So, been riding the judge for a while now. My last kites where Hifi 2011 (my favourite kite), Nirvana and Envy. So that's what I'm mostly comparing them against...
I used to love my Hifi 2011 kites above every other kite and the switch to Nirvana didn't work, so I kind of settled with Envy for a while untill I tried the judge. The judge have a lot of the same qualities as hifi 2011, with better relaunch, low end and larger unhooked sweet spot (in choppy gusty conditions) It's all in all a great freestyle/freeride 4 line c kite. I would call it a c'ish kite, because of the the little triangular bridle on the frontline attatchments. But then againg Hadlows ckite had the same, and people still called it a ckite. Just like the obsession pro from RRD. So what's a ckite these days? The judge is fully c shaped, that's for sure and the mini bridle is smaller than on the obsession...
The judge is stable and very easy to ride with great direct feel. It feels forgiving because of the huge depower and that makes me confident. I don't feel like I'm going to be punished evert time I fail it also drifts nicely, so when I'm coming too hot out of a loop, it doesn't fall out of the sky, before I've gotton control and lines are tight again That's very important to me!
I was concerned about the relaunch, but it really surprised me on that part. It holds up to what it promises.
The low end is great. In light wind it doesn't loose any speed when I unhook and I therefor do more powered tricks in lighter winds, which also makes it better for unhooked riding in choppy and gusty conditions. And I really love that
Slack is the same as the hifi 2011. Not the greatest ckite slack in the world, but it works just fine for me.
High end performance is also fine, but I get overpowered and my 8m2 in about 26-28knots (13-14s/m), which I'm not used to. So I could really use a 6m2, but that will have to wait untill I can effort it The kite is a mid aspect, which is great for low end, but it will have some costs for high end range. But overall (because it gets going earlier) it has a good wind range.
It boosts very well, bit it doesn't have the hangtime of a flat kite off course.
Looping the kite is really fun. It gives a good constant pull all through the loop, which I really missed when riding Envy. Loops is one of my favourite things to do, so I was really glad after my first big hooked loop. It felt so great to be back on a great looping kite again Hooked and unhooked.
If I could, I probably wouldn't change anything on the kite. Maybe make the LE a little thinner to make it a little more aggressive. I don't know... I would put a bigger valve in it though. Many brands are copying LF max flow for 2014. The next judge should really have that. It makes a difference.
And then I would make the while series different. 11-8-6m2 is a good quiver, but I like to really be in control of my sweet spot and nail the kite size perfectly. So I would love to have a quiver that says; 12-10-8-6, like I used to (apart from the 6m). I also guess that only having 3 different sizes keeps a lot of people from buying the judge. Here in Europe anyway. It's just a small range, which only works because of the great low end of the 11m2.
I can't comment on the bar, because I bought the kite kite-only...