jayandseven wrote:Figured I'd chime in here...just got done riding the 11M velocity, and here are my impressions coming from a guy who has a quiver of Ozone Edges who used to ride Switchblades and XBows. I rode the 11M Velocity back to back with my Edge:
Speed: Very fast...this kite will be a contender for sure...every little pull on the bar made a difference. really close here...the Velocity actually may be a little quicker than the Edge pound for pound. Really. Just so quick...
Upwind: Awesome....thing sits way forward in the window, just blasts upwind, then again, so does the Edge. Probably dead locked here.
Turning: Fast...much faster turning that the Xbow, not sure compared to the Switch, it's been a while since I've rode one, and about the same turning speed as the edge...Again, damn close here.
Boost: This is where things were surprising. The Velocity boosts really really well. For me, the Edge boosts a little higher, however, if I rode the Velocity more, I may be able to get it darn close to the Edge. This kite, similar to the Edge, really wants to be brought past noon to boost well...if you just send it to noon, you wont get anything spectacular. But wow, most boost I've ever had from a Cabrinha. Just blasts you off the water. I'd say probably dead locked here.
Hang time: Sorry Cabrinha fans, Edge flat out wins here. It's not even that close...the Velocity drops you considerably quicker than the Edge hands down, end of story. This was surprising given how similar these kites felt on the water, and how similar they are in design. After I got off the kite, I watched a guy get off a 9M Edge, and fly the same 11M Velocity, and the airs were fairly similar in height, but you could see watching from the beach how much quicker he dropped with the Velocity. Weird.
Bar Pressure: Wow. Finally, a Cab with really nice bar pressure. Less than the Switch, less than the XBow, and agin, surprise, dead locked with Edge. (although, the edge was on the heaviest setting, and the Velocity was on the lightest, so the Edge on the lightest setting will probably win here, but it's so much better than any other Cab I've ridden)
Coming right from my 11 Edge, the thing that I noticed the most was that damn IDS system the Cabs have makes the fully sheeted in position much further out from your body than the Ozones. I'm 6'0" tall, and I'd have to bend way over, or just let go of the bar to get the thing to fully depower. If you have a seat harness, or a boardshort harness, this may not matter, but if you ride a waist harness you'll notice this for sure. Drove me crazy, but I will say that the depower line on the Velocity was amazing, you didn't have to lock it back into the cleat like the Ozones, just pull, let go, kite depowered. So nice...
One last thing, the Velocity was really floaty in the sky, was super forgiving on transitions, and I think seemed stiffer in the air than the Egde...like zero canopy flutter.
Overall: If you're buying a kite for racing, it'd be hard to beat the Velocity, even with the Edge. If you are a Cabrinha fan, and you want a nice freeriding kite that boosts huge, you'll love the Velocity. However, if you're picky about hangtime, and this is as important to you as boost, then go buy an Edge for sure. Not sure how everything else was so close except for hangtime...but I'm not a kite designer.
Hope this review helps someone...
I have a quiver of B6 + a Speed 4 10. I was waiting for the speed 4 18m but it looks like it wont be coming soon. I tried the xBow 18lw the other day and if it wasn't forr the speed and the bar pressure I would have ordered one. The absence of cuff guard don't bug me too much as I will use it only in LW.