it's was not best contidion as were some 16-18 knots with gusts of 20-22.. on choppy sea ..i m 220 lb used a 134 x 43.5 board...
guessed the kite could not be that fast on water..tried to unhook..but was too powered..
had soon enough good feeling with the kite...lofty jumps...and even if sometimes did not redirect so fast the split strut helped me in not backstall the kite...guess this would be great for unhook...the kite is incredible stable!!!
i had a contra 17 2007 and this is really 3 steps forward..(ok passed some years) ..incredible upwind and no drag...can i say just 2 things i did not liked a lot...the kite is slow pivoting (compared to my big mama 15)but after accellerates a lot(bow style)...so quess not so easy to loop it and there is medium bar pressure..which in ligh winds could bit make u tired......
had not chance to try water launch..anyway i m really so impressed for how a 17m could work, i'm curious to chek 2012 model...

One of the local kiters here had a first generation Zephyr and now has a Turbine. He said he much prefers the Turbine, but I can't remember the details of why.

I've ridden my Dyno 18 alongside him on the Turbine, and we seemed to have the same low end. Our kites were both having trouble staying up in the same lulls.

His relaunch seemed a little better, I'm guessing because of the more delta shape, compared to the very high aspect Dyno. The 5th line is supposed to help the Dyno relaunch, but I haven't had too much luck (I've never used 5th lines before so maybe need parctice.

Guy on the Turbine was on a Door style board, I was on a raceboard. I was going upwind better, but that is to be expected.

Funny to read this again after I've seen Turbines up close...
You forgot to add "It's fuckin light". I reckon they weigh about as much as my 13m Xbow

Looks like it's faster than the Zephyrs in the air and the guy who has one here loves the range and depower. He feels safe under it when the wind picks up...


That's a shock.