Blade Kites 2012

[jeffro]

When picking up the Fat Lady in a backpack, it is easy to understand why it just floats up in the sky... It doesn't weigh that much. The struts and leading edge are so thin, it takes about the same amount of air to fill as a normal 12m. To me, the Fat Lady is a game changing kite that allows you to have a ton of fun in really light wind, without having to resort to a Race board...

I second that. The Fat Lady is the best 'performing' light wind kite right now and allows riding in 10-14 MPH with your standard board, especially if your around the 200 lb mark.

[KitePaddleSurf]

I just put the Fat Lady (17m) and another brand 2012 16m on the scale, and the Fat Lady came in 4 pounds lighter.

[aolive]

That proves the Fat Lady should have been spelled Phat Lady. It's not as heavy as you might think.

I weigh 160lbs and ran into the problem of being overpowered on it quite often. Definitely a great kite for the lightest winds.

[TommyDuotone]

I was lucky enough to be able to test most of the new light wind kites. (Dyno 16 & 18, Turbine, Infinity(prototype), and Fat Lady).
I was looking for a kite to replace my 16m Rebel that would work in San Diego winds with a surfboard. I loved the Rebel and choose it only after testing all the big kites in 2009/2010. However, not a fan of 5-lines in the surf and the 16m Rebel turns slow(like most big kites) and prefer lighter bar pressure.
If you have not tested any of the new light wind kites, you should, because they are no longer the "Big Trucks" they used to be(except maybe the Turbine, still an improvement over the Turbo's though)
Well, I chose the Fat Lady, which ended up being an easy decision really. It had the low end I was looking for, a light bar feel, and turns faster than any big kite I've ever flown. It drifts really nicely as well. Very important feature for me since it's really easy to outrun your kite when the waves pick up and the wind is light and on-shore. Even when the wind picks up, I am able to dump all the power, stay in the pocket, and the kite sits with no pull. I do have it set on the wave-setting which puts the kite a bit more forward(I think). I like the setting like this and have not bothered to change it. This is my first Blade kite and am very stoked so far. Nice job Blade
Note: It would be nice to see a bigger bag in the future since I, like some, roll my kites up loosely. That bag is pretty small. Some neoprane covers over the plastic clips would be cool too.

[Telekiter]

I
Note: It would be nice to see a bigger bag in the future since I, like some, roll my kites up loosely. That bag is pretty small. Some neoprane covers over the plastic clips would be cool too.

Agreed; bigger bag (much bigger) and covers for the clips and zip ties. Possibly even replacing the zip ties with o-rings (Epic style).

/Urban.

[KitePaddleSurf]

You'll be very happy with the 2012 Trigger and Prime bags then. Much roomier, and has a huge pocket on the front for your bar, and a full wrap around zipper. I am assuming eventually the Fat Lady will have this type of bag in the future.

I'll take a picture later of the 2 bags side to side and post it here...

I
Note: It would be nice to see a bigger bag in the future since I, like some, roll my kites up loosely. That bag is pretty small. Some neoprane covers over the plastic clips would be cool too.

Agreed; bigger bag (much bigger) and covers for the clips and zip ties. Possibly even replacing the zip ties with o-rings (Epic style).

/Urban.

[AF1]

Definatly agress that the bags for 2012 are a big upgrade! Last year I had a quiver of 2011 triggers and the awesome fat lady and I just recently upgraded to the 2012 triggers.

The 2011 trigger was an awesome kite and the 2012 is even better. Different material on the end of the struts, Better bumper, rub guards , better bags and the list goes on.


I highly recomend trying the blades. I have owned naish, epic, liquid force and now blade and can definatly agree that is the by far the best kite for my riding style as we get along like we were made to be together doing everything better.

[calibra]

review in the Kitesurfmag from the Trigger 9m 4º Generation...

http://www.iksurfmag.com/issue30/?page=121

[Motion]

After much waiting my blade finally arrived this week and kite looks fantastic. Very satisfied with build quality and overall looks great. The only small let down was the bar. They still haven't managed to make CL lock good enough when unhooking (swivel rotates to easily when not under tension, and that ball head on top doesn't lock to bar hole good enough). So probably some of you, know it sucks when you try to hook back in and the CL is rotated 90°, and you need to use the other hand to manually hook back in. Well it sucks a lot. So i made two small modification to my CL. Some of you might done that already but nothing on the webs yet, so here is it.



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

So first i put some rubber O-ring type home made seal between the swivel (orange thing). The swivel still rotates just fine when done manually hooked, but the orange seal makes enough friction so it doesn't rotate itself when unhooked.For second modification i made two small grooves (i hope that is the word) in the ball head of the swivel so it locks in to the bar hole better. The only thing you need to be careful is to aline the swivel ball head with QR or CL as shown on picture below.



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

I haven't tested it on the water yet but it works well tested on the wall.

[rodeoclown]

You'll be very happy with the 2012 Trigger and Prime bags then. Much roomier, and has a huge pocket on the front for your bar, and a full wrap around zipper. I am assuming eventually the Fat Lady will have this type of bag in the future.

I'll take a picture later of the 2 bags side to side and post it here...

I
Note: It would be nice to see a bigger bag in the future since I, like some, roll my kites up loosely. That bag is pretty small. Some neoprane covers over the plastic clips would be cool too.

Agreed; bigger bag (much bigger) and covers for the clips and zip ties. Possibly even replacing the zip ties with o-rings (Epic style).


/Urban.