Eppo's point on the demo is the key, any review just helps to narrow down the field but the demo is the critical step in final selection.

That said you can waste half a season demoing gear before you make a decision and depending on your experience this can be a little flawed as well. As an example when I decided I wanted to get onto a surfboard I tried numerous brands, problem was a surfboard under a kite was new to me so with each demo my skill level was also changing. In the end I based my final decision on a mag review, demo and price point. Happy so far...

Saffer said...

SaveTheWhales said...
Some of the big kite magazines like kiteworld, kiteboarder and sbc kiteboardig - are usually more reliable for reviews giving you the brand hype, and then the pros n cons from a control group point of view.
This eliminates the single reviewer/team rider and his favourite style of riding and also "the Forum keyboarding Morons like this site has" making all sorts of dumbarse claims when they cant even tune a kitebar or their kite for a given windspeed !

So yes once again, Its all about the demo - if you can...

The guys who like moding stuff to tweak a little more from their gear are the ones i would most trust for an open minded review..

Unfortunately the mags aren't that reliable either.

Yeah thats why I put 'Usually' in the first sentence.....


And like I said - you cant trust what some Morons on here write in their reviews - its easy to spot the unsponsored Pimp Bitches on here and Ive noticed a few people have already been fooled, after talking to them.

Take a current post on here about a guy who knows jumps n tricks and cant figure out why his "High aspect" Edge is giving him back problems

thats like what the farke - obviously. Now who you gonna believe as having CRED

Keyboard punters - Merry Christmas

As a shop my call on this topic is that sponsored riders should do 2 things.
1) always declare the brand they represent - not doing this is plain dishonest and; for most readers; downright insulting as if its biased the bias will be obvious.
2) they should stick to giving a really indepth breakdown of what kite XYZ is for; who it may best suit and how the design matches and achieves the result the manufacturer is aiming for.
When it comes to their personal opinion of how good it is then it becomes a matter of their commitment to the brand and we should all take that as just another single riders opinion AND one read it as one review which MAY be biased towards their supporter (obviously).

Anyone who buys solely on one or 2 reports which may or may not be sponsor biased deserves the consequences we all face when making uninformed decisions.
Research long & wide (critically assessing each review) and demo demo demo.
No kite does it all and whats right for one can be the worst choice for another.

your kite matches your avatar dude...
thats cool.