The comment about bar pressure must be a joke, right? I mean, i never heard a girl complaining about it, some stronger guys wanted even more pressure, so its really hard for me to understand this. When i tried the fast setting, bar pressure was too light for me- couldn't feel the kite all the time ( similar to bandit 5 ), and i don't like that "bow style" bar pressure.
Hangtime was indeed a weak point of first generation, but i believe they made the biggest improvement here. A friend of mine demoed lots of kites, and told me he had problems landing jumps with Boss ( sorry, i know it should be smoke thread
), because he wasn't used to being in the air that long. Not saying its the best jumper out there, but it was superior to the ones he tried. I also rode the old and the new Boss side by side, and they really made a huge improvement regarding hangtime.
As for Smoke windrange, i weigh 75kg, and been on the water with it from 13knts ( way underpowered, but could stay upwind ) to 35knt ( little overpowered, but still in control for some nice jumps
). When a gust hit a 40, it was too much for me
Upwind, i think it has more to do with rider himself, and the board, but i could be wrong. Never had problems riding few kilometers upwind - better riders were faster than me, others stayed way behind ( in front actually
).
As for unhooked, i can't say much, as i can do only few tricks, but its looking pretty solid when Hannah, Lou and others show off with some fancy freestyle
The build quality is excelent, and the bar is surely one of the best out there. I'm sure you're gonna love that kite. Looking forward to your first impressions
reagrds