Meteo , You have well summarized the situation ; very hard to put figures on these extreme low ends and indeed people could be disappointed that they cannot ride in similar wind measured on their spot ; I now have a lot of light wind experience with the Pulsion or others, and have personally no fun at all at exagerating, so I try to put the maximum objectiveness in all my reports, and here is what I would detail about low end of the Pulsion:
- as repeated often by Pulsion owners, and the most important in my eyes, is that you can ride in lower winds than any other kite (I mean including launching the kite, swiming-out and waterstarting) ; it is tghe case with the 32 gr cloth (my current 12m) ,but even lower with the 27gr cloth (my ex-15m and 18m) . That is really obvious when you try it (including singles struts, race foils, strutless)
- the 32gr cloth flies similarly in the zenith than single skins like peak (i owned both and also confirmed by afoil-kite teacher who also tested back to back with 32gr cloth); 27gr flies earlier than peak, on watert on on snow, believe me ; reason is certainly that overall weight is similar, while gliding, stability, and recovery loop is better in the Pulsion; and knowing that for ultimate light wind ride, a minimum of L/D ratio is also important to stay upwind, and Pulsion is far far better than Single skin on this feature.
- relaunch is also far better that other kite in low end, provided that the 27gr cloth does not remain more than 5 minutes in the water and without manipulation errors (32 gr is more forgiving)
So , definitelly hard to put wind values on that because people rarely precise the elevatrion of their wind estimation or measure ; on top of that the measurement is not accurate in such low winds : for example my limit riding speed measurement is 0-1 knot on one wind meter while my second windmeter indicates 2-3 knot. This is at 2m elevation; I have the chance to have a wind-up station at about 12 meter elevation on this spot for comparision, it generally indicates approx 3-5 knots but located on top of a rock wall (hence probably a little local compression effect that acceclerate the wind locally); I would say that I can ride when other foilkite does not launch without running backward and have to be looped on the beach to stay in the air once pressurized; my light single strut LEI of course cannot stay in the air even with loops on the beach; that is my personal limit and IMO the best advise for people to feel this low end correctly;
I put here again one video that I made this automn (with my former 15m, now replaced by a fresh-new 18m), just to illustrate the type of wind I can target (I must precise that I am a light weight rider + large wing foil + long thin lines); It was not the lowest wind I ever made, but the best with a camera
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwO5Lho2Xro
I would never have done this with another foilkite, including S4 Lotus, I am sure; I understand experienced people doubts, but I can only advise them to test one one when possible in low end (high end is not its best feature); we must also precise that as soon as you can ride with a race foilkite ( say 1-2 more knots to my estimation), you will ride with more speed and upwind angle with the race kite (which can be considered as a better low end from this race point of view);